Will my updated thesaurus over-write the existing IM thesaurus upon import?

[jma]

1) I recently exported my current IMatch thesaurus and made a number of changes to it (such as adding new keywords and hierarchies and synonyms...) using a text editor.  Now I am wondering what happens when I re-import it into IMatch.  Will it replace (over-write) my old thesaurus---or will it append (add) my changes to the existing thesaurus?

2) And one more question---Will IMatch import synonyms if I use the following "bracket" {xxx} syntax:

      gray
         {grey}
         shade of gray
            ash gray
            battleship gray

As always, Thanks.
---John

[Mario]

1. Backup your thesaurus before importing. Just export it in the standard IMatch thesaurus format.
If things go wrong, you can restore your thesaurus from there and start over.

2. IMatch will prompt you if you want to merge or replace.

3. The thesaurus import understands [] and {} when you used them precisely as Lr does it.
Did you take care for proper tab stops and character set in your editor?

I don't really know what you did with a text editor, this does not look like the native XML format IMatch is using for the thesaurus...?
Did you maybe use the "export to text", which is intended to feed IMatch thesauri into other applications? Hm...

IMatch can import simple text ("Lightroom") catalogs from a text file, but this is usually done only once, to initially import a thesaurus. Or to import a controlled vocabulary as a starting point.
It is not really designed to export a thesaurus and then later re-import it. None of the advanced attributes and properties IMatch maintains for keywords in the thesaurus can be stored in this text format, only in the native XML format.  When you replace the thesaurus from a flat text file, IMatch will use default values for all thesaurus properties. Not sure if this will cause any problems for your thesaurus.

[jma]

Thanks Mario.
I'll apply your recommendations and test it out.
--John