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How to Use IntelliShare


Here is how IntelliShare works:

One person in the group is designated as the "Keeper of the Records" (Keeper for short).  This person keeps the master Family File.  Legacy automatically marks all the individual records in the Master Family File with a serial number that uniquely identifies each person.  

The Keeper sends a copy of the Family File to all the other people participating in the group.  

Any or all members of the group can make changes to existing records or add new records to the Family File.  The Keeper can also make changes and additions to the master file.

At an agreed upon interval of time, all members of the group return a copy of the Family File to the Keeper for merging and reconciliation.

The Keeper then follows this procedure:

1. Import all copies of the Family File into the master copy.  (Note:  The Keeper imports the copies of the family file that the other members sent back.  This should not be a GEDCOM file.  It should be a copy (or a backup copy that has been restored) of the actual family file the member has changed.)

2. Click the Merge button and choose Find Duplicates...

3. From the Merge Options window, click on the Special Searches tab and choose the IntelliShare option.

4. Click the Continue button in the upper right corner of the Merge Options window.  Legacy searches for all records with matching IntelliShare values and then automatically merges those that have exactly the same information. At the end of this process Legacy displays the records where changes have been made by one or more persons. Legacy also looks at all surrounding links when deciding to merge.  If the parents, spouses or children are different in any way, the two individuals will be displayed along with a message describing the situation.  All these messages are also saved in a file called MERGE.LOG.  Legacy offers to display this file at the end of the merge process.

5. The only records the Keeper has to look at and merge together are the ones that have been changed by someone in the group.

6. After the merge is complete, the Keeper sends a new copy of the family file to the other group members for more changes and additions.

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