# Associations – Definition, FAQs & How Dedupely Helps > Associations explained: what happens to associated records when you merge duplicates, how deals and activities move, and how to check links before merging. - URL: https://dedupe.ly/glossary/associations - Section: glossary - Site index: https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt - Any page: append `.md` to its URL for this plain-text form --- [Glossary](https://dedupe.ly/glossary) Associations ## Associations Associations are the links between records in a CRM, such as a contact linked to the company it works for, the deals it's part of and the support tickets it has opened. They connect records across objects, and sometimes within one, so each record shows the people, companies, deals and activity that belong to it. Associations matter most when duplicates merge. Each duplicate often carries its own links: one contact holds the deal, another holds the tickets and the calls. Knowing what happens to associated records when you merge is what keeps that history together. In a careful merge, the links from every record in the set move to the one that survives. When they don't, deals, tickets or activity can end up tied to a record that was removed, and the merged record shows only part of the relationship. See how Dedupely handles associations when merging in your CRM [Try for free](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup) [Talk to sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales) Overview Associations are the links that connect CRM records, such as a contact to its company, deals and tickets. When duplicates merge, those links have to move to the surviving record, or the customer's history and reports end up split across records that no longer exist. On this page - What Are Associations? - How Associations Work - Why Associations Matter for CRM Teams - Getting Started With Associations - Key Takeaways: Associations - Frequently Asked Questions About Associations - Related Terms and Concepts See how Dedupely handles associations when merging in your CRM [Try for free](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup) [Talk to sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales) ### What Are Associations? Associations are the relationships a CRM stores between records, so that one record can show the others it's connected to. A contact can be linked to a company, a company to its deals, and a deal to the contacts working on it. Activity such as calls, emails, notes and tasks is attached the same way, to the records it's about. A simple example: two contact records for J. Smith. The first is linked to the company Acme and to an open deal. The second came in later through the support team and is linked to two tickets and a few logged calls. After the merge, one J. Smith record remains, linked to Acme, the deal, both tickets and every call from the two records. CRMs name and show these links in different ways. HubSpot calls them associations and shows activity on each record's timeline. Salesforce shows related records in related lists, such as opportunities, cases and tasks. Pipedrive links people to organizations and deals, with activities and notes attached. Close has leads, contacts and opportunities, and Nimble keeps notes and tags on each contact. Associations always point to another record, and that record can be a duplicate too. Two contacts may link to the same company entered twice, so the contacts and the companies each need their own merge, within their own object. Resources: - [How to Find and Merge Duplicates in HubSpot](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/hubspot-best-practices) (KB) - [How to Dedupe in Salesforce](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/salesforce-best-practices) (KB) ### How Associations Work A merge has to decide what happens to the links on each record in a duplicate set. It follows roughly these steps: - **Collect the links from every record.** Each record in the set brings its own associations and activity: companies, deals, tickets, contacts, notes, calls and tasks. - **Move them to the surviving record.** The links from the other records are moved onto the primary record, so related records point to it instead. The details vary by CRM. HubSpot moves associated contacts, deals and timeline history. Salesforce reparents opportunities, tasks, cases, notes and custom related lists. Pipedrive moves activities, notes, deals and linked organizations. - **Handle links the records share.** When both duplicates link to the same company or deal, the merged record needs that link once, not twice. - **Work within the CRM's limits.** Some CRMs cap how many associations one record can hold, as HubSpot does. A merge that would go over the cap needs a decision: keep only the links that fit, or skip the merge. - **Remove the other records.** Once their links have moved, the other records are removed, and the surviving record holds the full set of relationships. Merges combine records within one object, so a contact merges with a contact and a company with a company. A lead and a contact are separate objects in many CRMs, and Salesforce doesn't allow merging a lead into a contact. Resources: - [How to Merge Duplicates in Pipedrive](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/pipedrive-best-practices) (KB) - [Merge Rules](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-rules) (KB) ### Why Associations Matter for CRM Teams Associations are what make a record useful. A contact on its own is a name and an email address; linked to its company, deals and tickets, it shows the whole relationship. When duplicates hold those links separately, no single record shows the full picture. One rep sees the open deal, another sees the support history, and neither sees both. Reporting depends on the same links. Revenue by company, deals by source and pipeline by owner all follow associations from one record to the next. When a deal stays tied to a duplicate contact, or a contact to a duplicate company, those reports count the same customer twice or split its numbers between two records. A merge that moves the links fixes that. A merge that loses them makes it worse, because the record looks clean while its history is missing. Links also drive day-to-day work. Routing, follow-up tasks and segments often rely on a record's company or deal links, so a missing association can send a customer to the wrong team or leave it out of a list. In CRMs that bill by record count, each duplicate is also a record paid for twice, even when all of its useful links could sit on one record. Resources: - [Why your CRM database is turning into a mess (and how to fix it)](https://dedupe.ly/blog/why-your-crm-database-is-turning-into-a-mess) ### Getting Started With Associations Before merging, look at what each duplicate is linked to. Open a few duplicate sets and note which record holds the deals, the tickets and the recent activity. Sets where each record carries different links are the ones where a merge changes the most, so they're worth checking first. Clean up related objects in a sensible order. If contacts link to duplicate companies, merge the companies as well, in their own search, so the merged contacts don't end up pointing to two versions of one account. Check records with many links against any limits your CRM sets on associations per record. After a merge, open the surviving record in the CRM and confirm the links are there: the company, the deals, the tickets and the activity from each original record. Start with a small batch, check the results, and then merge the rest the same way, with the same settings for links that go over a limit. In