Merge Settings

Last published at: January 23rd, 2026
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In the Merge Settings you can configure per entity how duplicate records should be merged. Set a rule for selecting the default Master record, set rules to determine which field values should be used by default, and more.

To set up the Merge Settings for a certain entity:

  1. In the Duplicate Check app, at left, go to Manage Entities. 
  2. At the entity you want to configure settings for, click Manage  at right.
  3. Go to the Merge Settings tab.

Merge Settings

Ignore Entity Relationship during Merge

When merging records with Duplicate Check, related records are reparented to the Master record whenever possible. However, sometimes reassignment of dependent entities is not possible, resulting in a merge error. To avoid such errors, specify which entity relationships should be skipped when merging and reparenting records.

Find out more on how to use this setting in Ignore Entity Relationships‍.

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Make sure to only add relationships that you found in an error; do not add other relationships to the setting!
Ignoring an entity relationship means that the link between those entities is lost upon merge, and the related record might end up orphaned or deleted, if it was not linked to the Master record or a third record.

Delete or Deactivate

Decide whether the losing record should be deleted or deactivated after merging. In the picklist, select "Deactivate" or "Delete".
  • When set to "Deactivate", the losing records will be deactivated upon merge.
  • When set to "Delete", the losing records will be deleted upon merge, and only the master record is kept.
    Note that merging with deleting the loser records can be performed by users that do not have delete permissions for those records! 
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User permissions for merging

To merge with either deleting or deactivating the non-master records, a user needs Read, Share, Write, Append, and Append To access to the records, as well as the Merge privilege.

Set Merge Master Reference Field

When you set the losing records to be deactivated upon merge, the ID of the master record will be stored on the losing records. Select the entity field to store this ID in; create a new field if needed.

Set Status Reason

When you set the losing records to be deactivated upon merge, a status reason will be stored on the losing records. Select which status reason this should be.

Merge - Master Record Rule

Master Record Rule

Set a rule for selecting the duplicate record that will be the Master Record by default.
In the picklist, choose between rules such as "Created Date - Least Recent", "Last Modified - Most Recent", etc.

For example, with the Master Record Rule set to "Created Date - Least Recent", the oldest of a set of duplicate records will be presented as the master record by default for Manual Merge‍. For Auto Merge, the oldest record will become the master record, and the only (active) record left after merge.

Other Master Record Rules are for example

  • Most Complete Record: the record with the most fields filled in will become the master record.
  • Field Based Value: select a specific field, rule and fallback rule that will determine the master record. The fallback rule will come into play when the field rule results in two or more candidates.
  • Value Based: select a specific field, value and fallback rule that will determine the master record. The fallback rule will come into play when the value rule results in two or more candidates.

Master Record Rule - Allow User Override

Determine whether users can change which record will be the master record in a Manual Merge. If set to Yes, users can override the default master record and select another of the duplicate records as the (active) record to be left after merge.

Merge - Field Rules

The Field Rules determine per entity field which values will be stored in the Master record: the value from the field on the Master Record, or the value from one of the other duplicate records. 

On the Manual Merge‍ page, the Field Rules determine the default field values for the Master record. If Allow User Override is set to "Yes" for a certain field, the user can still change the proposed field value; they can decide to select the value of one of the other duplicate records instead, or enter their own value.

For Auto Merge and Direct Processing‍, the Field Rules determine the winning values for each field; there is no user interaction possible to change this. 

For each entity field, select a Merge Rule to decide the field value for the master record. Note that the available rules depend on the field type.
If the Merge Rule can result in two or more candidates, select a Fallback Merge Rule as well, to determine the final value. The Fallback Merge Rule is only applied to the tied winning records, not to all duplicates in the group.

Merge Rule Description
Pick field from Master Record
 The value on the Master Record (as determined by the Master Record Rule) is used.
Created Date - Least Recent
 The value on the oldest duplicate record is used.
Created Date - Most Recent
 The value on the newest duplicate record is used.
Last Modified - Least Recent
 The value on the duplicate record that was updated most long ago is used.
Last Modified - Most Recent
 The value on the duplicate record that was most recently updated is used.
Highest/Lowest in Picklist Order
  The value that is listed highest or lowest in the picklist is used.
Most Common Value The value that occurs most often between the duplicate records in the group is used. <Empty> is not counted in this regard.
Min Value The minimum value is used.
Max Value The maximum value is used.
Sum This sums all values between the duplicate records in the group, and stores the summed-up value in the master record.
Average This calculates the average of all values between the duplicate records in the group, and stores the average value in the master record.
Multiply This multiplies all values between the duplicate records in the group, and stores the multiplied value in the master record.
Shortest/Longest Text The shortest or longest text value between the duplicate records in the group is used.
Concatenate This combines the values of the master and loser records in the same field, separated by semicolon.
True Over False This will keep the "true" value in the master record if it is present on at least one of the duplicate records in the group.
False Over True This will keep the "false" value in the master record if it is present on at least one of the duplicate records in the group.


The Merge Rule can select blank fields setting determines how empty values should be handled.

  • If "Merge Rule can select blank fields" is set to Yes, the selected merge rule can select a blank value for that field.
    To keep all address fields of an address together, make sure to set "Merge Rule can select blank fields" to Yes for all address fields.
  • If "Merge Rule can select blank fields" is set to No, the values on the other duplicate records will be checked (in the order of the set merge rule), and if a value is found there, it will be added to the master record. Only if the field is empty on all matching duplicate records will it be kept empty on the master record.
    Note that with manual merge, the user can still change a value to empty even if this setting is set to "No".

If Allow User Override is set to "Yes" for a certain field, the user can change the proposed field value when manually merging records; they can decide to select the value of one of the other duplicate records instead, or enter their own value.

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Keep all address lines together

Note that the different Address lines each can have their own field rule. To make sure that all lines of one address are kept together:

  • Set "Merge Rule can select blank fields" to Yes for all address fields
  • Set the same Merge Rule for all address fields that need to be kept together
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Read-only fields not displayed

Read-only fields cannot be updated by manual or auto merge. Therefore these fields are not shown in the Field Rules list.