Use the Merge Contact screen to combine two Contact records for the same person into one. This keeps CRM data accurate for reporting and day-to-day work, and it is often needed because a Contact with bookings or financial records can’t be deleted. Contacts are merged one pair at a time. The merged Contact’s registrations, tasks, opportunities and other records move to the Contact you keep, and the merged Contact is then deleted. A merge cannot be undone.
Your user role needs the Contact - Merge permission in addition to Contact - edit and Contact - delete. When this permission was introduced, it was granted to every role, for each company, that already had Contact edit or Contact delete permission there, so anyone who could merge before can still merge. An administrator can remove it from a role to stop that role merging.
In this article:
- Step 1: Open the Merge Contact screen
- Step 2: Choose the Contact to keep
- Step 3: Choose the values to keep
- Step 4: Review what the merge will do
- Step 5: Confirm the merge
- Individual Contacts
- When a merge is refused
- After the merge
- FAQ
Step 1: Open the Merge Contact screen
You can open the screen from three places:
- A Contact record: select Options > Merge Contact. The screen opens with this Contact. Under Contact to Merge, search for and select the other Contact. The comparison appears as soon as you select it. An individual Contact (one with its own individual Account) is not offered this option. Use the possible-duplicates banner instead, or see Individual Contacts.
- The possible-duplicates banner: when a Contact has possible duplicates, a banner on its page reads This contact has N possible duplicates. The same banner appears on an individual Account’s page for its Contact. It names up to five of them and why each matched, and counts the rest. Select Review next to one to open the screen with both Contacts already chosen.
- The Potential Duplicate Contacts list: in the Control Panel, under CRM, select Potential Contact Duplicates, then Review on a group. After a merge started from the list, you return to it. See Potential Duplicates.
If the two Contacts are different people, select Not a Duplicate on the review screen instead of merging them. A confirmation names both Contacts before you dismiss the pair.
Step 2: Choose the Contact to keep
Under Contact to Keep, each option shows the two roles side by side: Keep: the Contact that survives, and Merge and Delete: the Contact whose records move to it and which is then deleted. The Contact you started from is kept at first, and you can keep either one. The screen heading shows which Contact is kept, for example Keep: Pat Smith (Contact ID: 100). Changing the Contact to keep clears any choices you have made below.
The kept Contact retains its own ID. Opening the merged and deleted Contact’s URL redirects to the kept Contact. Bookmarks and integrations that used the merged Contact’s ID must use the kept ID from then on. If either Contact has external IDs, the screen shows this warning:
WARNING: One or both Contacts have External IDs (xIDs). These are often used by integrations syncing data between Administrate and other systems. Check which Contact ID your integrations use before choosing the Contact to keep!
External IDs move to the kept Contact only when it has no external ID with the same name.
Step 3: Choose the values to keep
The comparison table shows the two Contacts side by side, marked KEEP and DELETE. Select a name at the top of a column to open that Contact in a new tab.
- Details lists each field where the Contacts differ. Select the value you want. Where you make no choice, the kept Contact keeps a value it has, and a blank is filled from the merged Contact. Fields that match are shown without a choice, and fields empty on both Contacts are counted under the table rather than listed.
- Staff and Unsubscribed from Communications combine: the kept Contact has the flag if either Contact has it, unless you choose a side.
- Custom fields work the same way: blank values fill from the merged Contact unless you choose. A restricted custom field that none of your roles can edit is shown without a choice. The kept Contact’s value stays, even when it is blank, and the merged Contact’s value is lost.
- You can deliberately choose a blank value by selecting the side that is empty. The merge then leaves the field empty, subject to the Contact’s required-field rules.
Workplaces, staff roles, spoken languages and the supervisor are not chosen. The kept Contact holds both Contacts’ entries, and keeps its own supervisor where it has one.
Step 4: Review what the merge will do
Under Before you merge, the screen lists what will happen:
- how many registrations, tasks and opportunities move to the kept Contact
- any events and learning paths both Contacts are on. The merged Contact’s registration or assignment is cancelled, without a cancellation email. Events and learning paths you can’t view are counted but not named.
