Keeping your contact database neat and tidy means that sometimes you need to handle any duplicates records. Keela has a few tricks up our sleeve to help you manage duplicates in the database with just a few clicks!
Identifying Duplicates in Keela
Keela's Duplicate Management tool identifies duplicates in your database using the following matching criteria:
- Contact ID
- Primary Email Address
- Full Name or Organization Name
Note: The data in these fields must match exactly in order for Keela to identify the contacts as duplicates. This includes spaces, so check your data carefully for these.
Quick Tip: If your data does not match exactly (i.e. "John Smith" and "John Joseph Smith"), you can manually merge any contacts that haven't been identified by the Keela system.
How do I use the Duplicate Manager?
1. In the Contact Overview, click the merge button.
2. Keela will present all the duplicates it has identified for your action one at a time.
When a potential duplicate is found, you can take two actions:
- Skip - the duplicates will be ignored - no action will be taken.
- Merge - combine the duplicates together.
If you choose to Merge the duplicates, you'll need to confirm which information to retain from each record for the new contact (see below)
What Happens When I Merge Duplicate Contacts Together?
Great question! There are two types of data in Keela, and both will result in a difference when a merge between Contacts occurs.
(1) Single Value Fields
Single value fields are those fields on your Contacts' Profiles that can only store one value. These are things like Name, Primary Email Address, Address Data, Multiple Choice (Single Select) Custom Fields, and Birth Dates. When you merge Contacts together, these fields will retain whatever information already exists on the profile of the crowned Contact.
(2) Multiple Value Fields
Multiple value fields are those fields that can store more than one data value. These are fields like Tags, Other Emails, Other Websites, Other Companies, and Multiple Choice (Multi-Select) Custom Fields. Because more than one value is accepted, when two Contacts are merged these values will be combined.
Hint: Look out for the blue "All Fields Will be Kept" label to see which fields allow Multiple Values
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Example 1
The first contact is the king/queen, but this contact record did not contain a middle name. The second record did, so Keela automatically identified this to be included for the merge.
Example 2
The first contact is the king/queen and this contact record does contain a middle name but it is not correct. I then clicked the middle name on the second record to choose that as the middle name for the merge.
Manually Merging Duplicates in Keela
Since we have very specific criteria to identify duplicates in Keela, not all your duplicates may be caught by the system. You may also come across duplicates while doing some day to day tasks. That's why you can also manually merge any duplicates in Keela as you find them!
(1) Select the Duplicate Contacts
In the contact overview page, select the duplicate contacts to merge. Using the search, sort, or filtering functionalities on this page will help find the duplicates.
(2) Select Merge Contacts
When you select contacts, the Action button will appear at the top left of the contact summary. Click this and then select Merge Contacts
(3) You will then be taken to the screen to choose the fields you would like to retain (outlined above)
FAQ
Can I choose more than 2 contacts to merge?
Most definitely! You will be able to scroll left to right to review all the information for each contact and choose which contact's information to retain for each field.
Can I unmerge contacts?
Sorry but it's not possible to unmerge contacts. Please ensure you take extra care when merging contacts in the Keela system.
How do I merge Company Contacts and Individual Contacts?
To merge Contacts they must be the same type. You will first need to change the Contact Types so the types match and you will then be able to merge them.