Find Duplicates

Starting with Heredis 2023, the duplicates search feature has been reviewed and improved. Prior to that, Heredis for Mac and Heredis for Windows used two distinct algorithms, each coming with its advantages and disadvantages.

In Heredis 2023, the two versions of Heredis have been merged, only to keep the best of both worlds.

Find Duplicates

Launch Heredis.
Open your genealogy file.
In the pulldown menu, click on Find > Find duplicates…, or click the icon Find then > Find duplicates… or even directly the Find Duplicates icon if you have added it to your toolbar.

Set the Search Options

Choosing the Search Method for Given Names.

In the scroll-down menu, select the setting you wish to apply.

• Ignore: given names will not be compared.
• At least one of the Given Names is Identical: all given names will be checked and if one is identical, Heredis will display a duplicate.
• The first Given Name is Identical: only the first given name will be checked.
• At least two of the Given Names is Identical: all given names will be checked and if two are identical, Heredis will display a duplicate.

Check the box entitled “One Given Name of One Parent is Identical” if you wish to include this criterion.
Note: if one of the duplicates shows no parent then the duplicate won’t be found.

Choosing the Search Method for Events.

In the scroll-down menu, select the setting you wish to apply.

• Ignore Events: events won’t be taken into consideration.
• Dates Strictly Identical: only persons with events on the exact same date will be identified.
• Years Strictly Identical: only persons with events in the exact same year will be identified.
• Define a Range of Years: select a range of years, for instance to identify duplicates if one has a calculated date while the other shows an exact date, or if one has a birth date while the other shows a baptism date.

Research is done on major and minor events, check the box Exclude minor events so that all minor events (other than Birth/Baptism, Union, Death/Burial) are not taken into account.

You may also limit the search to a surname of your choice.
Check the box entitled “Limit to a Surname and its variants”
Note: variants will be taken into consideration only if you have indicated variants in the Surnames Index.
Click on Select a Surname and choose among the Surnames listed in your genealogy. Validate your choice by clicking Choose.

It may be worth launching several searches, modifying only one criterion at a time to broaden the possibilities.
Once you are done setting your options, click on Start Search.

Search Results

Heredis switches to the Search Results tab.

The search bar allows you to narrow down the results to a given name or to a surname.

The first dropdown list allows you to display

• Potential Duplicates Only: it exclude the declared Not a duplicate.
• Not a Duplicate Persons Only: this shows only those that you have declared as not a duplicate, allowing you to reverse your decision and uncheck the Not a duplicate box in the event of an error.
• All Results: shows all potential duplicates persons and those you have declared as Not a duplicate.

The second dropdown list allows you to change the way your results are presented.

Duplicates can be displayed:

• By pairs of duplicates, if you select By duplicates.

• By persons. If you click on one of the persons in the list on the left, you’ll see the person(s) potentially matching as duplicate(s). This feature comes in handy when you have several potential duplicates for one single person.

Whichever presentation you choose, you can select a duplicate from the list in each column and use the summaries and mini comparison charts to make sure they are indeed duplicates.

If they are not actual duplicates, check the Not A Duplicate box at the end of the line on the right-hand side. This person will no longer be suggested as a duplicate. This duplicate will appear if you choose Not a duplicate Persons Only or All Results but you will see that they are already processed. If you made a mistake, you can uncheck the box to put them back in the potential duplicates.

If you have located an actual duplicate, click on Prepare Merger…

Do consult the article entitled Merging Two Persons for more details on how to merge duplicates.

Edit the list of duplicates

Click the Edit Duplicate Report button to get a document from the duplicate list in the file.
Click OK to get a .rtf document that opens with your default word processor.
Click Export to have a plain text document that opens with any notepad on your computer.

Mark Duplicates

If you don’t have time to manage the duplicates immediately or if you want to process the duplicate list, you can mark them.

Click Mark Duplicates to have the Marked Persons tag checked in the Personal Data entry for each person. Persons who will be marked are those whose list is displayed. If you have chosen the filter Not a duplicates Persons Only, the persons you declared not duplicates will be marked. Similarly, if you have chosen the Potential Duplicates Only filter, then only persons with potential duplicates will be marked.