Merge chart items
You can manually merge items with different identities on your chart. You can merge entities, merge links in the same connection, and merge entities and their links that are connected to a common entity.
Merging entities
It is useful to merge entities when you identify two or more entities on your chart that represent the same real-world object. For example, you might incorporate data into your chart from a source that uses different naming conventions or you might discover that several people on your chart are the same person with different aliases. You can find the Merge and Combine tools on the Analyze tab of the Notebook Ribbon. Select the entities you want to merge and use the Merge Entities option. Use Undo to reverse the merge action.
Merging links
It is useful to merge links when you have several links between two entities that represent a number of events and you want to represent them as a single link. For example, you might want to represent several transactions from one bank account to another as a single link that indicates the total amount that is transferred. Select the links you want to merge and use Merge Multiple Links from the Merge and Combine tools on the Analyze tab.
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When you change the multiplicity of a connection, resulting in fewer links in the connection.
When you change the multiplicity of a connection from a Multiple connection to a Directed or Single connection or from a Directed connection to a Single connection, links might merge. Which links are merged depends on their arrowheads. For example, changing from a Multiple to a Directed connection merges links with arrows in the same direction.
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When two or more entities that are linked to a common entity are merged.
When two or more entities are merged that have a link to the same entity, those links are combined into one connection. The resulting multiplicity is the highest order of all the merged connections. A Multiple connection takes precedence over a Directed or Single connection. A Directed connection takes precedence over a Single connection. For example, if the existing connection is Multiple, links are always added to the connection.
Any corners on a connection that is being merged are retained and corners on the other connections are discarded.
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When a link is imported or pasted into a chart, where the entities at each end of the link already exist.
The highest multiplicity of the connections between the entities determines whether the pasted or imported link is merged or added. For example, if the multiplicity of the existing connection on the chart or the multiplicity of the connection for the link that is being pasted or imported is set to Multiple, the link is always added.
- Any attributes on a link that is deleted are moved to the resulting merged entity.
- If a link contains information such as date and time or description, a card which contains this information is added the resulting merged entity.
- Any link style information, such as link color, direction, strength, and width is lost.
Selecting which is the resulting item
When you merge chart items, the order that you select the items to be merged is important. Analyst's Notebook merges the second and further selected items into the first item that is selected.