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Getting Started > Working with Records > Merging Records

Merging Records

For certain record types, if you have a duplicate record, you can merge the two records into one record. The merge functionality is supported for the Account, Contact, Division, Household, Lead, Partner, Portfolio, and Service Request record types.

NOTE: For information about what happens when you merge divisions, see About Merging Divisions and Deleting Divisions.

When you merge two records, you specify the field values from the two records that you want to keep in the record that you retain, which is called the primary record. The record that is deleted is called the duplicate record.

NOTE: If your company uses shared addresses, then you cannot select the individual fields in the billing, shipping, and primary addresses that are to be retained when you merge two accounts or two contacts. By default, the billing, shipping, and primary addresses of the primary record are retained. For more information on these fields, see Account Fields: Import Preparation and Contact Fields: Import Preparation. For more information on shared addresses, see Addresses.

The following considerations apply to the merging of records:

• If a field has the same value on both the primary record and the duplicate record, and if the field is required, then you cannot change the value in that field during the merge operation. However, if the field is not required, then you can select a blank value instead of the existing value in the field.
• In fields that are updated by the system, the value defaults to the value from the primary record during the merge operation, and you cannot change the value.
• In a multi-select picklist field, you can specify which set of values you want to keep. The following options are available for you to select during the merge operation:
  • The set of values from the primary record.
  • The set of values from the duplicate record.
  • A set of values that includes the values from both records, up to a maximum of 10 values. Each value is included only once, even if that value appears in the set of values on both records.
  • A blank value, if the field is not required.
• With the exception of any custom books that are linked to the duplicate record, all of the records that are linked to the duplicate record are automatically linked to the primary record.

  In most cases, Oracle CRM On Demand does not check for duplicate related records. To remove duplicate related records you must delete them. However, in the case of opportunities that are linked to accounts, Oracle CRM On Demand does not link an opportunity from a merged account to the primary account if the opportunity has the same Opportunity Name and Primary Contact ID as an opportunity that is already linked to the primary account.

  NOTE: When you merge two records, any custom books that are linked to the primary record are always retained, but any custom books that are linked to the duplicate record are not automatically linked to the primary record. However, your administrator can enable an option on the company profile to allow you to link the custom books to the primary record automatically when you merge the records. For more information, see About Retaining Linked Custom Books When Merging Records.

• When you merge accounts, the owner of the duplicate account record is added to the account team and given full access to the primary record.
• If there are more than 9999 records of any one record type linked to either of the records that you want to merge, then the merge operation will not complete successfully. Also, if there are large numbers of records of any type linked to either of the records that you want to merge, then the merge operation might time out, even if the number of linked records of any one record type does not exceed 9999. Other factors can also cause a merge operation to time out, such as the types of records that are involved in the merge operation, the speed of your network, and the load on the Oracle CRM On Demand database and the Oracle CRM On Demand server. You can work around these issues by doing the following:
  • Unlink some of the linked records from the parent record as necessary before you merge the parent records.
  • Perform merge operations during off-peak hours.

Before you begin:

• To perform this procedure, your user role must include the Merge Records privilege. To merge records of the Division record type, your user role must also include both the Manage Users privilege and the Manage Roles and Access privilege.
• Your access level for both the primary record and the duplicate record must allow you to delete the record. If your access level for the primary record does not allow you to delete the record, the Merge button is not available on the record.
• Note the record names so that you can select them during the merge.

To merge two records

1. Select the record you want to retain as the primary record.

   For instructions on selecting records, see Finding Records.

2. On the record Detail page, click the Merge button.
3. In Step 1, click the Lookup icon, and select the Duplicate record.
4. In Step 2, review the values for each record, and select the values to save with the record.

   The Value to Save column displays the values from the primary record by default.

5. In Step 3, if you want the books that are linked to the duplicate record to also be linked to the primary record when the records are merged, then select the check box.

   NOTE: Step 3 appears only if the Enable Merge of Duplicate Record’s Books check box is selected on the company profile. If Step 3 does not appear, or if you do not select the check box in Step 3, then any books that are linked to the duplicate record are not automatically linked to the primary record when the records are merged. For more information, see About Retaining Linked Custom Books When Merging Records.

6. Click Finish.