How to Find and Consolidate Duplicate Family Files

A Legacy user occasionally may conclude that their program is deleting people from their family file. But in actuality, the most common reason for this loss of individuals is that he or she is looking in the wrong file. For example, the user may have a file called brown.fdb in the C:\Legacy\Data folder and -- without realizing it -- have a file with the same name in the My Documents folder and another in a Temp folder. The first file might have 2,010 individuals, the second file 2,035 individuals and third file 2,005 individuals, and so on.

One quick way that a Legacy user can often tell is to click on File and the look at the bottom menu below Exit. If there is more than one family file of the same name, but in different locations, there is a problem.

So, how do you fix this problem? There are several steps you need to take.

I. Find all of the family files on your computer:

1. Refer to the article "I Lost My Family File! What Should I Do?" at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/helpMissing.asp. Use the steps listed here to find other copies of your family file.

2. Have a pencil and paper handy so that you can jot down the complete path and file name of all of the files located.

II. Find out how many people are in each of the family files.

1. Browse to each of the family files in question and check the Name List. The Name List title bar will tell you who many individuals are in the file. This count can also be found by clicking on Help and selecting General Information, or by checking the Statistics box on the Legacy Home tab (version 6.0 and higher).

2. Next rename the family file so it shows the number of people in it. For example, if the family file was called Brown.fdb and contains 2,010 individuals, rename it Brown2010.fdb. (To rename a family file, click on File and select Rename Family File.)

3. Open the next family file, then check the count, and rename it, for example Brown2035.fdb.

4. Proceed until you have examined all the family files and renamed them to show the number of individuals contained.

III. Use the file with the most individuals and add only the missing people to it.

1. Open the family file with the most individuals and designate this as your new "master" family file.

2. Use Split Screen View to open one of the other files side by side with your master family file. (Click on View and select Split Screen View. A second Family/Pedigree View appears and is tiled on the screen next to the existing view. A box appears asking if you want to open a different family file. To open a Family/Pedigree View of a different family file click Yes, and select the name of the second family file you want to examine.)

3. Copy any individuals that might be missing in the master family file from the other file. Please see the article "Copying Between Two Family Files" at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/tipsDragDrop.asp for directions. (Caution: Be sure to copy only the individuals or families that are missing. If you copy everyone in the file or the entire family line, you will end up copying hundreds or thousands duplicate people which will make a mess of your master file and will create hours of work to merge the unnecessary duplicates. Again, copy only the missing individuals or families.)

3. Merge any duplicate people. Click the Merge button on the toolbar and select Find Duplicates. The the prompts that the screens give you and if you have questions, click the Help button.

4. Repeat this process with the each of the family files.

5. When satisfied that your master family file is complete, the other copies of your family file should be backed up onto a CD or DVD and their originals deleted from your hard drive to avoid future confusion.

IV. Use the your new master family file.

1. You can set Legacy to always open with your master file. Click on Options on the menu bar and select Customize and click the General tab. Select the option: Always Open This File (To select or change the filename, click the Down button).

2. Keep in mind that when you are finished adding or editing information in Legacy, and have clicked Save, you have saved your entire family file. You should not click on File and then click Save As when you exit the program. If you do click on File and select Save As you will be creating a duplicate of your family file with either a new name, or with the same name but in a new location. In fact, this is the leading cause of duplicate families files on a hard drive. (Of course, you can use Save As to create an exact duplicate of your family file on a flash drive/memory stick or a CD/DVD if you wish to send it to another person or use it to transfer your family file to another computer.)

3. If you want to backup your family file, please use Legacy's backup function and be sure the backup copy is created on a separate drive or disk. Using Save As to backup is a bad habit that leads to confusion and massive headaches. Please see the article "Backup and File Restoration" at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/tipsBackups.asp for details.