How do I undo a merge in Family Tree?

Article Id: 993
July 19, 2022

Because FamilySearch is highly collaborative, people can mistakenly merge records for two separate people. When you or another user of Family Tree merges duplicate records, one of them remains in Family Tree. The system archives the other.

You can unmerge the people if no one made changes after the merge. If someone made changes after the merge, you can restore the deleted person instead.

Steps (website)

  1. In the top menu, click Family Tree, and then click Tree.
  2. Find the person you want to unmerge.
  3. Click the person's name. In the details that pop-up, click the person's name again. You will be taken to that person’s page.
  4. Click the Details tab.
  5. Find the Latest Changes box.
  6. Click Show All.
  7. Find the merge. It shows "Merge" on the left side.
  8. When you find the merge, look at the far right side of that entry:
    • If you can undo the merge automatically, the Unmerge option is available.
    • If you cannot undo the merge automatically, the Unmerge option is not available. Restore delete person instead.
  9. If the Unmerge option is available, follow these steps:
    1. Click Unmerge.
    2. Review the information you will restore.
    3. Click Unmerge again.
  10. If the Unmerge option is not available, follow these steps to restore the deleted person:
    1. Click the name of the deleted person.
    2. Click Person.
    3. Click Restore Person.
    4. Enter a reason statement to explain why you want to restore this person.
    5. Click Restore.
    6. Review both records. Make sure that each has the correct information. You may need to delete information from one record and add it to another.

    Steps (mobile app)

    1. Tap the 3 dots in the top-right corner. 
    2. Android: Tap Recent Changes. Apple iOS: Tap More, then Recent Changes.
    3. Look for a green Merge box.
    4. Tap Unmerge. If this option is not available for this record, it is not visible.
    5. Explain why, and tap Unmerge.
    6. The box is now brown and says "Unmerge." To review information on the restored record, tap the name under Restored Person.

    Steps (Family Tree Lite)

    Right now, Family Tree Lite does not provide an option to allow you to resolve incorrect merges.

    How do I show that duplicates are not a match in Family Tree?
    How do I fix a merge that has information from multiple people in Family Tree?

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