Summary

The Find Duplicates tool allows you to easily locate profiles that may share the same information. We recommend using this tool and other 'data-maintenance' strategies monthly to keep your information as accurate as possible.

Process

Locate the Find Duplicates tool under Individuals → Manage Individuals → Find Duplicates. (If 'Individuals' is not seen in the left menu, your organization has customized to the term used to describe member records. Simply look for the first menu item at the top of the left-hand navigation and expand this).

The criteria for what the duplicate tool filters are defined along the top. The member record being compared is in the LEFT column and the potential duplicates are found in the RIGHT column.

Pro-Tip: Use the Date Field to filter for only the newest potential duplicate records (below) especially if there are many. Proactively addressing duplicates will save you time and prevent member questions.

Found Duplicates

These records match exactly on the name (first/preferred name and last name), email address or home or cell phone number outside of families.

Recommended steps:

1. Review the list for potential duplicates.
2. Compare records. (Use Ctrl-click or Cmd-click to open records in a new tab.)
3. Use "Merge" as needed.

Merge Individuals

To compare potential duplicate information, use browser tabs to review multiple records. The shortcuts below are available when clicking on the member name link to open each record in another tab:

• Windows: Ctrl + Click
• Mac: CMD + Click
• right click, and select to open the record in another tab (location and look based on the browser may be different but the base function is there)
  
  

In the additional tabs opened, compare the duplicate member records and correct if needed. Multiple records may need to be reviewed to fully remove the record from the list.

Use Excel to Find Duplicates

1. Export everyone to Excel
   • Go to Advanced Search, Type " * " in the First Name field which will find all people since First Name is a required field and * means any characters.

1. • Click the action Gear Export Individuals to CSV
   • Select " Full " radio button under the Field Options then EXPORT.
2. Insert a column to the right of the Last Name column and label it Full Name
3. In the first cell type in =D2&" "&F2 which will combine the First Name and Last Name values for that row
4. Copy that cell down the entire range of names.
5. Use Conditional Formatting on this new column to highlight duplicates in red.
   • Click on the G header to highlight the whole Full Name column.
   • On the Home toolbar, click Conditional Formatting → Highlight Cells Rules → Duplicate Values, and press OK.
6. Your duplicates will now be highlighted in RED. Scroll down to see them.

7. To clean up the duplicates, use the Merge tool to merge the newer record into the older and more populated record. Go to Individuals → Merge Individuals
   (If 'Individuals' is not seen in the left menu, then the setting has been customized to the term used to describe member records)

FAQ

Q: How do I hide non-duplicates from the list?

A: There is currently no way to hide a duplicate record. We hope to add this feature in a future update.

Q: Duplicate individuals are not listed in alphabetical order. How do I change this?

A: Sorting is currently listed based on the oldest record added to the newest. Our suggested best practice is using the Date Field to filter only for the newest potential duplicate records.

Updated July 13, 2023 15:58