The De-Dupe feature helps you keep your database organized by removing or closing any duplicated contacts. In some cases, 2 different contacts with different names, can have the same phone number. The De-Dupe tool is able to catch these as duplicates and close one if you wish. It is important and needed that each contact has a unique field in order for this tool to identify duplicates.

Note: You're only able to De-Dupe 5,000 contacts at a time. If you have more than 5,000, you will need to re-run the process until all duplicates have been De-Duped. 

Remove Duplicate Contacts

1. Log in to VanillaSoft as an Admin.
2. Select the project that contains duplicate contacts.
3. Open the Contacts & Reports tab from the top and select De-Duping.
4. If you would like to only De-Dupe contacts added between certain dates, select the desired date range at the top of the page, otherwise leave unchecked and proceed.
5. Select which unique fields you would like to use for De-Duping.
6. If you would like to display any other fields, select the checkbox in the Display column.
7. If you want to only see open contacts, check the Ignore Closed Contacts checkbox, otherwise leave unchecked and proceed.
8. Click View Duplicates to see your duplicate contacts.
9. Select which contacts you want to delete or close manually or by opening the Quick Select drop-down, selecting one of the options, then clicking Apply.
10. Once all desired contacts are selected, click either Close Selected or Delete Selected.

Your database has now been stripped of all duplicates. If you want to skip or update duplicates while you're importing contacts from a spreadsheet, you can follow the steps in our Skip Duplicate Contacts Upon Import article.