Merging duplicates
Combine two records for the same person into one, keeping every lead, submission and note — and know what is kept when they disagree.
PageFork recognises a returning person by email, then by phone. When someone comes back with a different email and a different phone, nothing ties the two visits together and you end up with two people. Merging folds one into the other.
Merging is a Pro feature, and only owners and admins can merge. It can’t be undone. See Basic and Pro plans and Team and roles.
How duplicates are spotted
PageFork flags two or more people on the same site as possible duplicates when they have:
- the same phone number (compared the same way as for matching, so spacing and formatting don’t matter), or
- the same name, ignoring capitals and surrounding spaces.
Two people can never share an email on one site, so email isn’t one of the signals.
Archived people aren’t considered. People on different sites are never compared.
These are suggestions. Two customers really can share a name, or a household phone. Nothing is merged until you say so.
Where you’ll see them
In the People view. When there’s anything to review, a Duplicates button appears above the list with a count. It opens a list of groups, each marked same phone or same name, with a Merge… button.
The list shows up to 50 groups, and up to 5 people in a group.
On a person or a lead. If the person you’re looking at has a likely duplicate, a banner says Looks like … may be the same person, with Review & merge. The same option is in the More actions menu as Merge with ….
When you edit an email. If you change a person’s email to one another person already has, PageFork refuses the change and offers Merge instead.
There’s no way to merge two people PageFork hasn’t put in front of you in one of these ways.
The merge dialog
- If the group has more than two people, pick the two people to merge. You merge two at a time; repeat for the rest.
- The two are shown side by side with their Name, Email, Phone, Company, number of Leads and Submissions, and Last activity.
- Choose Keep this one on the record that should survive.
- Click Merge into … — the button names the person you’re keeping.
Pick the record with the details you trust most. Where the two disagree, the one you keep wins.
What happens in a merge
Details
| Result | |
|---|---|
| Name, email, phone, company | The kept person’s value. If it’s empty, the other person’s value is used. |
| Custom fields | Same rule, field by field. |
| Tags | Combined from both. |
| Last activity | The more recent of the two. |
| Archived | If the kept person was archived and the other wasn’t, the kept person is restored. |
When both have a value and they differ, the other person’s value is not kept on the record. Their name, email and phone are noted in the merge entry on the timeline, so you can still read them there.
Leads, submissions and history
Everything that belonged to the other person moves to the person you keep:
- all their leads, open and closed,
- all their form submissions,
- all notes, calls, emails and meetings,
- their whole history.
Nothing is thrown away.
When both have an open lead
A person can only have one open lead, so the two are combined. The kept person’s open lead survives, in the stage it was already in. The other open lead’s submissions, notes, history and follow-ups move onto it.
If the surviving lead has no owner or no value, those are taken from the other lead. Otherwise the surviving lead’s own stay.
The other open lead itself is then removed. Closed leads are never combined — they simply move across as they are.
Afterwards
The other person no longer exists. The kept person’s timeline gains a line saying who was merged into them, and by whom.
If you started from the person who was merged away, PageFork takes you to the person you kept.
It can’t be undone
There is no un-merge. Once two people are combined, PageFork no longer knows which lead, note or submission came from which.
Check the side-by-side comparison before confirming — especially for a same name match, which is the weaker signal.
Good to know
The merge failed. Members can’t merge. Ask an owner or admin.
A person keeps being flagged but really is two people. There’s no “not a duplicate” button. The suggestion stays for as long as they share a name or phone. It’s harmless to ignore.
They wrote in again and a new person appeared. After a merge the kept person has one email and one phone. If the email that wasn’t kept is used on a form again, PageFork has nothing to match it to and creates a new person. Merge again, keeping whichever address they now use.
Duplicates after an import. Rows with only a name are always added as new people. They’ll show up here under same name.