Duplicates happen — the same person gets entered twice, or an online gift creates a second record. When that happens, merge the records so all the history lives in one place instead of being split.
Before adding a new person or organization, search first. Most duplicates come from adding a record that already exists. See Contacts and Organizations.
Merging is a record action. Open one of the duplicate records, open its actions menu, and choose Merge. You'll pick the other record to combine it with, review the two side by side, and confirm.
Keep the record that has the best current information — the other record merges into it.
The merge combines the history so nothing is lost: gifts, requests, visits, conversations, notes, tasks, and other related records move onto the surviving record.
You can merge like records — contact with contact, donor with donor, client with client, organization with organization.
Templates and system records can't be merged — merge is for people and organizations, not email/document templates.
Double-check the surviving record: confirm the contact details are the ones you want to keep, and that the combined history looks right. Merging can't be undone, so review before you confirm.
