Merge Duplicates Troubleshooting

If the Result is "Failed" and the Message column of the CSV report displays this text:

Change rules in Step 3 'Master Selection'. Failed to pick master record because multiple records (X) meet the selection criteria. In 'Master Selection', change, add, or reorder the rules such that only one record matches (if cannot determine master based on field values, use 'Record ID is lowest' as the last rule).

This means Insycle could not determine which record in the duplicate group should become the master — none of the records meet more of the rules than the others.

There are a few things you can try to resolve this:

1. Under Step 3, on the Master tab, experiment with reordering or adding rules based on fields that are likely to have unique values across your records. Think about what matters most to your business — the fields that would make one record clearly more valuable or authoritative than another. For example:

   • A field that stores an ID linked to an external system, such as an ERP, data warehouse, or proprietary internal tool — the record with that ID populated is likely the one your other systems depend on
   • The record with the highest number of associated records (contacts, deals, activities) — indicating it has accumulated more history and relationships
   • A field indicating CRM ownership or account status — for example, a record marked as "Customer" vs. "Lead," or one with an active owner assigned
   • A field that tracks revenue, subscription tier, or engagement level — the record with higher values may represent the more complete or current entry
   • A custom field your team uses to flag record quality or data source reliability

   The goal is to surface the fields that reflect record importance for your specific operations, not just default system fields.

2. Also on the Step 3 Master tab, confirm that By Priority is selected rather than Absolute.

   With By Priority, a record only needs to match one rule to be selected as master. With Absolute, a record must meet all rule criteria, which makes it much harder for any single record to qualify.

   In most cases, By Priority is the right choice. If By Priority is already selected and the error persists, none of the records in the group meet any of the criteria more than the others. Return to the Master tab and continue adding or reordering rules, focusing on the business-critical fields described in #1 above.

   

3. As a last resort, add a rule on the Master tab that uses Record ID is lowest, or Create Date is earliest. These rules will always produce a unique winner, ensuring master selection can complete even when other field-based rules cannot differentiate the records.

Most of the time, when Insycle can't find duplicates, it is due to your matching rules in Step 1. It is important to analyze the underlying data to better understand how to set up your rules. A helpful exercise for contacts is to set up your matching filters to find exact matches on only First Name and Last Name. For companies, you can use Company Name.

When you click Find, these rules can show you a broad overview of what duplicates are potentially in your database and what fields might be useful to include in your matching fields. These settings are just for discovery and should not be used for a final merge operation; many people can have the same first and last names and are not duplicates. 

To get further context, on Step 2, click the layout gear button on the right side of the title bar. Here, you can add any field from your database as a column in the duplicate group review to better understand the data in these records. These will also appear in your CSV report. 

There are a couple of things to look at that may be causing records to be misidentified as duplicates.

First, you may need a better unique identifier. Under Step 1, if you use only fields that can correctly contain the same values across multiple records, they aren't unique identifiers. In this case, you are likely to identify unrelated records as duplicates and may accidentally merge them.

Unique identifiers are data unlikely to be shared by any other record unless they represent the same underlying entity. Common fields used for deduplication include phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, and ID numbers.

Second, this may indicate the Comparison Rule under Step 1 is too broad. Try using the Exact Match comparison rule instead of the Similar Match rule. Similar Match looks for values that may be close, even with a one-character difference (e.g., a typo), broadening the search. 

Remember to always run your deduplication in Preview Mode to confirm it's working as expected before running it in Update Mode and applying the changes to your CRM records.

You have duplicate records that have been identified by Insycle but not all of them are merging into the master. 

Look at the Exclusions at the bottom of Step 3 to see how many duplicates are in the affected duplicate groups. If you have duplicate groups with more than 5 records, you may want to change the Skip duplicate groups with more than [5] records per group setting to ensure you get all of them.

This 5-record default is intended to prevent accidental merging of non-duplicate records when the filter in Step 1 is too broad.

Field rules in Step 3 can only update writable fields. Read-only fields are not shown in the Fields tab dropdown because the CRM prevents these properties from being written back. Insycle excludes them from the field selection options to prevent errors.

While you cannot create field rules for read-only properties in the Fields tab, you can use them in the Master tab. Read-only fields, such as "Last Activity Date," can be used to make merge decisions without attempting to modify those properties.

You can also use read-only properties for filtering and matching in Step 1. Read-only fields are also available when reviewing data in Step 2 or in the CSV report.

To identify which fields are read-only, use the Cleanse Data module. Navigate to Data Management > Cleanse Data, then select a database and record type from the top menu. You can search for a specific field by name or click the Writable heading in the table to sort and review all writable or non-writable fields. A checked box in the Writable column indicates the field is writable.

It can take Insycle a while to find and match duplicates when the fields used to identify them have very long values. The longer the values, the longer it takes Insycle to process the data and generate the results. This might come up when looking for matches based on long ID numbers, LinkedIn bio links, or other URLs with long strings attached (ex, https://www.linkedin.com/in/svadin%C3%ADr-n%C4%9Bmec-1234b31a3/).