- how many events are updated because the merged Contact’s staff assignments move
- the individual Account merged into another Account, if any (see Individual Contacts)
- how many restricted custom fields none of your roles can edit, whose merged Contact value is lost
- what happens to logins: the merged Contact’s logins move to the kept Contact where the kept Contact has none for that brand. Otherwise they are deleted.
- that the kept Contact retains its ID, and that active webhooks may run for the changes
If the merge can’t go ahead, the screen shows This merge can’t go ahead with the reasons instead, and Merge and Delete stays unavailable. See When a merge is refused.
Step 5: Confirm the merge
Type the name of the Contact that will be merged and deleted where the screen asks you to Type “…” to confirm merging and deleting it, then select Merge and Delete.
The merge runs as one change. If anything fails, both Contacts are left as they were. When it succeeds you land on the kept Contact (or back on the Potential Duplicate Contacts list), with a message confirming the merge.
Individual Contacts
An individual Contact has its own individual Account. When either Contact is an individual, the merge also merges Accounts:
- Both Contacts are individuals: the merged Contact’s individual Account is merged into the kept Contact’s.
- One individual and one organisation Contact: the individual Account is merged into the organisation’s Account, whichever Contact you keep, so the kept Contact ends up on the organisation’s Account.
The individual Account’s registrations, invoices and other records move with it, and it is then deleted. The screen names it under Before you merge. Because this is also an Account merge, you need the Account - edit, Account - delete and Account - Merge permissions too. See Merging Accounts.
When a merge is refused
If your user role is limited to particular companies, the merge is refused when you lack delete permission for the company of the Contact being merged and deleted, edit permission for the company of the kept Contact, edit permission for a company whose Account membership the merge would move to the kept Contact, or the Contact - Merge permission for either Contact’s company. The message names the Contact, the company and the permission you are missing. For example:
- You need delete permission for company ‘Acme Ltd’ to merge away contact ‘Pat Smith’ (ID …).
- You need edit permission for company ‘Acme Ltd’ to merge into contact ‘Pat Smith’ (ID …).
- You need merge permission for company ‘Acme Ltd’ to merge contact ‘Pat Smith’ (ID …).
To resolve a refusal, ask an administrator to grant the missing permission for that company, or ask a user who is not company-limited to run the merge.
A merge is also refused when you choose values that break the Contact’s required-field rules, or when keeping both email addresses would duplicate another Contact’s email while duplicate emails are not allowed.
After the merge
The merge is recorded on the kept Contact’s Audit tab, with the merged and deleted Contact’s ID, the field changes the merge made and the choices requested. The deletion is recorded for the merged Contact. Every merge of Contacts you can see is listed on the Merge Log tab of the Potential Duplicate Contacts list, with a View Audit link to the kept Contact’s history.
Validate the kept Contact after the merge:
- personal details, email addresses and phone numbers
- registrations, learning paths and event history
- logins
- custom field values, where the two Contacts held different values
FAQ
What moves to the kept Contact?
Everything linked to the merged Contact, including registrations and bookings, tasks, opportunities, staff assignments, workplaces and Account memberships, staff roles, spoken languages and logins (where the kept Contact has none for that brand). The merged Contact is then deleted.
What is cancelled or lost?
- Where both Contacts are registered on the same event or learning path, the merged Contact’s registration or assignment is cancelled, without a cancellation email.
- Field values you did not choose from the merged Contact, unless they filled a blank on the kept Contact.
- Values of restricted custom fields none of your roles can edit, even where the kept Contact’s value is blank.
- External IDs whose name the kept Contact already has.
- Logins for a brand the kept Contact already has a login for.
- Any pairs the merged Contact was marked Not a Duplicate with.
Can I merge several Contacts into one?
Yes. Merge them in pairs until one Contact remains, checking what you keep at each step.