Hand-Picking the Records, Master, and Field Values for a Duplicate Merge

In Step 1. Find Duplicates of the Merge Duplicates module, define the fields Insycle compares to find duplicate contacts. In this example, Insycle groups contacts that share the same first name, last name, and email domain.

1. Navigate to Data Management > Merge Duplicates, and select your database and the Contacts object type.
2. In Step 1. Find Duplicates, click the Simple tab.
3. Set up one row for each field in the table below.
4. Click Find. Insycle generates a list of duplicate groups for you to review in Step 2.

The table below shows the matching rows for this example, with the Comparison Rule, Ignored, and Match Parts settings for each field:

Contacts with the same first name AND last name AND email domain show as possible duplicates. Choose fields that, in combination, give a high degree of certainty that the matched records are duplicates.

The image above shows the 1. Find Duplicates step of the Merge Duplicates module with the Simple tab selected, beside the Advanced, Conditions, and CSV tabs. Three rows use the Comparison Rule Exact Match and Match Parts Entire Value: First Name and Last Name with Ignored set to Symbols, and Email Domain with Ignored set to a truncated ‘Top-Level Domain (Exte…’ option. Find, Field, Filter (with a 1 badge), and Terms buttons appear at the bottom.

For the other Step 1 options, such as comparison rules, conditions, and filters, see Setting the Criteria for Finding Duplicate Matches.

Treating Email and Additional Email as One Field with Related Fields

In Step 1. Find Duplicates of the Merge Duplicates module, the Related Fields setting on the Advanced tab lets Insycle treat the values in two contact fields that contain similar data as one when it looks for duplicates. For example, you might want to look at both the Email and Additional email fields for duplicate values.

1. In Step 1. Find Duplicates, click the Advanced tab.
2. In the Email row, under Related Fields, select Additional email.
3. Click Find.

The image above shows the 1. Find Duplicates step of the Merge Duplicates module with the Advanced tab selected, marked with a 1 badge. Rows for First Name, Last Name, and Email use the Comparison Rule Similar Match and Match Parts Entire Value, with a Related Fields column on the right. A blue box highlights the Related Fields value ‘Additional email…’ in the Email row. Find, Field, Filter, and Terms buttons appear at the bottom.

In Step 2. Review Duplicates of the Merge Duplicates module, Insycle lists the duplicate groups it found among your contacts, so you can confirm the records in a group are the same person before you merge. When two or more records represent the same person, Insycle clusters them into a duplicate group, and each group shows the total number of records identified as duplicates.

1. In the list of duplicate groups, locate the group you want to merge and click the row to see all the records. In this example, with First Name tasneem, Last Name barnes, and Email Domain bosder, which shows 4 duplicates.
2. Select the checkbox at the left of the group row to choose the group you want to merge.

You work with the single duplicate group you chose for the rest of the merge process.

The image above shows the 2. Review Duplicates step of the Merge Duplicates module. The first duplicate group with First Name tasneem, Last Name barnes, and Email Domain bosder is selected and expanded, revealing 4 duplicates. Another group, patryk hewitt, is collapsed below.

In Step 3. Pick Master of the Merge Duplicates module, select Manual mode to merge the one duplicate group you chose, and you can exclude individual contacts from that group in Step 2. You can’t select individual records in Bulk mode, so you must select Manual mode in Step 3 first.

1. At the top of Step 3. Pick Master, select Manual.The image above shows the 3. Pick Master step of the Merge Duplicates module, with the mode options at the top. The Manual radio button is selected (yellow), and the Bulk radio button is not selected (grey).
2. If the group contains a record you don't want to merge, return to Step 2. Review Duplicates.
3. Uncheck the checkbox next to each record you want to keep separate.The image above shows the 2. Review Duplicates step of the Merge Duplicates module. The first duplicate group (4 duplicates; First Name tasneem, Last Name barnes, Email Domain bosder) is expanded. An arrow points to the unchecked checkbox for the record at Index 1, which excludes it from the merge; records 2, 3, and 4 are checked. Another group, patryk hewitt binswi, is collapsed below.

Only the checked records will merge, and unchecked records will remain untouched in your CRM. For example, if a group contains four duplicate contacts and you only want to merge three of them, uncheck the one you want to keep separate. To merge every record in the group, leave all checkboxes selected.

In Step 3. Pick Master of the Merge Duplicates module, you select the master record, which is the record that remains in your CRM after the other contacts in the duplicate group are merged into it. The other records are merged into the master and no longer exist as separate records. By default, field values from the master are retained, and any empty fields in the master are filled with values from the most recently updated duplicate in the group.

1. In Step 3. Pick Master, select the radio button for the record you want to keep as the master.

It is usually best to select the record with the email address you want to keep. In this example, the record at Index 4, with the email address tasneem@bosder.net, is selected as the master.

