I have three cousins in Wales. We are all researching the same Jones family. I have purchased three copies of PAF 5.2 and plan to send the program to each of them along with the data that I have in my PAF file. I have performed a file split from my Williams file and set up a gedcom Jones file using "descendants" of our most remote ancestor. Now I want to do another split using the "ancestors" of my mother (a Jones) to set up another gedcom file so that all the relations will be included. My assumption is that I would then perform a merge of the "descendants" and the "ancestors" to set up a complete Jones family gedcom file. Will this work or will one overwrite the other? Am I on the right track to send my cousins the complete data of only the relevant families. Bill Williams

Strange. PAF 5.2 is free as a download. I assume that the purchase was for the CD distribution - a nominal charge with some extra goodies as I understand it. The merge would generally be done within PAF by importing the gedcoms. They will not overwrite data, but create duplicates if there are such. In that case you would need to run a merge to combine duplicates. I am not sure that answers your question, but it is my try. Bill On 29 Aug 2005 at 21:51, Bill Williams wrote: > I have three cousins in Wales. We are all researching the same Jones family. > I have purchased three copies of PAF 5.2 and plan to send the program to each > of them along with the data that I have in my PAF file. I have performed a > file split from my Williams file and set up a gedcom Jones file using > "descendants" of our most remote ancestor. > > Now I want to do another split using the "ancestors" of my mother (a Jones) to > set up another gedcom file so that all the relations will be included. > > My assumption is that I would then perform a merge of the "descendants" and > the "ancestors" to set up a complete Jones family gedcom file. Will this work > or will one overwrite the other? Am I on the right track to send my cousins > the complete data of only the relevant families. > > > Bill Williams

Bill W.; Merging with PAF does not need to be the same as with any other program. I very strongly urge the three of you to obtain a copy of PAF Insight and use that program. It has a feature specifically tailored for the purpose of coordinating work between researchers. Instead of using GEDCOM files to coordinate your work, simply send a copy of the entire database. PAF Insight allows one to copy information from one PAF database into another PAF database. I have used the PAF Merge feature to do hundreds of merges in the past. I almost never use it now that I have PAF Insight. PAF Insight identifies possible matches between two databases and assigns a figure of merit to that match. It labels this figure of merit "Percentage Match", but it is not an actual percentage. However, when it finds Individual Records (RINS) in two different databases which have the same PAF ID, it automatically assigns the percentage as 99 or perfect match. The PAF ID of which I speak is assigned when an individual record is created. It is unique world wide, to a very high degree of probability. Consequently all of those individuals who you send to your cousins will have Unique PAF IDs already assigned. If they are sent back to you, either in a PAF Backup file or a PAF generated GEDCOM file, those Unique PAF IDs will be retained. PAF Insight can be downloaded from Ohana Software at "ohanasoftware.com" for US $20.00 (and this includes three yeas of free downloads when there are upgrades). PAF Insight is also the best way to identify possible duplicate entries within a database and by far the best way to search the IIGI that is available. It has a few other features such as fixing more pointer errors in PAF than the PAF program can fix and it easily reassigns RINs (without changing the Unique PAF IDs). Richard L. Halliday West Linn, Oregon (where it often rains and the earth occasionally quakes, but hurricanes never come) Bill Williams wrote: >I have three cousins in Wales. We are all researching the same Jones family. I have purchased three copies of PAF 5.2 and plan to send the program to each of them along with the data that I have in my PAF file. I have performed a file split from my Williams file and set up a gedcom Jones file using "descendants" of our most remote ancestor. > >Now I want to do another split using the "ancestors" of my mother (a Jones) to set up another gedcom file so that all the relations will be included. > >My assumption is that I would then perform a merge of the "descendants" and the "ancestors" to set up a complete Jones family gedcom file. Will this work or will one overwrite the other? Am I on the right track to send my cousins the complete data of only the relevant families. > > >Bill Williams > > >==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== >FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service >http://www.familysearch.org/ > > > > >