Introduction

Removing duplicate contacts is a part of good data hygiene and merging them is a great way to keep your contact list tidy. If you have a lot of duplicate contacts, it will take time to merge every single one of them, however by using data jobs, you can merge contacts in bulk.

Introduction
Prerequisites
Instructions - Identification of Duplicate Contact Records
Instructions - Bulk Merge through Import Feature
FAQs & Additional Reading

Prerequisites

Data imports will result in database changes. Please ensure that your data has been backed up as needed.

Instructions - Identification of Duplicate Contact Records

Locating potential duplicate records can be easily achieved with the following steps.

Step 1: Navigate to Automation & Workflow > Contacts > De-Dupe People

1. Note: Other available contact reviews include Organizations and Households.

Step 2: Adjust Active Filters and select Mode for duplicate record evaluation

Step 3: Click on Export Results in the top right hand corner to export all duplicate records

Step 4: The export will include the contact id and basic demographic information presented horizontally within the Excel file.

Step 5: For each line within the Excel file, capture the contact id which will be the 'surviving' record and also capture the subsequent contact id which will be merged and 'sacrificed'

Instructions - Bulk Merge through Import Feature

Once you have identified your "surviving" contact record ids and the record's reciprocal "sacrificed" contact record ids, you can begin the creation of your bulk merge file.

Step 1: To merge contacts in bulk, navigate to the Automation & Workflow Ap > General > Import & Export > Create New: Import

Step 2: Select Bulk Contact Merge from the Import To drop-down and click NEXT.

Step 3: Using the add Fields, add the fields:

1. Survive Contact Id
2. Sacrifice Contact Id

Step 4: Click on download export template

Step 5: Using your identified contacts from the "Instructions - Identification of Duplicate Contact Records", add all contacts that will 'survive' (remaining as the contact record). Add the reciprocal 'sacrifice' (the contact record that will be merged and deleted). Save the file to your locate network.

1. Your Excel Workbook should like similar to the below with the two columns for the fields.
2. Critical Note: Data Importing cannot be reversed. Ensure your import file is managed with care and your data has been backed up as needed.