The Merge My Contacts wizard can merge two contacts that are contained in your contact collection. This is useful if you have any duplicate contacts in your list. Merging two contacts updates one contact with the data from the duplicate, then deletes the duplicate version.
The next time InterAction processes the sync with Outlook, the associated contact is deleted.
You can merge any two contacts in your list. Merging contacts only merges your versions of the contacts. If one of the contacts is also connected to a Firm Contact, the Firm Contact is not changed.
If both of the contacts are connected to Firm Contacts, this usually means that there are also duplicates in the Firm List. InterAction sends a request that this be corrected to a data steward at your organization. Merging your contacts still does not change the Firm Contacts.
Selecting the Contacts to Merge
To use Merge My Contacts, you need to identify the two contacts you want to merge together. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Select just one contact and choose Actions > Merge My Contacts. In the first step of the wizard, you then need to find the other contact to merge.
- Select the check boxes for the two contacts in the My Contacts list first, then choose Actions > Merge My Contacts. In this case, InterAction skips the first step of the wizard.
Merge My Contacts Wizard - Step 1
InterAction displays any potential matches for the duplicate contact. You can enter information in the name fields and choose Search to find a different contact to merge.
You cannot merge more than two contacts at the same time.
If you are a proxy for another user, you can merge contacts on behalf of another user.
Note that there are two situations in which you cannot merge contacts in your list:
- A person contact cannot be merged with a company contact.
- Two contacts that are both in your contact list and in the Firm List, but have been tagged by your organization with the special “Do Not Merge” relationship. InterAction notifies you that your organization has indicated that these contacts are not duplicates.
Merge Two of Your Contacts
You can only merge contacts within your My Contacts list.
- From the My Contacts page, select the contacts to be merged and choose Actions > Merge My Contacts.
- You can select both contacts by selecting the check boxes next to the contacts.
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Alternatively, you can select just one of the contacts and then use the wizard to search for the second contact. In this case, enter the name information to find the contact, then select the second contact and choose the Next button.
For more information, see Selecting the Contacts to Merge.
- If the contacts have any conflicting data, InterAction displays the conflicts. Select which contact’s information you want to keep, then choose the Next button.
- A conflict occurs if the contacts have differing information in the same field – for example, different information in the Business phone field.
- Different information in different fields is not considered a conflict. For example, if one contact has a Business phone and the other has a Mobile phone, the merged contact will have both the Business and Mobile phone numbers.
- Note that the conflicting data is not lost – it is saved in the Notes field of the merged contact.
- Review the contact as it will appear when merged. If you want to edit the contact after the merge, select the Edit my information for this contact check box.
- Choose the Finish button. InterAction displays a message confirming that the contacts have been merged.
Merge My Contacts Wizard - Step 2
[A] If any of the contact fields contain conflicting data, you can choose the contact that should “win” in the merge. In this example, information from the contact shown on the right will be kept.
[B] In this example, the two versions of Mary Hall have different versions of the Business Phone.
Merge My Contacts Wizard - Step 3
[A] The final step displays the contact as it will appear after the merge.
[B] Select the check box if you want to immediately edit the contact after the merge.