You can speed this up by limiting how much of the value Insycle looks at.

If the beginning or ending portion of the values are all unique, you can limit the comparison to the first or last several characters using the Match Parts parameter under Step 1. 

Or use the Ignore Text (Substrings) parameter, then click the Terms button.

On the Ignored Text tab of the popup, add the common portion of the URL or text string.

If you are running a bulk merge operation on custom objects for the first time, you may see the message "Please contact support@insycle.com to enable bulk merge for type: [Custom Object Name]."

By default, you can manually merge custom objects that have been synced with Insycle, but before you can bulk merge duplicate custom objects, they must be enabled for your account. This message indicates the step has not been completed yet. 

To enable bulk custom object merging for your account, please contact Insycle support by email at support@insycle.com or via the live chat at the bottom of every page on the Insycle website or in the app.

Learn more about using custom objects and fields in Insycle.

The image below shows the Bulk Merge Result popup showing the "Please contact support@insycle.com to enable bulk merge for type: Custom Demo" message.

Most of the time, when Insycle can't find duplicates, it's because your matching rules in Step 1 aren't set correctly. However, before making any changes, verify that the fields you're using for duplicate detection are properly synced between HubSpot and Insycle.

First, check field synchronization. 

Go to Settings > Fields and make sure the Sync toggle is enabled (yellow), or the Automation box is checked for all fields you're using in Step 1.

Then, analyze matching rules. 

To analyze the underlying data and better understand how to set up your rules in Step 1, a helpful exercise is to configure your matching filters to find exact matches for only First Name and Last Name. Or for companies, you could use company name.

When you click Find, these rules can show you a broad overview of what duplicates are potentially in your database and what fields might be useful to include in your matching fields. These settings are intended for discovery purposes only and should not be used for a final merge operation, as many individuals may share the same first and last names without being duplicates. 

For more context, in Step 2, click the gear button on the right side of the title bar. Here, you can add any field from your database as a column in the duplicate group review to better understand the data in these records. These will also appear in your CSV report.

If you're having issues with your HubSpot properties missing or not working as expected during merge duplicate operations, it could be due to field inclusion settings or read-only fields.

Issue 1: Field Inclusion Settings

Fields must be included in your Insycle dataset to be available throughout the application.

To check and enable field inclusion:

1. Navigate to Settings > Fields
2. Select your database and object type from the top menu
3. Use the search to find the field you need
4. Verify that the Included toggle is enabled (yellow = on, grey = off), or the Automation box is checked
5. If not, toggle the Included control to the 'On' position

Learn more about managing the HubSpot fields included in Incycle.

Issue 2: Read-Only Field Restrictions

If a field is included but still doesn't appear in the Fields tab under Step 3, it may be a read-only field.

Field rules in Step 3 can only update writable fields. Read-only fields are not shown in the Fields tab dropdown because HubSpot prevents these properties from being written back. Insycle excludes them from the field selection options to prevent errors.

Where you CAN use read-only fields:

• Master tab (Step 3): Use read-only fields like "Last Activity Date" to make merge decisions without attempting to modify those properties
• Step 1: Use for filtering and matching duplicates
• Step 2: Review data in the Record Viewer
• CSV reports: Include as columns for analysis

Where you CANNOT use read-only fields:

• Fields tab (Step 3): Cannot create field retention rules for read-only properties

To identify which fields are read-only:

1. Navigate to Data Management > Cleanse Data
2. Search for a specific field by name, or click the Writable heading in the table to sort and review all writable or non-writable fields
3. A checked box in the Writable column indicates the field is writable; an unchecked box means it is read-only

If you see the following error for a HubSpot record after you run an operation:

“Cannot merge object [ID] in portal [ID]. It already has more than 250 objects merged into it.”

This suggests that too many duplicates are trying to merge into a single record.

What’s Happening

HubSpot enforces a strict limit on merges. A contact, company, or deal cannot have more than 250 merged records associated with it. HubSpot tracks all previous merges using the read-only property called Merged Record IDs. When a record has already reached (or will reach) 250 merged items, HubSpot blocks any further merges. There is no way to clear or edit this field, or to bypass the limit in the HubSpot app.

Solution

As a workaround, you can switch to Insycle’s Synthetic Merge. In the Merge Duplicates module, go to Step 3 and select the Method tab. Switch the Merge API option from Native to Synthetic. If this is a template, don't forget to save. 

For more details, refer to this Native Merge vs. Synthetic Merge info.

Occasionally, after you run a merge operation, you may see the message: "Underlying error message from Salesforce" in the Merge Result popup. This indicates there is an issue on the Salesforce side that needs to be investigated in Salesforce. One example of this error is shown in the screenshot below: "Underlying error message from Salesforce: Use one of these records?" 

It's worth checking for any rules relating to the record type in the Duplicate or Matching Management settings for your Salesforce account.

Go to Setup > Data > Duplicate Management > Duplicate Rules or Matching Rules.

You may need to turn these rules off before Insycle can proceed with the merge to prevent the error. You can either completely disable them to manage all duplicates through Insycle or disable and enable the rules as needed.