Manage Duplicates Tool

The Manage Duplicates tool scans your entire contact list for identical or near-identical records and groups them for review. Instead of hunting for duplicates one by one, you run a scan and work through each flagged group — merging what belongs together and rejecting what doesn’t.

For step-by-step instructions on merging two records you’ve already found, see Merge Duplicate Contacts.

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Access and permissions

Role	Access
Admin	Full access — can scan, merge, and reject
Team member / User	No access

The tool works with both the classic and the new Contacts List View.

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Key limits

• 10 records per merge batch — if a group has more than 10 duplicates, merge in multiple passes.
• Duplicate detection checks primary email and primary phone fields only — secondary emails and phones are not scanned.
• Merges cannot be undone. Rejected entries are excluded from future scans for that field value.

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Open the Manage Duplicates tool

1. Go to Contacts in the main menu.
2. Click the ⋮ (three-dot menu) near the top of the Contacts list.
3. Select Manage Duplicates.

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Run a scan

1. Choose a Find By criterion:
   • Email (recommended — most reliable match)
   • Phone
   • Name
2. Click Find Duplicates.

The system scans your contact database and groups records that share the same value for the selected field.

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Review the results

Each duplicate group is shown as a collapsed row. Click the down arrow next to a group to expand it and see all matching contacts.

From an expanded group, you have two actions:

• Review — opens a side-by-side view of conflicting fields so you can choose which value to keep for each field, combine tags, and select the primary email or phone before merging.
• Reject — marks the entry so it is excluded from future duplicate scans for that value. Use this when two contacts share a field value but are genuinely different people.

Caution

Rejections cannot be undone. Rejected emails, phone numbers, or names are permanently excluded from future scans.

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Merge a duplicate group

1. Expand a group and optionally click Review to resolve field conflicts.
2. Select up to 10 records to include in the merge. The tool shows a “Limit reached 10/10” notice when you hit the ceiling.
3. Choose one record as the Master — this record retains its name, primary email, and primary phone. All related data (tasks, opportunities, notes, products) from the other records is combined into it.
4. Click Merge.
5. In the confirmation dialog, acknowledge that the action cannot be undone and click Merge Duplicates.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely cause	Fix
”No duplicates found”	Scan criterion too narrow	Try a different criterion — switch from Email to Phone or Name
”Limit reached (10/10)“	Too many records selected	Merge the first 10, then return and merge the next set
Merge button disabled	Confirmation not checked	Check the “I understand this cannot be undone” box
Manage Duplicates option missing	Not an Admin	Ask an Admin to run the scan

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Best practices

• Scan after bulk imports — CSV imports are the most common source of duplicates; run a scan once the import finishes.
• High-volume accounts benefit from weekly scans; lower-volume accounts can scan monthly.
• Standardize data entry — consistent formatting for names, phone numbers, and emails reduces false-positive matches and prevents future duplicates.
• Download signed documents before merging — documents do not transfer automatically to the master record.

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Common questions

What if “Allow Duplicate Contacts” is turned on in my settings? Duplicates can still be created through forms or integrations. The Manage Duplicates scan will surface them so you can merge manually.

Will conversations, opportunities, or appointments be lost? No — all related objects move to the master record during the merge, as long as you do not deselect them during the review step.

What happens to in-progress workflows? If the child contact is deleted during a merge, active workflow executions transfer to the master. If the master is already enrolled in the same workflow, the duplicate run stops. Check Execution Logs after a merge if a workflow appears to have stalled.

How often should I scan? High-volume accounts typically scan weekly; others scan monthly or after each bulk import.