Maintaining accurate, clean data is one of the most critical things you can do to get the most out of Salesforce. It builds the trust of your team and helps you work toward complying with various data security and privacy laws.
Manage Duplicates
Salesforce finds and handles duplicates using a combination of matching rules and duplicate rules. Duplicate rules and duplicate jobs specify matching rules that determine how duplicates are identified.
To manage duplicates, follow this process:
- Find duplicates across your org
- Create reports on duplicate records
- Manage duplicates using duplicate record sets
- View error logs for duplicate rules and Matching rules
1. Find Duplicates Across Your Org
Use duplicate jobs with standard or custom matching rules to scan your Salesforce business or person accounts, contacts, or leads for duplicates.
i. Go to Setup → Duplicate Jobs → Click New Job
ii. Select an object → Select an existing matching rule or create one → Click Run
iii. View summary by going to Setup → Duplicate Jobs
2. Create Reports on Duplicate Records
Use duplicate record reports to fine-tune your duplicate and matching rules and share the results of duplicate jobs.
A duplicate records report can include these records.
- Duplicates created when a rule alerts a user to a possible duplicate, but the user creates the duplicate anyway.
- Records manually added to a duplicate record set
- Records in duplicate record sets generated by duplicate jobs
Go to Setup → Report Types → Create a report type → Select Duplicate Record Set as the primary object → Relate Duplicate Record Items to the primary object that you selected → Save the report type.
Save the Report Type. I named the report type as Duplicate Records.
Then create a new Report. Select the newly created Report Type, Duplicate Records, as the report type for this report. The below report shows the Duplicate Record Sets and the related Duplicate Record Items.
If you open the Duplicate Record Set, it shows the actual duplicate records too as highlighted below.
3. Manage Duplicates Using Duplicate Record Sets
A duplicate record set is a list of items identified as duplicates. It’s created when a duplicate rule or job runs. To manage duplicates that aren’t surfaced by a duplicate rule, create a duplicate record set.
- On a duplicate record set list view, click New.
- Specify a duplicate rule or a duplicate job.
- In Lightning Experience, in the Related tab, click New.
- In Lightning Experience only, merge duplicates in a set by selecting the Compare and Merge action.
4. View Error Logs for Duplicate Rules and Matching Rules
Troubleshoot system errors that prevent duplicate rules or matching rules from running. Error logs are deleted after 90 days.
Setup → Duplicate Error Logs → View the error logs