Multi-select on Merge Sources

I would like to see the Merge Sources work like the Merge Places. If I am a source lumper and I want all references to 1920 Census to be one source and made unique in citations I should be able to select the “main” 1920 Census and select all the “duplicate” 1920 Census at once and merge them just like I can select the “main” Los Angelas, California, United States and select all the “duplicate” versions and merge them all in one pass. Today if you have five 1920 Census you have to make four passes.

It sounds to me like you are not wanting to merge sources, but citations. Can we assume you are using RM8?

If they are actual duplicates use “Merge all duplicate sources”. If they are not exact duplicates then they will remain unmerged. Those remaining you really should take care about merging. Just because they have the same source name doesn’t necessarily mean they have the same source type, fields or text. This is why you are asked to preview the source before merging them.

No, I’m talking sources.

Yea, that’s not really a thing. If I have 10 1920 Census I already know they are dups, I’m not so dumb I don’t know to check first.

I understand what you are trying to accomplish. And I agree that in your example scenario it would require four passes at merging sources instead of just one merge. And I agree that with places you can do it with one pass. So your wish makes sense and I support it.

However, the bigger issue for me is that I think the RM8 dialog for merging sources and merging places lacks a certain clarity that was there in RM7. I know we are not supposed to wish for RM8 to look like RM7, but this is a case where RM8 could benefit greatly from the wisdom of RM7. The clarity I’m talking about with the RM7 merge dialog for places and sources is hard to describe, but it’s easy to see if you do the same place or source merge in both RM7 and RM8. Namely, in RM7 when you get to the second step to select the items to be merged into the first, the first item does not have a checkbox and is bold. The items that could be merged into the first item do have check boxes and are not in bold. RM8 does not distinguish the item that’s to be kept from the item that is to be merged out of existence. The difference in clarity is very obvious if you try it in both RM7 and RM8.

I would agree @thejerrybryan . All the merge dialogs should work the same. I haven’t tried merging places in Rm8, but I was talking sources in Rm8 thinking of the places merge in Rm7. Rm7 is still my primary, but I’m using Rm8 for some subtrees to test functionality, and do some Word reporting VS RTF.

Alas, until Publisher is available I cannot move to RM8 as I have too much invested in it. If I have to redo all my publications I may seriously another tool.