Setting the Criteria for Finding Duplicate Matches

1. Navigate to Data Management > Merge Duplicates and select your database and object type.
2. In Step 1, click the Simple tab.
3. Click Add Field and select the field you want to match on.
4. Set the Comparison Rule for the field — Exact Match or Similar Match.
5. If needed, configure Ignored Elements and check the corresponding box under Ignored to enable them.
6. If needed, set Match Parts to limit the comparison to a specific portion of the field value.
7. Repeat to add additional matching fields.
8. To configure Related Fields for any matching field, click the Advanced tab and select up to two additional fields to compare alongside the primary field.
9. To set Conditions on any matching field, click the Conditions tab and select the condition to apply.
10. When finished, click Find.

Note: A field must be added on the Simple tab before it can be configured on the Advanced or Conditions tabs.

The image above shows the Simple tab in Step 1 (Find Duplicates) of the Merge Duplicates module, with two matching fields configured: Account Name using Exact Match with Symbols and Common Terms ignored, comparing the First 2 Words; and Website using Exact Match with Sub Domain ignored, comparing the Entire Value.

Field Selection controls which fields Insycle uses to identify potential duplicates. Choose fields that, in combination, provide strong evidence that matched records represent the same entity. The goal is to select fields that are unlikely to be identical across unrelated records.

Choosing Unique Identifiers

Matching duplicates requires unique identifiers — data that is unlikely to be shared by any other record unless it truly represents the same entity. If you rely only on fields that could legitimately share the same values across different records, you risk flagging unrelated records as duplicates and accidentally merging them.

Common Unique Identifiers by Object Type

For contacts, leads, and users:

• Email address
• Phone number
• Full name (first + last) combined with another identifier
• LinkedIn URL or other social profile URL
• Customer ID or external system ID

For companies, accounts, and organizations:

• Company domain or website
• Company name combined with location or industry
• Tax ID or registration number
• External system ID (Salesforce ID, HubSpot ID, ERP system ID, etc.)
• Phone number or main office address

For other object types:

• Transaction ID, account ID, or campaign ID
• Deal name combined with associated company
• Ticket number
• Any system-generated or externally synchronized ID

Field Length Requirement

Note: Values must be at least 4 characters long to be considered for matching. Standalone values such as "Joe," "Ace," or "Inc" are ignored during matching.

The image above shows the Step 1 Simple tab of the Merge Duplicates module with First Name, Last Name, and Phone configured as matching fields.

The Comparison Rule determines how strictly field values must align to be considered a match. Two options are available:

• Exact Match — Looks for values that are identical with no differences between records. Use Exact Match for fields that should never vary if they represent the same entity — email addresses, domain names, ID numbers, and consistently formatted phone numbers are all good candidates.
• Similar Match — Looks for values that are close but differ by one character, such as a typo, an extra character, or a missing character. This is often called fuzzy matching and helps find records with minor differences. For example, a Company Name of "Acme" could match records with values like "Akme," "Acm," or "Acma." Similar Match works best for text fields like names or company names where minor variations are common. Use it carefully and always review results to confirm the identified duplicates are what you expect. Start with Exact Match for reliable duplicates, then layer in Similar Match for edge cases.

Note: ID fields only work with Exact Match. Similar Match is not available for ID fields.

The image above points out the Comparison Rule parameters: Exact Match and Similar Match in the Step 1 Simple tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Ignored Elements

The Ignored Elements parameter lets you exclude specific parts of a field value from the matching process — such as text, whitespace, or special characters. These elements are not considered when Insycle compares records.

Available Ignore Options

• Symbols — Ignore punctuation and special characters. Useful when comparing phone numbers where formatting varies, for example (555) 123-4567 vs. 5551234567.
• Whitespace — Ignore spaces, tabs, and line breaks. Useful when comparing phone numbers or formatted text with inconsistent spacing.
• Subdomain — Ignore the subdomain portion of URLs or email domains (www., app., mail., etc.). For example, www.acme.com and acme.com would match.
• Top-Level Domain — Ignore the domain extension (.com, .co.uk, .org, etc.). For example, acme.com and acme.net would match.
• URL Path — Ignore everything after the domain in a URL (/about, /contact, /us/western-region, etc.). For example, acme.com/about and acme.com/contact would match.
• Common Terms — Ignore business entity suffixes and common words that appear in company names. Insycle comes preloaded with terms such as Inc., LLC, Corporation, and Company. Click the Terms button to view and edit the full list on the Common Terms tab.
   
