Merging Duplicates but Not Twins

Merging duplicates is important because often researchers like us, will create a new profile for an ancestor without looking to see if this ancestor is already on FamilySearch.

On each ancestor profile you'll find a link (right side) called "possible duplicates"- you'll click that link and choose review and merge on one (if any) people are listed. A screen will come up putting the two profiles side by side (the one you have on your Tree and the potential duplicate you clicked).

A few steps to get you started-

• What is on the left side will stay
• Evaluate each item and either replace, reject or ignore
• Check for sources that may need to be moved also
• If you click "not a match" the potential duplicate will not be associated with your ancestor anymore. (note- no one else can undo this)
• The merge can be undone if needed (in case of accidental merging)
• If the only difference is the first name, they might be twins. Search FamilySearch  and Ancestry.com using both names to make sure.

This is a slow process and some ancestors might have 30+ duplicates. Take your time.