Duplicate customers/companies

This page suggests customers and companies in the CRM that may have been created more than once, and merges two records at a time on your instruction. 5sDesk never merges automatically. Only admins can see this page.

Where to find the page

Administration › Settings › CRM › “Duplicate customers/companies”.

How candidates are found

The page shows two lists: “Possible duplicate customers” and “Possible duplicate companies”. If there is nothing to show, it says “No candidates found.”

Area	Criterion
Customers	Same name, compared case-insensitively and ignoring leading and trailing spaces. The comparison uses “first name last name”, or the display name for customers without these details. The company plays no part in the comparison.
Companies	Same name (normalised the same way) or a shared domain. The main domain and all domain aliases count. Free email domains such as gmail.com or web.de are ignored.

For companies, each group shows why it is suggested: “Match: Name”, “Match: Domain” or both. Companies without a domain are marked “No domain on file”.

Note

Two customers can’t have the same email address. This applies to primary addresses and additional email addresses alike. Duplicates arise when the same person was created under two addresses, for example once as a complete record and once quickly from a ticket. That’s why the page compares customers by name only. Two different people with the same name also end up in one group. Check the email address and company before you merge. If someone writes from a second address, it’s best to store it straight away as an additional address, so no duplicate is created.

How to do it

1. In a group, select “Keep” for the record you want to keep.
2. Select “Delete & merge” for the record that should disappear.
3. Click “Merge” and confirm the prompt “Really merge this customer? This cannot be undone.” or “Really merge this company? …”.
4. The page reports the result, for example “Customers merged: 3 ticket(s) and 1 note(s) transferred. anke@example.com stay(s) as additional address(es).” or “Companies merged: 4 customer(s) and 2 note(s) transferred.”

Each run processes exactly one pair. If a group contains three or more records, repeat the process. The two selections must point to different records, otherwise “Please select two different customers.” or “Please select two different companies.” appears.

What happens when you merge

Customers

Moves to the customer you keep	Is lost
Tickets (conversations)	All master data of the duplicate: phone, position, custom fields, VIP flag, company assignment. The master data of the customer you keep is not changed.
Customer notes	Open customer portal login links of the duplicate.
Cards and deals, appointments and activities	References in other records’ reference custom fields that point to the duplicate. They point to nothing afterwards.
Form submissions that created the duplicate
Recipient entries in bulk emails. If the person was in the same bulk email under both records, the entry of the customer you keep remains.
Tags. The customer you keep then has the tags of both records.
The marketing consent history. Both histories are combined. The most recent confirmed decision from either record applies. An open confirmation link of the duplicate only moves over if the customer you keep has none open.
All of the duplicate’s email addresses. They become additional email addresses of the customer you keep.

Companies

Moves to the company you keep	Is lost
The duplicate’s customers	Links from cards and deals to the duplicate.
Company notes	The duplicate’s master data: address, custom fields, company note text in the profile. The company you keep is not changed.
Tags. The company you keep then has the tags of both records.
The duplicate’s main domain and domain aliases become aliases of the company you keep.	Domains that already belong to a third company are skipped. The message lists them: “These domain(s) already belonged to another company and were ignored: …”

Effects

• Tickets and notes then appear in the record you kept. The CRM sidebar in the inbox shows the customer you kept.
• New emails, customer portal logins and form submissions from the duplicate’s address end up with the customer you kept instead of creating the duplicate again.
• The marketing consent of the customer you keep may change: the most recent confirmed decision from either record applies.
• New customers with an email address at a transferred domain (from appointment bookings, forms or “Add to CRM” on a ticket) are assigned to the company you kept from now on, because the domain was taken over as an alias.
• If the duplicate had values in custom fields that the record you keep lacks, you need to copy them over by hand beforehand.

Notes

Caution

Merging cannot be undone. The record marked “Delete & merge” is deleted permanently, including its master data. Check both records first and, if needed, save an export under Import/Export.

Tip

Choose the more complete record as “Keep”, usually the one with company, phone and custom fields. Only its master data survives. The duplicate’s email address isn’t lost, though: it stays as an additional address.

See also

• CRM: customer and company records, additional email addresses, tags, domains and aliases.
• Custom fields: your own fields, whose values are not transferred when you merge.
• Import/Export: backing up master data before a merge.
• Data protection and third-party services: handling the consent history.