If you’ve spent much time working in the FamilySearch Family Tree, you’ve probably encountered duplicates—two profiles that represent the same person. Since the goal of the Family Tree is to have only one profile per person, Family Tree offers the ability to merge duplicates.
But merging can be tricky. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if two profiles really are duplicates, especially if one or both don’t have much information. As a result, incorrect merges—merges of two profiles that really don’t represent the same person—have been an ongoing challenge in the collaborative family tree. Incorrect merges often lead to tangled family lines. They cause confusion and are difficult and time consuming to repair.
The new merge experience helps address the challenge of incorrect merges. The interface is simpler. The new process is also simpler and provides better guidance. As a result, you can have greater confidence that you’re merging correctly. It will also be easier to avoid incorrect merges.
Simpler Interface
The previous merge experience required navigating through three different pages. On the third page, you could no longer see a comparison of the profiles, which made it harder to ensure the merge was correct.
The improved merge experience shows a side-by-side view of the profiles being merged. It also shows what the surviving profile will look like after the merge.
Simpler Process with Better Guidance
The previous merge experience offered some guidance (for example, users might see a warning about different birth years or a high number of past merges). But the guidance appeared only on the first page in the merge tool, so it wasn’t visible when it was needed the most. In the new experience, the guidance stays visible until the merge is completed.
Guidance in the new experience includes an overall recommendation, as well as specific warnings.
The overall recommendation appears at the top of the merge page. You’ll see one of the following messages, depending on the consistency of the profiles.
Consistency Evaluation | Message |
| No obvious problems | 
|
| Several inconsistencies that need review | 
|
| Major inconsistencies | 
|
| Merge obviously wrong (includes explanation) | 
|
When information conflicts or is inconsistent, clear warnings appear by the information (see the yellow boxes in the example below).
These messages make conflicts and inconsistencies easy to see. You can then do the necessary research to make sure that the profiles really represent the same person before merging them.
The table below shows other improvements in the new merge experience.
| Previous Merge Experience | New Merge Experience |
Users had to choose which items to keep and which to discard. Sometimes they would choose to keep or discard something without understanding the consequences of that choice. For example, they might discard a relationship that was valid and should have been kept, which could cause an entire family line to be disconnected from the merged profile. | All vital information, relationships, and sources are automatically transferred to the surviving profile. This reduces the chance of error because users aren’t making changes during the merge. Tip: As a best practice, mistakes on a profile should be corrected before the merge rather than during it. In fact, cleaning up a profile before a merge may show that the profiles shouldn’t be merged after all. |
| Users had no control over the way relationships were displayed on the merge screens. | Users can group relationships by family or by type of relationship. |
| Prewritten merge reason statements were available for users to insert but were often used incorrectly: For example, users would choose the reason statement that says that all information and relationships matched when they didn’t. | When a merge has no obvious issues, the Reason for Merge box shows a simple statement that the merge has no apparent inconsistencies. (This statement can be edited as needed.) When users proceed with a questionable merge, they are asked to explain why they believe the merge is correct despite inconsistencies, conflicting information, or other problems. |
The new experience makes merging easier and reduces the risk of bad merges. However, correct merging still requires care, attention, and usually some research.
When Will I See the New Experience?
The new experience is being released in phases. If you start a merge and want to try the new experience but don’t see it yet, cancel the merge and visit FamilySearch Labs. You can then look for the Improved Merge Experience experiment and click Try It.
Your Feedback Requested!
Like most FamilySearch pages, the new merge experience has a feedback button on the left side. FamilySearch values your feedback! You can click the button to leave feedback, or you can visit the FamilySearch Community group for the improved merge experience.
Many improvements have already been made based on the input from those who have tried the new merge. Let your voice be heard! Together, we can continue to improve the merge experience.
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