Combine two or more confirmed symbols that should really be one. Markup R-XP suggests likely candidates - all you do is pick the master that the others fold into and tap Merge.

On this page

 

 

What this step is for

 

Symbol detection sometimes splits one printed mark into two or three slightly different versions - one for the cells where the print is bold, one for cells where it is faded, one for cells with a stray pixel. Each version ends up as its own entry in the confirmed-symbols list, which means you would otherwise have to assign the same thread colour to two or three separate symbols.

Merge Symbols is where you fix that. The step looks for likely duplicates, suggests them as groups, and lets you combine them with a single tap. You can also browse the entire confirmed list and pick your own combinations to merge.

 

This step is optional - you only land here if you tap the Merge chip on the confirmed-symbols panel back on Set Symbols, or if the wizard guides you here when it sees suggested duplicates.

The screen at a glance

 

The Merge Symbols screen with two tabs (Suggestions, Browse All), a list of suggested duplicate groups in the body, and Back / Next buttons at the bottom.
Figure 1. The Merge Symbols screen. (1) The Suggestions tab is selected by default. (2) Switch to Browse All to pick combinations yourself. (3) Each suggested group is a row containing the symbols that look similar. (4) The Merge action button on each group commits the merge. (5) Back returns to Set Symbols. (6) Next moves on to Set Colors.

The Suggestions tab

 

The Suggestions tab lists groups of symbols that the app thinks should probably be merged. Each row shows the symbols in the group side by side, with a star on the one currently chosen as master.

A close-up of one suggested group row showing the master symbol with a star, the duplicate, and the Merge / Edit / Ignore action buttons.
Figure 2. One suggested group. (1) The master symbol is starred - the others will adopt its name, colour and icon when merged. (2) The duplicate symbol(s) that will fold into the master. (3) Merge commits the merge now. (4) Edit moves the group to the tray so you can adjust it before merging. (5) Ignore dismisses the suggestion without merging.

Merge

The fastest action. Folds the duplicates into the master immediately. The group disappears from the suggestions list and the merged symbol appears in the confirmed list for everywhere else in the project.

Edit

Moves the group's symbols to the tray on the Browse All tab so you can rearrange them - add more symbols, remove some, change the master - before committing.

Ignore

Dismisses the suggestion. The symbols stay separate and the group is removed from the suggestions list. Useful when the app has suggested a merge for symbols that look similar but are genuinely different.

The Browse All tab

 

The Browse All tab shows the entire confirmed-symbols list and lets you pick your own combinations. Tap any symbol to drop it into the tray at the top of the panel; tap a symbol in the tray to remove it.

The Browse All tab with a tray at the top holding two symbols selected for merging, plus Cancel and Merge buttons.
Figure 3. The Browse All tray. (1) The tray displays every symbol you have selected. (2) Tap one in the tray to mark it as the master. (3) Cancel empties the tray without merging. (4) Merge tray commits the merge.
  1. Switch to the Browse All tab.
  2. Tap the symbols you want to merge. They appear in the tray.
  3. Tap one in the tray to make it the master. A star marks it.
  4. Tap Merge tray. The duplicates fold into the master and the tray empties.

Choosing the master symbol

 

The master is the symbol the others adopt when merged. Its name, its colour, its thread number and its icon all win - the duplicates lose theirs and pick up the master's.

Markup R-XP picks a sensible default master for every suggested group (usually the one with the most cells assigned), but you can change it by tapping a different symbol in the group.

Tip. If two symbols in a suggested group both have colour information, pick the one whose colour is correct as the master. The duplicate's colour will be lost when it merges.

Strictness and Relax

 

The Suggestions tab has a strictness control - Strict, Balanced, or Loose - that decides how aggressively the app suggests duplicates. Strict only flags very obvious duplicates; Loose surfaces anything remotely similar.

The strictness pill control at the top of the Suggestions tab with three options: Strict, Balanced, Loose.
Figure 4. The strictness control. (1) Strict - only the closest duplicates. (2) Balanced - the default. (3) Loose - includes lower-confidence pairings for you to review.

When you have worked through every suggestion at one strictness level, a Relax button appears that steps to the next level - Strict relaxes to Balanced, Balanced relaxes to Loose. Tap it to see new suggestions you might have missed. When you reach the end of Loose, Relax instead switches you to the Browse All tab.

Moving on

 

When you are happy that no more merges are needed, tap Next in the bottom-right to continue to Set Colors. The confirmed-symbols list now reflects every merge you made.

If you want to return to Set Symbols to fine-tune individual symbols first, tap Back in the bottom-left.

Note. Each merge is committed immediately - there is no global save on this step. To undo a merge you would need to delete the combined symbol and rebuild the originals, so look carefully before tapping Merge on a group.

Tips and common questions

Here are answers to the most common questions about merging symbols.

Q: The Suggestions tab is empty. Does that mean my symbols are all unique?

Answer: Probably - or at least very few are obvious duplicates.

Tap Relax to widen the suggestions, or switch to Browse All if you suspect duplicates that the app did not flag.

Q: I merged two symbols by mistake. Can I undo?

Answer: Not directly.

You will need to go back to Set Symbols, delete the combined symbol, and rebuild the two originals by tapping representative cells. Merges are permanent within the project.

Q: Why are the same symbols showing up in suggestions even after I ignored them?

Answer: The Ignore dismissal applies to one visit only.

Re-entering the step recomputes the suggestions list, and previously-ignored groups can return if they still look like duplicates. To make them go away permanently, give the duplicates clearly different colours or names so the app sees them as distinct.

Q: What is the difference between Merge here and just deleting one of the duplicates?

Answer: Merge preserves the cell assignments; delete loses them.

Merge reassigns every cell from the duplicate to the master so no cells become unassigned. Delete just removes the symbol and leaves its cells unassigned, which you would then have to re-add via the Set Symbols step.

Q: Can I merge three or more symbols at once?

Answer: Yes - either accept a suggested group that contains three, or use the Browse All tray to put any number in.

All non-master symbols in the group fold into the master in a single merge action.

What's next?

 

When your confirmed-symbols list contains only genuine, distinct symbols, the next step is Set Colors.

Set Colors is where every symbol gets matched to a thread number and a display colour, ready for stitching. If the project already has a key page, much of this is done automatically.