Q. How do you delete duplicate or unwanted name records?
A. There is no direct means for deleting name records. At first, I left the option out because I didn't think there would be much need for it, but as the file update program grew, there just wasn't room to add instructions for deleting a name record along with all the "subordinate" information that may be associated with it. I usually tell someone who has a record that they wish to delete to manually delete all associated records (marriages, addresses, comments, etc.), dis-associate any parents or children (by setting the parent ID to 0), and "space out" the remaining information in the Name record. The record may then be used to "add" the next new name to your family file. If there are several name records to be "deleted" and you don't have any new names to add, you may want to change the Surname of these records to something like: (UNUSED). You can then Search for them the next time you have new names to add. If you accum- ulate a large number of (UNUSED) records, you may effectively remove them by EXPORTing all except the (UNUSED) records and IMPORTing them back into an empty family file. The Search/Select/LIST option of the extended system allows you to search for records with surname "#UNUSED" (which is read: "Not Equal to UNUSED") so that it is easy to select the desired records for exporting. It is also best to use the "older format" GEDCOM program in the extended system for doing the transfer because it will process all types of information that are allowed in a FHS family file.