Finding Flagged Records

Rather than hunting for duplicates manually, use the dedicated Deduplication Reports. These reports list every record currently flagged by the system. You can click directly from the report to the record that needs your attention.

For convenience these reports are listed in a dedicated Deduplication folder within the Reports module.

Resolving "In-Module" Duplicates (Same Module)

If a Lead is a duplicate of another Lead (or Contact to Contact, or Account to Account), use the built-in Zoho Dedupe tool:

1. Open the record.

2. Click the More Actions (three dots) icon.

3. Select Find and Merge Duplicates.

4. Use the info provided in the Automated Note to set your search criteria.
   

5. The system will search for matches; you can then select the records and merge them into one "Master" record.
   

Resolving "Cross-Module" Duplicates (Different Modules)

If a Lead is flagged as an existing Contact or Account (or a Contact is flagged as an existing Account):

1. Scroll down to the Related Lists on the record (specifically "Contacts to Review" or "Accounts to Review").

2. Compare the details provided with the reason stated in the Automated Note.

3. Action: Resolve the duplication based on appropriate record and/or field usage. E.g. company switchboard numbers should be assigned to the Account, not a Contact. Company emails like info@company.com should also be assigned to the Account, not a Contact. Latter should contain personal details of the Contact.
   

4. Finally, uncheck the flag Is Contact or Is Account in the De-duplicaton section of the record. This will remove the record from the report.
   

Use the built-in Lead Convert feature where Contacts or Accounts already exist

Lead is a new Contact for an existing Account:

1. Match the Company field of the Lead with the Account Name field of the existing Account (Use the dropdown menu to select the Account).
   
2. The Lead will then be converted to a Contact and will be associated with the existing Account. 
   

Lead already exists as a Contact:

1. Match the Lead's Email field with the Email of the existing Contact.
   
2. Convert the Lead and assign the existing Contact.
   
3. Lead will then be merged into the existing Contact. 
   

4. Handling "False Positives"

Sometimes the system is too smart. For example, it might flag two different companies because their names are very similar (e.g., "General Tech" and "General Tech Services").

How to clear a False Positive:

If you have verified that a flagged record is not a duplicate:

• Correct Action: Check the False Positive box in the Deduplication section. This removes the record from all duplicate reports and stops the system from scanning it again. You can then uncheck the Is Duplicate, Is Contact or Is Account flag to remove the record from the deduplication reports.

• What to Avoid: Do not simply uncheck "Is Duplicate." If you uncheck the flag but leave the data as is, the daily scan will simply find it and flag it again over the next days.
  

Note: Only uncheck the deduplication flags if you have actually changed the data (e.g., corrected a typo in a phone number) to resolve the conflict.

5. Phone Number Normalization

To make the duplicate detection even more reliable, we have implemented an automated Phone Number Normalizer. This tool ensures that the system compares "apples to apples" even if different users have different typing habits.

How it Works

Whenever you add or edit a record, the system automatically strips away special characters and spaces (e.g., brackets, dashes, or extra spaces).

• Input: +27 12-345 6789 or +2712 (345) 6789

• Normalized Result: 27123456789

By cleaning the data this way, the deduplication scan can accurately match numbers that might have previously looked "different" to a computer.

Best Practices for Users

While the system cleans the formatting, it cannot guess a missing country code. To ensure maximum accuracy, always capture phone numbers in international format (e.g., starting with + followed by the country code) and do not include the 0 of the area code.

Important Note on Existing Records

This feature is being rolled out to existing data in gradual batches to ensure system stability. If you see older records that haven't been "cleaned" yet, don't worry—the automation will reach them over the next few days. Once your existing database is fully normalized, you will see a significant improvement in the accuracy of the daily duplicate scans.