# Auto Match – Definition, FAQs & How Dedupely Helps > Auto match explained: automatic duplicate detection that checks your CRM on a schedule and alerts you to new duplicates, so a person reviews each merge. - URL: https://dedupe.ly/glossary/auto-match - 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) Auto Match ## Auto Match Auto match is a form of automatic duplicate detection that reruns a saved duplicate search on a schedule and notifies people when it finds new duplicate records. It turns a one-time cleanup into an ongoing check: as new contacts, companies or deals arrive, the search keeps looking for records that match ones already in the CRM. The alert is the whole job. Auto match finds and reports new duplicate sets, and a person opens them, confirms which are real duplicates and merges them. That keeps a human decision in front of every merge, which suits searches whose results are useful but not yet trusted to merge on their own. It's the detection half of automated deduplication; scheduled automatic merging is the other half, and teams often use both on different searches. See how Dedupely alerts you to new duplicates 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 Auto match checks a CRM for new duplicates on a schedule and alerts people when it finds them. It reruns a saved duplicate search, counts the new matches and sends a notification once they reach a set number. A person then reviews the matches and decides what to merge. On this page - What Is Auto Match? - How Auto Match Works - Why Auto Match Matters for CRM Teams - Getting Started With Auto Match - Key Takeaways: Auto Match - Frequently Asked Questions About Auto Match - Related Terms and Concepts See how Dedupely alerts you to new duplicates 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 Is Auto Match? Auto match, also called scheduled duplicate checks or duplicate alerts, is a duplicate search that runs again on its own and tells someone what it found. It applies to any object a team deduplicates: contacts and companies in HubSpot, leads and accounts in Salesforce, people and organizations in Pipedrive, leads in Close, and contacts in Nimble and Google Contacts. A simple example: a team watches a search that pairs contacts with the same email address, and sets the alert to go out at five new matches. Since the last check, J. Smith has filled in a webinar form as jsmith@acme.com, while an older contact, Jon Smith, already has that address. Other form fills and a list import have added four more pairs like it. At the next check, the search finds five new matches, the count reaches the threshold, and the alert goes out. Someone opens the five sets, merges the real duplicates and rejects any that aren't. Tools differ in when they look and how they alert, and each approach has its strengths. Scheduled checks compare records in batches at set times, which catches duplicates from every source, including imports and syncs. Checks at entry warn when a new record looks like an existing one, which stops some duplicates before they're saved. Alerts can go out for each new match, which is the fastest signal, or once new matches reach a count, which groups the work into fewer review sessions. Resources: - [Duplicate Searches](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/search-pads) (KB) - [What is a duplicate?](https://dedupe.ly/blog/what-is-a-duplicate) ### How Auto Match Works Auto match follows the same cycle each time it runs: - **Start from a saved search.** Auto match runs on a duplicate search that already exists: the object, the fields to compare and how strictly to compare each one. The alerts are only as useful as the search behind them, so it's set on searches whose results have been checked. - **Check on a schedule.** New records keep arriving from forms, imports, sales tools, integrations and manual entry. At each check, the search compares records again and finds the duplicate sets that weren't there before. - **Count the new matches.** The new sets are counted against a threshold. Below it, no alert is sent. At or above it, the check moves to the next step. - **Notify the right people.** An alert goes to the people who follow that search. It reports that new matches are waiting; it doesn't change any records. - **Review and act.** A person opens the new sets and decides on each: merge the real duplicates, set aside uncertain ones for a closer look, and reject false matches so they stay out of future results. Merging stays outside the cycle. Auto match finds and reports, and the merge happens only when a person starts it. Searches that prove reliable over many checks can move to scheduled automatic merging, which runs the same search and merges the results instead of reporting them. Resources: - [Finding Duplicates](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/find-duplicates) (KB) ### Why Auto Match Matters for CRM Teams A cleanup clears the duplicates that exist today, and new ones start arriving the next day. Every form fill, list import, integration and manual entry can add a record for someone already in the CRM. Without a scheduled check, those duplicates stay unseen until the next cleanup, and in the meantime they inflate contact counts, split activity history across records and put the same lead in front of two reps. In CRMs that bill by contact or record count, each one is also a record paid for twice. Catching duplicates while they're few keeps each review small. Five new sets are quick to check, and the person checking them often still has the context, such as which import or campaign created them. A backlog of hundreds takes far longer to review set by set, and the context behind each one is harder to trace. Alerts also keep a person in front of each merge. Many merges are hard or impossible to reverse, so for searches built on looser criteria or high-stakes data, a review before merging is the safer default. Auto match gives those searches the regular schedule of automation without merging anything on its own. The threshold sets the balance: a low one sends frequent alerts with a few matches each, while a high one sends fewer alerts and leaves duplicates waiting longer. Resources: - [How to Approach CRM Deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-approach-crm-deduplication) ### Getting Started With Auto Match Turn on alerts only for searches you've already run by hand. Review a search's results over a few rounds first, and fix what it gets wrong, such as a field that's often blank or a placeholder value that pairs unrelated records. An alert from an unreliable search sends someone to review false matches. Match the threshold to the search and how fast records come in. A strict search on email addresses with busy web forms can wait for a larger batch, while a search on companies tied to contracts or billing is worth a lower threshold, so each new set gets a look soon. Decide who follows each search, so the alert reaches the person who owns that data. Treat each alert as a short review session. Merge the clear sets, set aside the uncertain ones and reject the false matches, so they don't come back at the next check. Over time, the alerts show how a search performs: one whose sets are almost always real duplicates is a candidate for automatic merging, and one that keeps producing false