User added taxa are not over written by subsequent dictionary upgrades. When the taxon is set up you will need to move the records for it to the new Recorder taxon.

There are various views on the best way to add taxa. What I tend to advise is that you add taxa to just one list and not try to put them into the correct place in the hierarchy.  You can add a new top level into a Dictionary list and call this say 'My User Added Taxa', then you can add any new taxa into this as children of this level, without worrying about any hierarchy.  If you are a general Recorder the then R3.3 list is as good a place as any.  For example

1. In R6 select from the Edit Taxon Details from the Dictionary menu, Then find the R3.3 list
2. Make sure the top line (order) is highlighted and click Add, then choose 'Sibling'.
3. On the right hand side enter 'My Added Taxa' as the Name and select the rank as unknown.
4. Save this, and the line will appear in the list of taxa
5. Highlight this line and click on Add, and choose 'Child'
6. On the right hand side type in the name of the taxa you wish to use and select the appropriate rank (normally species).
7. Save this.
8. Additional taxa can then be added as children of 'My Added Taxa'. (5 to 7 above)

If you record just one group then you can use the preferred list for the group rather than R3.3 list .

Adding taxa this way makes them easy to find, when you are doing input or matching to imported data and also easier to manage when the taxa finally get added to the Recorder Dictionary. The disadvantage is that reports down the taxaonomic hierarchy will not include them, but this doesn't work very well anyway at the moment.

Mike

User added taxa are not exported. The use of user added taxa is considered a temporary measure pending the taxa being added to the dictionary.