Keeping the Right Data When Records Merge

1. Navigate to Data Management > Merge Duplicates and select your database and object type.
2. In Step 1, configure your matching fields to identify potential duplicates, then click Find.
3. In Step 2, review the duplicate groups to confirm the results look correct before proceeding.
4. In Step 3, click the Fields tab.
5. Click Add Rule.
6. Under Field Name, select the field you want to configure a retention rule for.
7. Under Criteria, select how the field value should be determined during the merge.
8. If applicable, select a Condition to further refine which value is retained.
9. Repeat to add rules for any additional fields that require special handling.

Note: Only writable fields can have retention rules configured in the Fields tab. Read-only fields such as Record ID cannot be written back to your CRM and are not available in the Field Name dropdown. You do not need to create a rule for every field — only fields that require handling beyond the default fill-in-the-blanks behavior.

The image above shows the Field Name dropdown open with a list of available writable fields in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

The Criteria setting determines where the field value comes from and how it is handled during the merge. The following options are available.

From master record — Use the value that exists in the master record. If the master field is blank, the value from the most recently updated duplicate is used automatically.

Example: Keep the Owner or LinkedIn URL from the selected master record.

The image above shows the Contact Owner field configured with the 'From master record' criteria in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

From master record (even empty) — If the field on the master record is blank, keep it blank. Do not automatically fill it with a value from the most recently updated duplicate.

Use this when you specifically want the field to remain empty rather than inherit a value from a duplicate.

Example: If you are merging test records into production records and the test records contain invalid data, use this criteria to preserve the master's empty state rather than copying bad data forward.

The image above shows the Annual Revenue field configured with the 'From master record (even empty)' criteria in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Most frequent value — If the same value appears in multiple records within the duplicate group, use the value that appears most frequently.

Example: If three records have "Industry = Software" and one has "Industry = Technology," the master will be set to "Software."

The image above shows the Phone Number field configured with the 'Most frequent value' criteria in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

From record where value — Select data from one of the records in the duplicate group based on the field's own value. Available options vary by field type:

• For number fields: highest, lowest
• For date fields: earliest, latest
• For text fields: exists, doesn't exist, specific value matches

Example: Keep the Employees count from the record with the highest number of employees.

The image above shows the Employees field configured with the 'From record where value' criteria and Highest value selected in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

From record based on other field value — Use a different field's value as the decision criteria for selecting which record's data to keep for this field.

Example 1: Keep the Owner from the record where Industry contains "Software" or "Technology."

The image above shows the Owner field configured with the 'From record based on other field value' criteria, using Industry as the Other Field and 'Contains Software or Technology' as the deciding value, in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Example 2: Select the Company Name from the record with the earliest Created Date.

The image above shows the Company Name field configured with 'From record based on other field value' criteria, using Create Date field value is earliest as the deciding parameter in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Combine and append all values — Merge the values from the selected field across all records in the group, concatenating them to preserve data from each duplicate.

Example: If there is a Notes field, consolidate the notes from all duplicates into the master so no historical context is lost.

The image above shows the Notes field configured with the 'Combine and append all values' criteria in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Rollup numbers — Aggregate numeric values from all records in the duplicate group. Available rollup types:

• Sum — Add all values together.
• Average — Calculate the mean value.
• Max — Keep only the largest value.
• Min — Keep only the smallest value.

Example: If duplicate contact records each have an "Amount Donated" field showing donations from different time periods, sum them and save the total to the master record.

The image above shows the Amount Donated field configured with the 'Rollup numbers' criteria and Sum parameter selected in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Collect all values from other field — Copy and combine values from a specified source field into a destination field. This preserves data by moving it from one field location to another during the merge.

To configure: select the destination field under Field Name, then select the source field under Other Field.

Example: Preserve the Owner values from all duplicates by collecting them into a custom "Previous Owners" field. Or collect Record IDs from all duplicates into a "Merged Record IDs" field for tracking purposes.

The image above shows the Insycle Merged Record IDs field configured with the 'Collect all values from other field' criteria with Record ID as the source field in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Collect non-master values from other field — Aggregate values from all duplicates except the master, excluding any values that match the master's value. This ensures you only collect unique values that differ from what is already in the master.

To configure: select the destination field under Field Name, then select the source field under Other Field.

Example: If you want a record of the Record IDs that were removed during the merge (excluding the master's ID), create a custom "Merged Record IDs" field in your CRM, then use this criteria to collect only the non-master IDs. This is helpful when you need to track which records were merged for cross-system cleanup or audit purposes.

The image above shows the Merged Contact IDs field configured with the 'Collect non-master values from other field' criteria with Record ID as the source field in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

Conditions define the logical criteria that determine which values are retained during the merge. When you add a condition to a field rule, Insycle evaluates each record's value against your criteria and only retains the value if the condition is met. Not all Criteria options support conditions — when available, the Condition dropdown appears next to the Criteria you have selected.

