How to look for Possible duplicates
Currently the software does not have a report that will list out possible duplicates. One way to look for possible duplicates is to use excel and the countif function. It is suggested using this for all families listed in the family list.
Export the list of families to a csv file using the button 
on the interface. Open the csv file using excel. The last column with data in
it should be T and the column to do the following in would be U but if not
substitute U for what the next empty column is. The excel sheet should look
something like the following where the
indicates the rows and columns that
are in between the ones that are needed for this process.
|
|
A |
B |
|
U |
|
1 |
Family |
Mailing Name |
|
|
|
2 |
Aaland, Thomas |
Mr. Thomas Aaland |
|
|
|
3 |
Aasen, Kathy |
Ms. Kathy Aasen |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7302 |
Zywicke, Marsha |
Mrs. Marsha Zywicke |
|
|
|
7303 |
|
|
|
|
For this example, we are going to look for families that have the exact same address.
For example: Lets say family A and family B have the address 123 Some Street then this process would show them as possible duplicates. However, if family A has 123 Some Street and Family B has 123 Some St then this process would not show them as being a possible duplicate.
Column F should have the address in that field. (if not then substitute for the letter that it is in)
In Column U1 type in: Num of Possible Duplicates
In column U2 the Countif formula will be placed in it but be sure to make note of the following prior to typing in the formula.
· Countif function has the following criteria
o =COUNTIF(<Range of data>, <data to look for>)
o <Range of data> ΰ This is going to be the cell range from and to that we are going to look for data in. Based on the data above the first cell would be F2 since this is the first record where an address would be and F7302 would be the last cell with an address in it. It would be formatted as:
F$2:F$7302
$ ΰ is used so that the following number wont change as the fill down feature is uses
: ΰ is used as the separator between the first cell and last cell in the range
o <data to look for> ΰ in this case would be the current row that the address is in: F2
· Based on the information in the above example the final formula would be:
=COUNTIF(F$2:F$7302,F2)
That formula would be placed in U2 and then the fill down used to have it fill in the formula to the end of the data set
o After that formula is typed into to U2 select that cell
o Press Ctrl+Shift+End (This key combo is used to select from top cell to the last row)
o Press Ctrl+D (This key combo is used to copy the equation to end of list)
· After doing this then you will see numbers appear in that column which will indicate the number of times that address appears in the list.
You can then use the search in family list to limit the results to the address in question to see if those families are duplicate or not. If they are then you would use the Family Merge process to merge the families together if not then you would move on to the next possible duplicate address.