How to Fix Duplicate Records

You have multiple records for the same person, company, or item and need to clean them up.

Common causes

1. Manual double entry. Two team members created the same contact independently.
2. Import without deduplication. A CSV import added records that already existed in the system.
3. Web form submissions. A lead submitted a form multiple times with slightly different information.
4. No duplicate detection rules. Without detection rules, HARi has no way to warn users before creating a duplicate.

Step-by-step fix

Finding duplicates

1. Go to the entity list (e.g., Contacts).
2. Sort by Name or Email to visually identify duplicates.
3. Use the Search bar to search for a specific name or email and see all matching records.

Merging duplicates

1. Identify which record is the “primary” — typically the one with more complete data or more linked activities.
2. Open the duplicate record and note any unique information it contains (e.g., a phone number the primary record is missing).
3. Update the primary record with any missing information from the duplicate.
4. Reassign any related records (activities, opportunities, etc.) from the duplicate to the primary record.
5. Archive or delete the duplicate record.

Preventing future duplicates

1. Use the AI duplicate finder — HARi’s data hygiene tools can scan an entity for likely duplicates and propose merges. Open Settings > Data Health to run it.
2. Search before creating — train your team to use the global search before creating a contact or company.
3. Standardise email entry — entering the email address first lets the lookup surface an existing record before you fill in the rest of the form.

A schema-level “Duplicate Detection Rules” engine is on the roadmap; today the AI duplicate finder is the canonical tool.

Still stuck?

For large-scale deduplication (hundreds or thousands of duplicates), consider exporting the data, deduplicating in a spreadsheet, and re-importing. Contact support if you need assistance with bulk merge operations.