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4.38. How are duplicates handled in the import process?
Updated 12.12.17
If you use the Import feature to browse for and upload contact data, our system will check during the import process for potential duplicate records. We'll look at the data that's being imported as well as any data that may already live in your database. Our system checks names, email addresses and street addresses. If we see an exact match, we'll flag the record(s) and ask you how to handle each.
Note that our computers won't understand that Bob Smith and Robert Smith could be the same person. Or that 123 W 4th St and 123 West Fourth Street are the same address. But if multiple records have some identical information like the email address, we'll still pick it up.
Always check your data carefully AFTER it's been imported to look for possible duplicates our system may not have detected. For instance, say that good old Bob Smith used to live at 123 W 4th Street, and he's in your current data that way. But now he goes by Robert Smith and you imported his new address at 654 8th Street, and you don't have his email address. Or he's changed it. After your import, only you will know that Bob and Robert at two different addresses are in fact the same person, and which record is the most up-to-date.
For our super techy users, there's a handy document attached explaining the specific logic involved in duplicate handling. Please note that all "matching" referenced means an EXACT MATCH, as outlined above.