Merging Duplicate Contacts

The Merge Contacts tool is designed to combine duplicate contact records while retaining the primary record’s main profile information.

What to Expect During a Merge

How to Merge Duplicate Contacts

What to Expect During a Merge

What Information is Retained?

In most cases, the selected Primary Record will retain:

• Account Number
• Contact Name
• Primary Email Address
• Primary Phone Number
• Core profile details such as birthday, employer, college, and salutations

If the duplicate record contains information that does not exist on the primary record, some additional details may also carry over during the merge process.

What Information Combines During a Merge?

The following record types are combined into the final merged contact:

• Gifts
• Pledges
• Memberships
• Contact Groups
• Donor Interests
• Relationships
• Documents

Additional addresses or phone numbers from the duplicate record may also carry over as secondary contact information.

Important Note About History Records

Some history/activity items, such as mailing history, may not combine into the final merged record. Because of this, we recommend reviewing important history and activity records after completing a merge.

Best Practices Before Merging

Before merging duplicate contacts, we recommend:

1. Confirming which record should remain the Primary Record
2. Reviewing important profile information on both records
3. Verifying key history or activity records after the merge is completed

How to Merge Duplicate Contacts

1. Click on your profile icon in the upper right-hand corner and select 'Tools'.

   

   2.  Select 'Merge Contacts / Duplicate Search'.

   

3. You will be using the 'Merge Contacts' section at the top of the page.

4. Select the dropdown menu under Primary Contact to choose the record you want to retain as the final version after combining data. Use any of the available search fields to locate the desired record. For example, you can search by Last Name—entering "Smith" will display all matching records.

5. Next, open the Duplicate Contact dropdown to search for and select the contact you wish to merge into the Primary Contact.

6. Confirm you selected the correct records, and press Merge.

7. A visual display of the Duplicate Contact's information will appear, showing the details that will be merged into the Primary Contact's record. The Primary Contact's name will remain unchanged, while addresses, phone numbers, emails, and gifts will be consolidated into the final record. Press Save if everything looks good and the records will be merged.

• 8. Here’s an example of a final record based on the provided example. As you can see, the data has been successfully consolidated.