Potential Duplicates

Administrate flags Contacts as potential duplicates when they look like the same person entered twice. You can resolve a duplicate by correcting one of the Contacts (for example, its name or email address), by marking the pair Not a Duplicate, or by merging the two Contacts.

How duplicates are found

Administrate compares Contacts, including individual Contacts, in four ways:

Same Email: the Contacts share an email address.
Same Phone: the Contacts share a mobile or telephone number. Numbers are compared on their digits alone and must have at least 7 digits. A number shared by more than 5 Contacts is treated as a switchboard or reception number and ignored.
Same Name: the Contacts have the same first and last name.
Similar Name: the Contacts have the same last name and first names that are a small spelling difference apart (Jon and John) or another form of the same name. A Contact’s own banner also finds Contacts with the same first name and a close last name.

An email address or full name shared by more than 200 Contacts is a placeholder or a very common name rather than one person entered twice, and is not offered. A similar-name group of more than 50 Contacts is not offered either.

A match on email or phone is Strong: the Contacts are very likely the same person. A match on name alone is Name Only, a starting point to check rather than a finding.

On a Contact

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, with the reasons each matched, and counts the rest. Each named Contact has Review, if you can merge Contacts, to open the Merge Contact screen with both Contacts chosen. You can merge the Contacts or mark them Not a Duplicate from that review screen.

The banner checks this one Contact as it opens, so it finds its matches even when the Potential Duplicate Contacts list is capped and doesn’t show them yet. For a very common first name, its Similar Name check compares a limited number of last names, so it may not find every similar-name match.

The Potential Duplicate Contacts list

Go to the Control Panel and, under CRM, select Potential Contact Duplicates. The page has two tabs.

Potential Duplicates lists groups of Contacts that matched each other. The header shows how many groups are listed and how many each kind of match found (Same Email, Same Phone, Same Name, Similar Name). A group matched two ways counts under both. Each row lists the group’s Contacts, its size, how they matched and its Strength. Strong groups are listed first. Select a column heading to sort, or use the filters on Contacts and Match.

The list shows at most 250 groups, filled from the strongest kind of match down. When a kind of match reaches that limit, its count reads 250+ and the page says Showing the first 250 groups for each kind of match. Merge them or mark them Not a Duplicate to see the next. Sorting and filtering apply to the groups shown. As you merge groups or mark them Not a Duplicate, the next ones come into view. Similar names are compared for a limited number of Contacts each time the list opens. When that limit is reached, the page says so, and more similar-name groups appear as the ones shown are resolved.

Select Review on a group to open the Merge Contact screen with its oldest pair still to review, the older Contact preselected as the one to keep. You can change that on the screen. After a merge started from the list, you return to it.

Merge Log lists every merge of Contacts you can see, newest first: When, the Contact that was Merged and Deleted, the Contact that was Kept (linked), and By whom, with a View Audit link to the kept Contact’s Audit tab.

Not a Duplicate

When two suggested Contacts are different people, select Review for the pair on the Contact’s banner or the Potential Duplicate Contacts list, then select Not a Duplicate on the review screen. A confirmation names both Contacts before you dismiss the pair. The pair is no longer suggested together: it leaves the banner and the list. In a group of three or more, only that pair is dismissed and the group stays listed for the rest. A group drops out of the list once every pair in it is dismissed. Both Contacts’ Audit tabs record the change.

To undo it, select Show Groups Marked Not Duplicates on the Potential Duplicates tab and use Mark as Duplicate Again on the group.

Marking a pair needs edit permission for both Contacts. When a Contact is merged away or deleted, its dismissed pairs are removed with it.

Merge contacts

Merging combines two Contacts into one. You choose which Contact to keep and, field by field, which values win where they differ. The merged Contact’s records move to the kept Contact, and the merged Contact is then deleted. Merges can’t be undone, and they happen two Contacts at a time.

Merging needs the Contact - Merge permission in addition to Contact edit and delete.

For the full walkthrough, see Merge Tool Guide.

FAQ

Can I merge multiple contacts into one contact?

Yes. Merge Contacts in pairs until you have a single remaining Contact. At each step, check you are keeping the correct information before confirming the merge.

Why doesn’t the list show every duplicate?

The list is capped at 250 groups so it opens quickly on large instances. Merge or dismiss the groups shown to bring the next ones into view. A Contact’s own banner checks that Contact separately (see On a Contact).