Duplicate Checker

Each time you add a new household or organization, you look up the name first to see if it is already in the data. This is the best way to avoid adding duplicate records. However, some times duplicates may occur, perhaps left over from a data conversion, created by importing names, or by accidently adding a new name without recognizing it as a duplicate.

The Duplicate Checker allows you to search through your entire database for duplicate records, based on several different criteria, including name, address, phone and email. It is searching for duplicate households or organizations. It is not looking for duplicates within the same household. When a duplicate is found, you can view the details and then choose to merge the households or organizations together or delete one or more of them.

When you merge a household or organization into another, you merge the entire entity, including all names, addresses, phones, gifts, and so forth. If you want to move someone from one entity to another or merge two names within the same entity, use the Move People Button or the Merge People Button found on the Bio Profile tab.

The Duplicate Checker is part of the Admin tab. You must have rights to the Admin tab to use it.

CAUTION: Once you have merged or deleted records, you cannot undo the changes. It is very important to be cautious when using the Duplicate Checker to avoid inadvertently losing important donor information.

To use the Duplicate Checker, follow these steps:

Open the Admin tab from the Hello menu.
Open the Duplicate Checker tab.
1. It is found on the far right. You may have to use the arrows at right end of the tabs to find it.
Select the basis for determining if records are duplicates from the following choices:
1. Addresses - this finds addresses that match the first 8 characters of the street address, the full city and state names, and first five characters of the zip code.
2. Phones - this finds phone numbers that match exactly.
3. Emails - this finds emails that match exactly.
4. Couples - this finds couples with exactly the same name.
5. Persons - this finds all people with the same first and last name.
6. Households/Organizations - this is most helpful for finding duplicate organizations. Duplicate households are identified by the household name.
Click on Next.
1. A list of duplicate records is displayed. For each duplicate found, the number of duplicates is displayed. This shows a count of the households or organizations where that particular item appears.
Use the Export to Excel button to generate a detailed list of duplicates. This can be very useful for taking a closer look at duplicate names off-line to determine which ones are actually duplicates that should be merged.
Select a duplicate from the list and click on Show Details.
1. The details for each duplicate are displayed in boxes arranged across the screen. Each box represents one household or organization.
If you wish to see additional details, you can open the Bio tab for one of the duplicates by clicking on the name link at the top of the box.
If you are going to merge duplicates, you first select the "Master" household or organization. This entity retains its name and primary attributes, like primary name, address, and phone.
Click on Merge with Master for the entity to be merged into the master.
1. Once an entity is merged into another, it is deleted.
2. You can merge more than one entity into another, once you have selected a Master, by clicking on Merge with Master for each entity to be merged.
If you wish to delete a household or organization completely, click on the Delete Household or Delete Organization for that entity.
1. WARNING: Once a household or organization has been deleted, it cannot be recovered.
Once you have finished merging and/or deleting duplicates, or if you wish to retain the duplicates as is, click on Back to return to the list of duplicates.
At any time you can click on the Step 1 or Step 2 tabs to return to the duplicate list or to generate a list based on a different criterion.