A way to duplicate referenced content instead of duplicating the reference in arrays

[campbell-hay]

I encountered a problem recently. Basically on a project, I had an array of references to long documents, and when my client tried to create a duplicate, then suddenly the duplicate and the old one were linked. It created quite a bit of panic because the original document had many things in it that were lost. At first I thought it was a bug related to slugs on duplicated objects. But now it makes sense to me. I understand we are basically duplicating a reference. However, while it makes sense to me, it is difficult to explain to my clients.

I have found at least a way of avoiding catastrophes by adding a "unique()" validation on the field. That way they cannot duplicate and change the original by mistake.

However I was wondering if there is any way to achieve what my client expected to do. i.e. a button that would basically create a new reference and copy the content of another referenced entry. Maybe a button instead of "Duplicate".

Thank you in advance for your feedbacks.