Standard Conditions

These are available across most field types:

• Is / Is not — Match or exclude an exact value. For example, retain the Country field only when it is "United States."
• Contains / Does not contain — Match or exclude based on whether the value includes specific text. For example, retain the Website field only when it contains "acme."
• Exists / Does not exist — Filter based on whether the field has any value at all. For example, retain the Phone field only from a record where a phone number exists.
• Regex — Use a regular expression pattern for more precise matching. Useful for values that follow a known format, such as ID numbers or postal codes.

Picklist and Lookup Conditions

For fields that use a dropdown or reference another record:

• Any of / Not any of — Select or exclude multiple values at once without needing pipe separators. For example, retain the Lifecycle Stage only when it is one of the following: Customer, Opportunity, or Lead.

Field-Type-Specific Conditions

Certain field types unlock additional condition options:

• Owner fields — Active user. Retains the value only from a record where the owner is currently an active user in your CRM.
• Email fields — Not role-based (info@, etc.), Work domain (non-Gmail, etc.), Personal domain (Gmail, etc.). Filters based on the type of email address. For example, only keep the Secondary Email value if it uses a personal domain like outlook.com or gmail.com.
• Number fields — Available when using the Rollup numbers Criteria. Choose how to aggregate: sum, average, max, or min.

The image above shows the Merge Logic, Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module with eight fields configured with a variety of merge strategies, including pulling values from a record meeting a specific condition, rolling up numeric values, and collecting values from non-master records. 

Using Conditions with Multiple Values

Several conditions support combining multiple values in a single rule using pipe-separated syntax. To match against more than one value with Is, Is not, Contains, or Does not contain, separate each value with a pipe character ( | ).

Example: To retain the Country field when it contains either "United States" or "Canada," enter: United States|Canada

For picklist fields, use Any of or Not any of instead — these let you select multiple options from a list without needing pipe separators.

  Be Careful with Multiple "Is Not" Rules on the Same Field

If you create two separate negative rules for the same field — for example, "Country is not UK" followed by "Country is not US" — they can work against each other. A record with Country = UK will fail the first rule but pass the second ("is not US"), so UK could still end up being selected.

The image above shows two separate 'Is not' confition rules on the Country field — Country is not UK and Country is not US field configured in the Merge Logic, Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

To avoid this, combine your exclusions into a single rule: Country is not any of UK|US

The image above shows a single combined rule — Country is not any of UK|US configured in the Merge Logic, Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

The Group Fields option lets you keep values from multiple fields from the same record based on a single rule. When you select a field value based on a condition, you can also preserve other related fields from that same record — even if those other fields are empty.

Group Fields is available when using the following Criteria:

• From record where value
• From record based on other field value
• From master record
• From master record (even empty)

How to Configure Group Fields

Configure your primary field rule as normal, then click Group Fields and select the additional fields you want to preserve from the same record. If the record that meets your primary condition has values in the grouped fields, those values are copied to the master. If the grouped fields are empty in that record, the blank values overwrite whatever was in the master.

 Important: Group Fields will overwrite existing master values with blank values if the selected record has empty grouped fields. Use Group Fields only when you want to keep data from the same source record together, regardless of whether all fields are populated.

Example 1: Address fields
If a record has a Country value, you can group it with City, State, Street Address, and Postal Code to preserve the complete address from the same record. If any of the grouped address fields on that record are blank, those blank values will overwrite the master's existing address data.

Example 2: Record owner fields
Select the Contact Owner from the record with the earliest Create Date, then also save the Success Owner from the same record. If the Success Owner field on that record is blank, the master's Success Owner field will be blanked out as well.

The image above shows one rule with the Country/Region field using Group Fields configured for an address rule, with City, State, Street Address, and Postal Code grouped together, and a second rule with the Contact Owner field configured with "From record based on other field value" criteria, using Create Date with the earliest value as the deciding parameter, with Success Owner selected as the group field, in the Step 3 Fields tab of the Merge Duplicates module.

The Blank Fields setting controls whether Insycle automatically fills empty fields in the master record with values from duplicates — the fill-in-the-blanks behavior described at the top of this article. This setting appears on the Method tab in Step 3 and is available only for HubSpot and Salesforce.

• Enabled (toggled on) — Insycle automatically fills empty master record fields with values from the most recently updated duplicate where that data exists. This is the default setting and is recommended for most use cases.
• Disabled (toggled off) — Empty fields in the master record remain empty. No automatic filling occurs. Use this when you specifically want to preserve the master's empty state and prevent any data from duplicates being copied forward.

To configure the Blank Fields setting:

1. Navigate to Data Management > Merge Duplicates and select your database and object type.
2. In Step 1, configure your matching fields to identify potential duplicates, then click Find.
3. In Step 2, review the duplicate groups to confirm the results look correct before proceeding.
4. In Step 3, click the Method tab.
5. Under Blank Fields, toggle the setting on or off as you need.

The image above shows the the Step 3 Method tab of the Merge Duplicates module with the Blank Fields toggle in the enabled (right/yellow) position.