The image above shows the 3. Pick Master step of the Merge Duplicates module with Manual mode selected. An arrow points to the selected radio button in the Email row for the record at Index 4 (tasneem@bosder.net), which designates it as the master. Merge API is set to Native, and the Blank Fields toggle is on (yellow, right position), set to Fill.

Merge API and Blank Fields (HubSpot and Salesforce Only)

When working with HubSpot or Salesforce, two additional settings appear at the bottom of Step 3: Merge API and Blank Fields. This example keeps the HubSpot Contacts defaults.

• Merge API is set to Native, which uses HubSpot’s native merge behavior.
• Blank Fields is enabled (toggled on), which 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.

In Step 4. Pick Fields of the Merge Duplicates module, you can review each contact record's values in the duplicate group and choose which value the master record keeps for each field before applying the merge. This step is optional. If you don’t make selections here, Insycle follows the default merge logic. The Merge API and Blank Fields settings operate independently from field-level value selection, so you can still select or edit individual field values here regardless of which Merge API is selected.

1. In Step 4. Pick Fields, review the Conflicts tab, which shows only the fields where values differ across the duplicate records.
2. If the field you need isn’t visible, change the Rows per page setting. Only five fields are displayed initially.
3. Use the search to find specific fields.
4. To choose which value to keep for a field, select the radio button for the value you want the master record to retain. You can choose values from different records for different fields. In this example, the City, Industry, Job Title, and Website URL values are each selected from a record that contains the value you want.

The image above shows the 4. Pick Fields step of the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode, with the Conflicts tab selected. Three records appear as columns, displaying field values side by side, with one radio button selected per row for City, Industry, Job Title, and Website URL. The selected values come from different records across rows.

To edit a field value directly instead of selecting an existing value, follow these steps. In this example, the City value ontario is edited to Ontario.

1. Hover over the value you want to update.
2. Click the pencil icon. The image above shows part of the 4. Pick Fields step of the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode, with rows for Last Name, City, and Industry. An arrow points to the pencil icon beside the value ‘ontario’ in the City row, which is used to edit that field value. The ‘ontario’ radio button is selected; the City radio buttons for the other two records are empty.

3. In the Edit popup, update the value.

   

   The image above shows the Edit popup open over the City row in the 4. Pick Fields step of the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode. The popup’s text field contains ‘Ontario’, with Cancel, Clear, and Save buttons below it, with an arrow pointing to Save.

4. Click Save.

In Step 4. Pick Fields of the Merge Duplicates module, clicking Merge applies the merge for your selected contacts directly to your CRM, and the Merge Result popup then summarizes the outcome.

1. When you have chosen all critical field values, click the Merge button at the bottom of Step 4. Pick Fields.
2. Confirm the merge when prompted. 

The image above shows the 4. Pick Fields step of the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode, with the Conflicts tab selected. Three records appear as columns, displaying field values side by side, with one radio button selected per row for City, Industry, Job Title, and Website URL. The selected values come from different records across rows. A Merge button appears at the bottom.

After the merge completes, the Merge Result popup lists each record with a status. The master record shows Merged Successfully, and each record merged into it shows Removed Successfully.

The image above shows the Merge Result popup of the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode, displayed after the merge is run from 4. Pick Fields. A table with Name, Id, and Status columns lists four records by email address. tasneem@bosder.net has the status Merged Successfully, while tasnee@bosder.co.uk, tasnee@bosder.com, and tasnee@bosder.net each have the status Removed Successfully. Each status has a check mark.

Once you've run the merge operation, Insycle generates a CSV report of the changes made through Insycle and sends it to your email. You can also download a CSV report for any operation run from the Activity Tracker.

The image above shows a CSV report from the Merge Duplicates module in Manual mode, open in a spreadsheet application. Columns are Result, Message, Duplicate Group ID, Status, First Name, Last Name, Email Domain, and a cut-off Phone Num column. All five rows show Merged and Succeeded for TASNEEM BARNES. Four rows share Duplicate Group ID 211028805747, with Status Duplicate three times and Master once; the fifth row has Duplicate Group ID 212801999911 and Status Master (After).

To download the CSV report for a past merge from the Activity Tracker:

1. Navigate to Operations > Activity Tracker.
2. Search by module, app, or template name.
3. Find the operation you want. Operations run in Manual mode are indicated by the Manual checkbox.
4. Click the Run ID for the operation to download the CSV report.

The image above shows the Activity Tracker with columns App, Module/App, Type, Template, Run ID, and Manual with four HubSpot Merge Duplicates templates. The first row shows a Merge Duplicates operation on Contacts and the template ‘Deduplicate by similar name, similar email,’ and it is selected. Blue boxes highlight its Run ID (1727626528948) and its checked Manual checkbox. Three more rows below, two for Contacts and one for Companies, have unchecked Manual checkboxes.