How do I undo a merge in Family Tree?

Article Id: 993
November 13, 2023

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. If no one edited a profile after the merge, you can unmerge Tree profiles. If someone edited the profile after the merge, you can restore the deleted person.

Steps (website)

  1. In the top menu, click Family Tree, and then click Tree.
  2. Find the person that you want to unmerge.
  3. Click the person's name. In the details that pop-up, click the person's name again. You move to the Tree profile for the person.
  4. Click the Details tab.
  5. Find the Latest Changes box.
  6. Click Show All.
  7. Find the merge. Look for "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 the deleted person instead.
  9. If the Unmerge option is available, follow these steps:
    1. Click Unmerge.
    2. Review the information that you want to 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.
    5. Click Restore.
    6. Review both records. Make sure that each has the correct information. In some cases, you must delete information from one record and add it to another.

    Steps (mobile app)

    1. Navigate to the person who was merged.
    2. In the upper right, tap the 3 dots. 
    3. Android: Tap Recent Changes. Apple iOS: Tap More, then Recent Changes.
    4. Look for a change that is outlined in green (iOS) or blue (Android). At the top of the change, notice the word "Merge".
    5. Tap Unmerge. If you cannot unmerge the record, you see no Unmerge button.
    6. Explain why, and tap Unmerge.
    7. 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)

    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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