Managing Duplicate Contacts
In a CRM, it is inevitable that at some point duplicate contacts will be created. Here at Ad Orbit, we make it easy for you to manage those duplicates.
Search Duplicates
If you have the User Permission ‘View All Contacts and Companies', then you can access the duplicates search page by going to Contacts > Search Duplicates. On this page, you can enter search criteria to find duplicate contacts or companies, or just search for all the duplicates in your system.
The table will be sorted by name by default, so the duplicate names will be listed right next to each other.
Each record will also show some information about each contact and allow you to link directly to the contact’s overview page.
With the ‘Edit Contact Details’ User Permission, you will see ‘x’ icons next to contacts which will allow you to deactivate that contact from the search. If you click the ‘Include Inactive’ search option, inactive contacts will also show up in the table, and you will be able to reactivate or merge those contacts with an active contact.
Managing Contacts with Duplicate Emails
You can set your system to require a unique email address for all new contacts, but there may be times where you need to add a contact with the same email address. You can enable the unique email requirement but still give your team the flexibility to create new contacts by giving a user an override or by putting the contacts into the contact creation approval process.
Important
In order for any of the workflow options below to work, you must enable the Require Unique Emails on Contacts configuration. You can find the configuration under Settings > System Configurations - Customers - Contacts.
Require Unique Email Address on Contacts
Set this configuration to 'Yes' if you want the system to prevent users from adding a contact if the email is already in the system. The user will get a warning that the email already exists and they won't be able to continue until they update the email.
The default email can be used multiple times even if you have this set to yes. Users can continue to add as many contacts as they wish if they all use the default email. The unique check is only made when the email is different than the default.
With the Require Unique Email Address on Contacts configuration enabled, when any users tries to enter a new contact and the email address 100% matches another contact's email address, the user will see a pop-up with the other contact(s). The pop-up will show a list of contacts with the same email address, and depending on their permissions, they will either be able to ignore the pop-up and create the new contact anyway, or they can view, edit, or request access to any of the other contacts listed. Users can also click on 'View All Contacts with This Email’ which will bring them to the Contact Search page with the email field filled out.
If you want to allow only a few users to bypass the requirement, you can give those users the 'Create Contacts with Duplicate Email Addresses' permission. The permission is found in the Contacts section of the user permissions page. With this permission, a user will still see the pop-up and any relevant contacts, but can continue to create the contact as normal.
However, if you would rather give your users the option to create any contact they want, but require additional approval, you can enable the Allow Approval For Duplicate Email Addresses on Contacts configuration. This configuration allows the user to either create or request approval for contacts with duplicate emails. Once a contact is created, the contact will go into the Contact Creation section of the Approval Queue widget. Another user with the 'Approve New Contacts' permission and access to the widget will need to approve the contact before it can get worked on by the creator.
Important
A user with the 'Create Contacts with Duplicate Email Addresses' permission will bypass the approval process.
If you just want users to see the list of duplicate emails but still have the option to add contacts, you should enable the Require Unique Email Address Configuration and give All users the 'Create Contacts with Duplicate Email Addresses' permission.
Updated 7/19/2024