Dedupely, all activities, such as notes, calls and tasks, and all associations, such as linked companies, deals and contacts, are preserved when duplicates merge. For HubSpot's cap on associations per record, the Merge choices in Safety Settings set a standing answer: Always ask, Merge and keep the associations that fit, or Skip. Resources: - [Merge Safety](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-safety) (KB) - [Merge History](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-history) (KB) ### Key Takeaways: Associations Associations are the links between CRM records, such as a contact linked to its company, deals and tickets, with activity attached to the records it's about. When duplicates merge, those links need to move to the surviving record, or the customer's history and reports stay split. Merges work within one object, and some CRMs cap how many associations one record can hold. In Dedupely, all activities and associations are preserved on merge. Dedupely merges within one object, so a Lead can't be merged with a Contact. For HubSpot's cap on associations, Merge choices in Safety Settings decide whether to ask, keep the associations that fit or skip the merge. Merge History links each merge to the record in the CRM, so you can check its associations afterward. Resources: - [Dedupely product overview](https://dedupe.ly/product) ### Frequently Asked Questions About Associations #### What happens to associated records when you merge contacts in a CRM such as HubSpot or Pipedrive? They move to the surviving contact, along with the activity from each record, as long as the merge stays within the CRM's limits. Deals, companies, tickets, notes, calls and tasks that were linked to the other contacts become linked to the one that remains, so nothing is left on a record that's about to be removed. The details vary by CRM. HubSpot moves associated contacts, deals and timeline history. Pipedrive moves activities, notes, deals and linked organizations. Salesforce reparents opportunities, tasks, cases, notes and custom related lists. In Close, a contact merge moves opportunities, notes, calls, emails and tasks. Check one merged record in your CRM after a small first batch to confirm the links came across as expected. In Dedupely, all activities, such as notes, calls and tasks, and all associations, such as linked companies, deals and contacts, are preserved when duplicates merge. Merge History links each merge to the record in the CRM, so you can open it and check. #### How do you merge records that would go over a CRM's limit on associations? Decide ahead of time whether to keep only the associations that fit or to skip the merge and handle the set by hand. Some CRMs cap how many associations one record can hold, as HubSpot does. When two records with many links merge, the combined record can go over that cap, so the merge can't keep every link. Records like this are often large companies or busy contacts with many deals or tickets, so it helps to look at which links matter most before deciding. In Dedupely, Merge choices in Safety Settings give a standing answer for this HubSpot situation: Always ask, Merge and keep the associations that fit, or Skip. Always ask asks on every merge. Auto Merge can't ask, so it skips matches set to Always ask. Merges can't be undone, so choose the answer before merging in bulk. #### Can you merge a lead into a contact? Not as a merge: merging combines duplicate records within one object, and a lead and a contact are often separate objects. Salesforce, for example, doesn't allow a Lead to merge into a Contact. Duplicates are found and merged inside each object, so leads merge with leads and contacts with contacts. If the same person exists as both a lead and a contact, that's a question of moving the lead into the contact object, which is a separate process from deduplication, and the CRM's own documentation is the place to check how yours handles it. Once the person is in one object, any remaining duplicates there can be merged with their associations. In Dedupely, matching and merging work within one object, so a Lead can't be matched or merged with a Contact. You can run separate Duplicate Searches on leads and on contacts in CRMs that have both objects, such as HubSpot, Salesforce or Close. #### Why do associations matter for reporting after duplicates merge? Because reports follow associations to connect deals, revenue and activity to the right contact or company. A report on revenue by company adds up the deals linked to each company record. If those deals are split across two duplicate companies, the customer appears twice with part of the revenue on each. Merging the duplicates and moving their links puts the deals, contacts and activity on one record, so the customer is counted once with its full value. A merge that drops links does the opposite: the record looks clean, but deals or activity are missing from it, and the totals come out low. That's why the links on each record are worth checking before a large cleanup. In Dedupely, all activities and associations, such as linked companies, deals and contacts, are preserved on merge. Merge History records each merge with the original records and their field values, and links to the merged record in the CRM. #### How do you check a record's associations before merging it? Open each record in the duplicate set in the CRM and note what it's linked to: the company, deals, tickets, contacts and recent activity. Sets where each record holds different links are the ones to look at most closely, because the merge brings those links together. Watch for links to records that are duplicates themselves, such as two versions of one company, and plan to merge those too. For records with many links, check them against any limit your CRM sets on associations per record. For high-stakes sets, merge one at a time and check the result before moving on. In Dedupely, Custom merge opens a duplicate set with View Match Details, where you pick the winning value field by field and preview before merging. You can send uncertain sets to Manual Review for a person to check, and Merge History links each merge to the record in the CRM. ### Related Terms and Concepts #### [Merging duplicate records](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/merging-duplicate-records) Merging duplicate records is the process associations have to survive. Moving each record's links to the surviving record is one of the steps every merge includes. #### [Primary record](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/primary-record) The primary record is the one that survives a merge, so it's the record every association ends up on. Choosing it decides which record related records point to afterward. #### Merge limits Merge limits include CRM caps on how many associations one record can hold. A merge that would go over one needs a decision about which links to keep. #### [Merge safety](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/merge-safety) Merge safety covers the checks that hold risky merges back. A set whose records carry many links is one of the cases worth a closer look before merging. #### [Custom merge](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/custom-merge) Custom merge lets you open a duplicate set and choose its values by hand. It suits high-stakes records where you want to look at the set before its associations come together. #### [Merge history](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/merge-history) Merge history records what each merge changed and links to the merged record. It's the starting point for checking that associations came across as expected. Skip to content