Duplicate businesses build up over time, usually when the same business gets added twice under slightly different names. The Merge tool lets you combine two business records into one and decide, field by field, exactly what the surviving record keeps.
Before you start - save or discard any edits you have open on either record. The tool always works from the latest saved version, so it will stop and ask you to do this first.
To merge two businesses follow these steps đđ»
Open your Directory, click the Columns dropdown and choose Merge Businesses.
Pick the two records you want to combine. They are labelled Business 1 and Business 2.
Choose which of the two you want to keep. Nothing is picked for you, so make sure you choose the record you want the rest of your data to point at.
Click Review Final Record. Only the fields that actually differ are shown, anything identical is kept automatically.
For each field that differs, choose the value from Business 1, the value from Business 2, or 'Keep blank'. Required fields such as Trading Name cannot be left blank.
Emails, telephone numbers and notes work as tick lists rather than either/or, so you can keep values from both records. Nothing is ticked to begin with, and duplicates only appear once.
Linked records such as people, tags, projects, activities and tasks are combined from both records and all ticked by default. Open a group to search it and untick anything you don't want to carry across.
Click Review and Confirm, check the summary, then click Complete Merge.
What happens to the other record
The surviving record is updated with your choices and the other business is made Inactive, not deleted. It drops out of your normal lists but the data is still there in the background if you ever need to look back at it.
If something goes wrong part way through
The merge happens in two stages, so the surviving record is saved first and the duplicate is archived second. If something interrupts it, you will be told exactly what has and has not happened and given a Retry option. Your choices can never be applied twice, so just keep the window open and hit Retry.
If someone else edits either record while you are part way through the review, the merge stops before anything is saved and your choices reset so you can look at the up to date values. Nothing is changed in that situation.
A few tips
Have a quick look at both records before you start so you know which one makes the better base.
If you are not sure which record should survive, keep the one your other records already point at.
Remember - the confirmation screen is the clearest summary of what is about to change, so take a moment on it before you commit.
You can search our collection of help articles here đđ» Vicinity Help Desk or we have a useful video of using the system basics here đđ» Back to Basics