# Enable creating children for synonymized nodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Trees\ **Tags:** Specify-7, Members-only\ **Created:** [January 12, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987 "2023-01-12T02:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/1 "2023-01-12T02:43:10Z")
> 📖 This guide explains how to enable a preference that allows synonymizing a node that has children and adding children to a synonymized node. > [!warning] Specify 7.12+ > If you are using Specify 7.12 or newer, this should be set in [Collection Preferences](https://speciforum.org/t/collection-preferences/3281)! This has been requested by many members of the consortium, including @Ben, @Plarson, @Schuchert , and @HeatherC. You can enable this functionality by adding this line to your **Remote User Prefs** file in the [App Resources](https://speciforum.org/t/app-resources-in-specify-7/582) viewer. If you have any questions or need some help, please feel free to send us a message! ### Allow Adding Children to Synonymized Parents & Synonymizing a Node with Children ```auto sp7.allow_adding_child_to_synonymized_parent.TREENAME=true ``` You will need to replace `TREENAME` with `Taxon` or any other tree you wish to enable this behavior for. For instance, if you wished to modify the behavior of the Taxon tree, you would add this line to your `Remote User Prefs` file: ```auto sp7.allow_adding_child_to_synonymized_parent.Taxon=true ``` ---
**Author:** ![HeatherC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HeatherC](https://speciforum.org/u/HeatherC)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/2 "2023-01-12T14:12:23Z")
Very interesting! will this also allow a ‘parent’ node (that has a child) to be synonymized to another node? I ran into this use-case this week. It doesn’t follow all the taxon rules, but relates to legacy and Type nomenclature that we want to maintain (but not encourage further). Thanks for this insight, I will be looking into learning more about how to personalize these preferences. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 2:16pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/3 "2023-01-12T14:16:36Z")
Hi @HeatherC, Yes it will! Once enabled, you will be able to synonymize a node with children. This will be included in the Specify 7.8.4 release which will be available in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to have the latest changes on your current instance of Specify Cloud, we can push them sooner! ---
**Author:** ![HeatherC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HeatherC](https://speciforum.org/u/HeatherC)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/4 "2023-01-12T14:32:56Z")
That sounds great, at the moment, it isn’t urgent for us, so no problem waiting for the next release. But, this does give me some ideas for different Tree behaviour that I wonder if it can be customized… will create a new thread and link. Possible to customize taxon query? > [@Records missing from Taxon Tree 'counts'](https://speciforum.org/t/records-missing-from-taxon-tree-counts/947/5): > > Since this is implicitly related, I thought I would add here, instead of starting a new thread. I am spending some time ‘pruning’ our taxon tree. Often that means I am using the query function to review records connected to a node. When I do this, I want to see ‘all’ of them, not just those with current dets. Is there a way that I can configure my default preferences for this taxon query to be ‘any’ instead of ‘True or Empty’? It isn’t too bad to edit the query each time, BUT once I … ---
**Author:** ![alexis.beck](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/alexis.beck/32/4246_2.png) [@alexis.beck](https://speciforum.org/u/alexis.beck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/5 "2024-12-16T16:26:26Z")
Hi, thanks for this thread. However, I think a big thing which is missing is the hability of the preferred taxon to take into account the synonymy made at a higher rank. If I do synonymize two families, I’d like that this change is reflected on the concerned species : a CO determination should have this change reflected in the accepted field I do understand why it doesn’t work this way, due to the way the full name is displayed from the preferred id but did you inquiry on a solution for this issue? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![nfshoobs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/nfshoobs/32/3979_2.png) [@nfshoobs](https://speciforum.org/u/nfshoobs)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/6 "2026-04-13T20:22:43Z")
Question – how does the new menu for this in Specify 7.12 interact with the preferences set in the remote preferences file? Or is the new menu more like a visual editor that will be consistent with the remote prefs? I ask because we have this remote pref turned on, but the picker box was unchecked when I first opened the menu. ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/enable-creating-children-for-synonymized-nodes/987/7 "2026-04-14T20:14:01Z")
The new preference replaces this preference rather than acting as a visual editor for this setting! If you are using Specify 7.12 or newer, this should be set in [Collection Preferences](https://speciforum.org/t/collection-preferences/3281)!