Merging Citations

Cleaning Up Duplicate Citations in RootsMagic

Do you have an overwhelming number of citations in your genealogy software? According to RootsMagic 10, my file contains 6,475 sources and over 30,000 citations. However, many of those citations aren’t unique—they’re duplicates created when I sourced the same record multiple times for different individuals.

While preparing a narrative report, I discovered just how common this duplication is—particularly for census records. Instead of reusing an existing citation for each family member, I had unknowingly created a new citation every time. Fortunately, RootsMagic makes it easy to clean up this kind of duplication with its built-in Merge Citations tool.

Here’s how you can merge duplicate citations in RootsMagic:

1. Open the list of citations for the relevant source.
2. Highlight the citation you want to keep.
3. Click the three vertical dots (menu icon).
4. Select Merge Citations.
5. Choose the duplicate citation(s) to merge.
6. Click OK at the bottom of the window.
7. Review both versions to confirm they are identical, then click MERGE DUPLICATES.
8. Repeat the process for any additional duplicates.

Using this feature, I reduced the number of citations in a single narrative report from 125 to 110—a small change that makes a big difference in clarity and consistency.

This helpful feature was introduced in RootsMagic 8 and continues to be available in version 10. If you’d like a walkthrough, check out the following video that demonstrates how to merge citations effectively.

For more detailed guidance on merging sources and citations, consult the RootsMagic 10 online manual.