  The image above shows the Terms button at the bottom of the Step 1 Simple tab of the Merge Duplicates module.
• Text (Substrings) — Ignore specific text strings you define. Click the Terms button, select the Ignored Text tab, and enter the text to ignore. Separate multiple strings with a new line. For example, you might ignore "Customer -" or "Account #" if these prefixes are applied inconsistently across records.

Enabling Ignored Elements

After configuring which elements to ignore, enable the setting by checking the corresponding box under Ignored — for example, Ignored > Common Terms or Ignored > Text (Substrings). The ignore rules do not apply unless the checkbox is selected.

The image above shows the Ignored options, with Common Terms checked in the Step 1 Simple tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Match Parts

Match Parts lets you compare only a specific portion of a field value rather than the entire value. This is useful when records contain the same core data but differ in formatting, prefixes, or suffixes.

Available Options

Entire Value — Compare the full field value. This is the default behavior.

Word-based matching:

• First Word, Last Word
• First 2–5 Words, Last 2–5 Words
• Any 2–4 Words (matches if any consecutive words match)

Character-based matching:

• First 3–12 Characters
• Last 3–12 Characters

When to Use Match Parts

Use Match Parts when a specific portion of a field value is consistent across duplicates but the full value varies. Common scenarios include:

• Phone numbers with inconsistent country codes — Use Last 10 Characters to match the core phone number while ignoring whether a country code is present, for example +1 555-123-4567 vs. 555-123-4567.
• URLs with varying subdomains or paths — Use First 10–15 Characters to match based on the core domain.
• Names with inconsistent prefixes or suffixes — Use First Word or Last Word to match on the primary name component.
• IDs with prefixes — Use Last 8–12 Characters to match the core ID while ignoring a prefix that may vary across records.
• Long field values that slow processing — When matching on fields with very long values such as LinkedIn profile URLs or other URLs with query strings, Insycle takes longer to process the comparison. If the unique portion of the value is at the beginning or end, use Match Parts to limit the comparison to just the first or last several characters. For example, use Last 9 Characters to match LinkedIn profiles like https://www.linkedin.com/in/svadinir-nemec-1234b31a3/ based only on the unique identifier at the end. Alternatively, use the Ignored Text (Substrings) option to exclude the common URL prefix (https://www.linkedin.com/in/) from the comparison entirely.

The image above shows the Match Parts dropdown with Last 9 Characters selected for a LinkedIn URL field in the Step 1 Simple tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Related Fields lets you compare data across up to three different fields as if they were a single field. This helps catch duplicates where the same information appears in different field locations across records.

For example, you might want to check both the Email field and the Additional Email field for matching values, or compare Phone, Business Phone, and Mobile Phone to find duplicates where the same number appears in different fields.

How to Configure Related Fields

1. On the Simple tab of Step 1, set up the primary field you want to match on.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Under Related Fields, select up to two additional fields that contain similar data. Insycle treats values from any of these fields as potential matches.

This is particularly useful when dealing with inconsistent data entry practices or records imported from different sources that map the same information to different fields.

The image above shows the Step 1 Advanced tab of the Merge Duplicates module, highlighting the Related Fields parameter configured with Email as the primary field and Additional Email Addresses selected as a related field.

Conditions add requirements that one or more records in a duplicate group must meet before the group is eligible for merging. Conditions let you control whether fields can be empty, require specific values, or set time-based parameters.

How to Set a Condition on a Field

1. On the Simple tab of Step 1, select the primary field you want to match on.
2. Click the Conditions tab.
3. Select the Condition option to configure for the field.

Available Conditions

• At Least One Record With Non-Empty — At least one record in the duplicate group must contain a value in this field. The other records in the group can have empty values.
• Value Required in All Records — Every record in the duplicate group must contain a value in this field to be considered a duplicate.
• At Least One Record Match — At least one record in the duplicate group must match a specified value, and the other records cannot be blank. If none of the records contain the specified value, the duplicate group will not be merged.
• Empty Allowed in Any Record — The duplicate group is identified even if this field is blank in one, many, or all of the records. Useful when a field is a secondary identifier. Requires using at least two fields to identify duplicates.
• Only One Record Match — If more than one record in the duplicate group contains the specified field value, the entire duplicate group is skipped and not merged. Use this to enforce uniqueness constraints.
• Within Timeframe — Limits duplicate detection to records created or modified within a specific time window (minutes, hours, or days). For example, find duplicates created within the last 20 minutes. Useful for catching duplicates created during high-volume import processes or live form submissions.
• Values Don't Match — All records in the duplicate group must have a value in this field, but the values cannot be identical across records. Use this to exclude previously processed duplicates from subsequent deduplication runs.

The image above shows the Step 1 Conditions tab of the Merge Duplicates module, with an example of each available condition.