Merging Duplicates in Salesforce
Salesforce has the most complete duplicate tooling of any mainstream CRM, and it is off by default in more orgs than you would expect.
Merging two records in Salesforce
Open the record and choose merge
Contacts, accounts and leads each support merging from the record. Salesforce shows you up to three records side by side.
Choose the master and the surviving field values
The master keeps the record ID, which matters for anything referencing it. You pick the winning value field by field.
Merge, then check what moved
Related records, activities and attachments move to the master. Merges are not reversible, and the losing record IDs are gone, so anything integrating on those IDs needs checking.
Duplicate rules and matching rules
This is the part worth setting up properly, because it works continuously rather than on cleanup day.
Keeping it clean
Frequently asked questions
How many records can Salesforce merge at once?+
Up to three records in a single merge for the standard objects. Larger cleanups need repeated merges or a dedupe app.
Can you undo a merge in Salesforce?+
No. The losing record IDs are gone, which matters for any integration keyed on them.
Do duplicate rules apply to imports?+
They can, and configuring that is one of the highest-value settings in duplicate management.
Duplicate records, duplicate tickets
The same person existing twice in Salesforce usually means the same person raising two support tickets that never connect. Ticket Merger fixes that half automatically, on Zendesk and Freshdesk.
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