Ethel, If you restore using a new file name it can't do any harm. But if you restore using the same file name, Windows will replace your current file with the newly-restored one, if it is located in the same folder. Some researchers, after having trouble with imports and merges, decide to avoid them entirely and type in the new people, working from a printed copy. If a large number of people are involved, I don't have that degree of patience. Personally I never import directly into my main file until I have used a temporary file to check out the gedcom, decide which specific lines to export from the temporary file, and planned how to connect them with my lines. (names and birth dates and relationships of the connecting people). Messing-up my entire family tree is the thing I dread most of all. Careless merging has that danger. At the best of times, after merging 20 people or so, I start losing my concentration. So I do merging, but I keep it to an absolute minimum. I have seen spectacular successes with automatic merges, and spectacular disasters. A set of printed pedigree charts can show you which lines you are interested in. Mark them on the pedigree charts. Then just export only these lines from the temporary file, and import them into you main file. Your marked pedigree charts can be your roadmap when you are linking or merging the new people into your family tree. Bill Buchanan On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 7:49 PM, <Genbug6607@aol.com> wrote: > Here is a step by step account of what I did and this is in response to > Bill's letter too. > First I made a new folder for the gedcom I had received, I called it my > Harper family. > Next I imported that gedcom into the new folder, called My Harper family. > Then I arranged them side by side in windows to look at both of them, but > I > found it hard to see the connections that way, so I exited both windows > and then imported the Harper gedcom into my Ethel data file. then I set > about checking for duplicates and made a list of them and started merging > duplicates.. At that point the duplicates list gave both his (Harper) RINs > and > my Ethel RINS so it looked alright except that my Ethel RIN numbers had > all > been changed from those i originally had. (Is that normal?) That's when I > checked back to see how different the numbers were I found many of my > people > missing, for instance i had my father's line back to the immigrant > ancestor but now it went back just 3 generations; I then searched > randomly for > other names i knew should be there & they weren't. > Since then, i've looked at the list of files that i can find when I click > on the"file" menu and there was one there for Ethel but not the one i had > merged into.(It was an earlier one) i could open that Ethel folder and > everything in it was OK except it does not include my most recent work. > I > have that on the backup I made just before I started on this. but now i'm > afraid to restore it for fear I"ll do more damage. > > any thoughts now? > > Puzzled, Ethel > > > In a message dated 2/6/2011 9:21:21 P.M. Central Standard Time, > lemow@email.com writes: > > > Ethel, > It sounds to me like you imported the GEDCOM file into a new file and then > saved it with the name of your old file. But to be sure please give us a > step by step sequence of how you think you did it including any warnings > you may have gotten. When you say you merged it into your old file you > leave > us wondering just what you did to merge it. You can not merge two data > files. You have to import one into the other. > Lynn > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Genbug6607@aol.com > To: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com > Sent: Sun, Feb 6, 2011 6:44 pm > Subject: Re: [PAF-5] mergeing > > > First into a new file and then merged it into my existing file. Ethel > > > n a message dated 2/5/2011 9:05:14 P.M. Central Standard Time, > emow@email.com writes: > > thel, > id you import the GEDCOM into your existing file or a new file? > ynn > > > > ----Original Message----- > rom: Genbug6607@aol.com > o: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com > ent: Sat, Feb 5, 2011 6:22 pm > ubject: Re: [PAF-5] mergeing > > his is about merging but not the problem being discussed here. i just > rged a gedcom into my database and it appears that I have lost all of my > ople who were not related to those I merged. Of course , I made a > ackup > fore I began and will use it, but i can't understand why this would > ppen. I don't recall it happening before. Where did i go wrong? > thel in Nebraska > > a message dated 2/5/2011 6:59:44 A.M. Central Standard Time, > a1935@yahoo.ca writes: > ook under Options. There are check boxes that list what you might want > o > erge. > ultimedia is in the list. If you do not check some of them, then you > uld loose that topic. > hould have included that step before. :-( > ea > -- On Fri, 2/4/11, Earl Park <parkj052@hawaii.rr.com> wrote: > From: Earl Park <parkj052@hawaii.rr.com> > ubject: Re: [PAF-5] mergeing > o: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com > eceived: Friday, February 4, 2011, 6:08 PM > eant to ask, if I have a image and > ther things like notes will it merge > hem also? > Thanks for the great tip. > arl > > ---- Original Message ----- > rom: "Bea" <bea1935@yahoo.ca> > o: <paf-5-users@rootsweb.com> > ent: Friday, February 04, 2011 2:45 AM > ubject: Re: [PAF-5] mergeing > > ince you say the two sources are not identical, you have > o edit them until > hey match. > 1) Under Edit, click on Sources > 2) Look for the sources that are mismatched. If you began > he titles > ifferently, correct the titles so they appear the same and > hey will show > p one affter the other. > 3) Then edit the one that is least correct (spaces and > uncutation count in > rrors) > 4) Once done then try out the merge sources again. > 5) If you have trouble finding the cause of a mismatch, try > aking a copy > nd paste of each line in the good source and paste it into > he bad one in > ts proper place. The problems often occur because of a > isplaced space or > omma. > Bea > > --- On Fri, 2/4/11, Earl Park <parkj052@hawaii.rr.com> > rote: > > From: Earl Park <parkj052@hawaii.rr.com> > Subject: [PAF-5] mergeing > To: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com > Received: Friday, February 4, 2011, 4:18 AM > Aloha All, > > Is there a way to merge two different sources into one > ike > we do with > individuals? > > I made a mistake and created a same second source with > > slightly different > name when I already had that one. > > I see where there is a item under the "Tools" dropdown > enu > "Merge Duplicate > Sources and Citations" I have clicked on it and it > did something but not > what I wanted to do. What it did I have no clue what > ever it did it did it > 31 times, ha... > > Any thoughts.... > Thanks > Earl > > >