Question Alerting pop-up when adding an already existing individual in my familytree

Is there currently any 'alert' that -when I create a new individual- suggests the individual is possibly an already existing person in my familytree? Maybe the criteria triggering the alerts could be adjusted with checkboxes by the administrator (like: checkboxes with place of birth, full date of birth/death or only the year of birth/death, etc)

There is already a function that allows an admin to search for duplicated individuals or families. Maybe this function can be used for such an alert, too. But it is a bit more complicated: if an editor adds a new person (or family or source, …) he/she may be allowed to do that, but is not allowed to see the duplicated record What should happen in that case? No warning? A warning to the user: there is maybe a duplicated entry but you are not allowed to see it (that is a bad idea in my opinion)? A warning to the admin of that tree? Something else?

As a work around for what you requested, if you are the admin there is an available option in the Control Panel to check a family tree for errors.

1. Go to Control Panel.
2. Under "Family trees" options choose which family tree you wish to check for duplicates (tree1, tree2, etc.).
3. On next screen Under "Genealogy data", choose "Find duplicates".

That will show all duplicate Individuals, Family and Media objects. 
Sometimes there are false positives so it is up to you to decide whether it is really a duplicate.

Maybe this can helpful but it does not do exactly what you requested, it only finds existing duplicates. Can be used after adding people and data to your family tree.

Another thing to consider is the work flow when creating a new Individual record in webtrees. Only an administrator can create a new unlinked Individual using the Control Panel. Everyone else must link the new Individual to an existing person as their child, spouse or parent.

If you already know a close family member of the new person, it is harder to miss the fact that they already exist in the tree. The obvious failure case is when the same person appears as a spouse in one branch of the tree, and a child in another distant branch. If you fail to supply all the information about the Individual at the first occurrence, then you might not notice the duplicate while creating the second occurrence. That's what the "Find Duplicates" function in the Control Panel is for.

In addition, I also recommend paying close attention when webtrees offers to autocomplete the name fields when creating a new individual. If it can correctly guess both the surname and given name, you may have a duplicate....

thx for your answer Hermann and I want you to know we all do appreciate all the work you've done in webrees and he forum.
I know the possibibility to find duplicates in webtrees, but the moment I intend to use it, the duplicates have already been uploaded and are rather difficult to identify. I would like to get an alert before I upload a new individual.

Hola, Luc.Hace algún tiempo también hice la misma solicitud, pero no tuve muchas respuestas, por lo que pensé que no debería ser una buena idea. En todos los programas de genealogía anteriores, siempre aparece esta opción y por ello me extrañaba que webtrees no la tuviera.Solamente con que advirtiera que disponemos de otro registro conteniendo parte del nombre y los mismos apellidos, a mí me bastaría. Lógicamente, cuantos más parámetros buscase, mucho mejor, claro.Junto a esta opción (y complementaria) hay otra condición y es la de aquellos nombres y/o apellidos con grafía muy similar. En mi antiguo programa había una opción para declarar nombres equivalentes, por ejemplo: Ivars, Ibars, Yvars, etc... de forma que cuando hacía una búsqueda aparecían todas estas opciones. Esta similitud de nombres lo daba el mismo administrador y podía dar de alta/baja los que considerase en cada momento.En una base de datos grandes y con muchos nombres “similares” es bastante fácil generar duplicados y cuando los encuentras (porque generan algún problema en webtrees) es bastante “delicado” subsanarlo, puesto que fácilmente puedes estropear (mucho) tu base de datos.En fin. Apoyo tu idea. Me parecería una buena alerta.

Bernat post=106606 userid=11295Hola, Luc.

Hace algun temps també hice la mateixa sol·licitud, però no us heu trobat moltes respostes, per lo que pensa que no hauria de ser una bona idea. En tots els programes de genealogía anteriors, sempre apareix aquesta opció i per ello m'extranya que webtrees no la tuviera. Lògicament, quants més paràmetres cerca, molt millor, clar.

Junto a aquesta opció (i complementària) hi ha una altra condició i és la d'aquells noms i/o apel·lats amb grafia molt similar. En el meu antic programa havia una opció per declarar noms equivalents, per exemple: Ivars, Ibars, Yvars , etc... de forma que quan hagués una recerca aparegués totes aquestes opcions. Esta similitud de nombres lo daba el mateix administrador y podia dar de alta/baja los que considerase en cada momento.

En una base de datos grandes y con muchos nombres “similares” es bastante fácil generar duplicados y cuando los encuentras en webtrees) es bastante “delicado” subsanarlo, puesto que fácilmente puedes estropear (molt) tu base de datos.En fin. Apoyo la teva idea. Em semblaria una bona alerta.

Realize this topic is dated but am now adding a new person and again, I'm not sure if I already have them. I definitely think "check for duplicate(s)" feature would be valuable. After-the-fact (control panel check) is not the same. Especially since that means undoing the entry if duplicated. Prior search could be done but is extra step that can be omitted.

mac.alter wrote:

Realize this topic is dated but am now adding a new person and again, I'm not sure if I already have them. I definitely think "check for duplicate(s)" feature would be valuable. After-the-fact (control panel check) is not the same. Especially since that means undoing the entry if duplicated. Prior search could be done but is extra step that can be omitted.

Your workflow must be very different than mine!  Personally, I find the "check for duplicates" feature at familysearch.org extremely annoying BECAUSE it comes right at the end after I've invested a lot of effort to create a new individual.  It would be the same in webtrees if "check for duplicates" were added to the last step (save) when creating an individual. Because of the complexity of the creation form, I would already have already spent a lot of time filling in one or more names, plus birth, marriage, and death events each supported by source citations. In most cases I could have found the duplicate much faster by doing it myself.

In addition, what happens in the case of false positives?  If "check for duplicates" blocks you from saving the newly-created individual, how are you supposed to override it when it is wrong? And of course there will be lots of false negatives too, because it won't find the match if there are minor spelling differences in names or differences in the dates....

If I suspect that the individual may already exist, it is only a few keystrokes to access Lists > Branches and enter the individual's surname -- by birth or by marriage -- and then use your browser's search function (ctrl-F on a PC or cmd-F on a Mac) to see if they show up in the list. After all, the webtrees UI forces you to add the individual by linking them to an existing family member by birth or by marriage, so they ought to be there somewhere, right? In any case, the Branches list allows you to quickly navigate to a close relative....

If I have no clue that the individula may already exist, I pay attention when entering their name(s) in the form. Remember that webtrees is very good about name-completion as you being typing, so if you get a "hit" on BOTH first and last names you should immediately stop what you're doing and look for a duplicate.

As I've had this option in the previous app I used (kiwitrees), was hoping something similar in webtrees. Where there is the option to Save or Save =19.5pxand go to individual, a 3rd button would be "Check for duplicate" and a new window or popup either finds no duplicates, close and return to entry for saving OR the new window, popup lists possible duplicates (name, birthdate at minimum) with option to select that person's record.
I even have this feature in my offline app Reunion.