matches needs stricter criteria. In Dedupely, Auto Match carries out this approach on a Duplicate Search: it checks for new duplicates on a schedule and notifies you when the new matches found reach the threshold you set for that search. It never merges, so you open the matches, review them and merge, reject or send them to Manual Review yourself. Resources: - [Auto Match](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/auto-match) (KB) - [How to Approach CRM Deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-approach-crm-deduplication) (KB) ### Key Takeaways: Auto Match Auto match is automatic duplicate detection on a schedule: it reruns a saved duplicate search, counts the new matches and alerts people once they reach a set number. A person then reviews the matches and decides what to merge, which keeps a human decision in front of each merge and keeps each review small. It works best on searches that have been checked by hand, with a threshold matched to how fast records arrive. In Dedupely, Auto Match is set per Duplicate Search, its only setting is the "new matches found" threshold, and it never merges. Each person sets their own notifications. Auto Match and Auto Merge can split the work: Auto Match alerts on the searches that need a person, and Auto Merge merges the trusted ones on a schedule. Resources: - [Dedupely product overview](https://dedupe.ly/product) ### Frequently Asked Questions About Auto Match #### Do CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive have automatic duplicate detection? Many CRMs include some automatic duplicate detection, but built-in detection often checks only a few fields. Depending on the CRM, it might warn when a new contact shares an email address with an existing one, flag companies with the same domain, or list possible duplicates for someone to review. Which objects it covers, how strictly it compares and whether it runs on its own differ from one CRM to another, so the CRM's own documentation is the place to confirm what yours does. Duplicates that differ in the checked field, such as a contact saved once with a work email and once with a personal one, often get past a built-in check. A scheduled duplicate search covers those cases with the fields and strictness you choose. In Dedupely, Auto Match runs on a Duplicate Search, checks for new duplicates on a schedule and notifies you when the new matches found reach the threshold you set. It never merges: you review the matches and merge them yourself. #### When should you use Auto Match instead of Auto Merge? Use Auto Match when a search's results still need a person, and Auto Merge when you trust the search to merge on its own. Searches built on looser criteria, such as similar company names, or on high-stakes records, such as accounts tied to billing, are better with alerts: someone checks each new set before it's merged. Searches that have returned real duplicates over many rounds, such as exact email matches from repeat form fills, are candidates for automatic merging. In Dedupely, Auto Match and Auto Merge are both set per Duplicate Search. Auto Match only notifies you when the new matches found reach your threshold. Auto Merge merges all current and future duplicates matching the search on the schedule you choose, skips matches excluded by Safety Settings and sets in Manual Review, and sends low-confidence matches to Manual Review instead of merging them. Merges can't be undone, so one way to start is with Auto Match, then move a search to Auto Merge once it proves reliable. #### How many new matches should trigger a duplicate alert? Set the threshold to the number of new matches worth one review session, and adjust it to the search. A strict search on busy web forms can wait for a larger batch, because its sets are quick to check and often clear. A looser search, or one on records tied to contracts or billing, is worth a lower threshold, so each new set gets a look before it's used in reports or outreach. If alerts arrive so often that each one holds only a match or two, raise the threshold; if duplicates sit for weeks before anyone sees them, lower it. Watching the first few alerts shows how fast a search finds new matches. In Dedupely, the "new matches found" threshold is the only Auto Match setting, and it's set per Duplicate Search, so a strict email search and a loose company search can each have their own. Notifications turn on when you activate Auto Match, and each person sets their own notifications. #### What should you do when you get a duplicate notification? Open the search, review the new duplicate sets and decide on each one. Merge the sets that are clearly the same person, company or deal, after checking which record survives and which values each field keeps. Set aside the uncertain ones for a closer look, and reject the pairs that turn out to be different records, so they don't come back in the next alert. If a notification brings mostly false matches, the search behind it needs stricter fields before the next check. In Dedupely, the notification is an alert only: to act on the matches, you go into Dedupely. From there you can merge them, send them to Manual Review or reject them. Rejected Matches removes a set from current and future Duplicate Searches, and Custom merge lets you pick the winning value field by field for a set that needs care. Merges can't be undone, so set your Merge Rules before merging the sets an alert brings in. #### How often do new duplicates appear in a CRM? It depends on how records come in, so the pace differs from one CRM to the next. Web forms, event sign-ups, list imports, integrations, sales tools and manual entry can each create a record for someone already in the CRM. A busy form or a sales team adding leads by hand can bring new duplicates every day, while imports and new integrations tend to bring them in bursts. A good way to find the pace is to watch a scheduled search for a few weeks and note how many new matches each check finds, then set the alert threshold and the review rhythm to match. In Dedupely, synced data refreshes every 10 to 30 minutes and new records are detected within 1 to 5 minutes, so new records reach Dedupely soon after they're created, though it isn't a real-time mirror of the CRM. The Audit Log, which only admins can see, records scheduled Auto Matches along with merges and scans. ### Related Terms and Concepts #### [Auto merge](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/auto-merge) Auto merge runs a duplicate search on a schedule and merges the results instead of reporting them. It's the next step for a search whose alerts show it finds real duplicates reliably. #### [Duplicate search](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/duplicate-search) A duplicate search is the saved set of criteria that auto match reruns. The alerts are only as reliable as the search behind them. #### [Manual review](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/manual-review) Manual review is where uncertain sets from an alert can wait for a closer look. It keeps doubtful matches apart from the clear ones a person merges after an alert. #### [False matches](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/false-matches) False matches are sets paired as duplicates that aren't. Rejecting them after an alert keeps them out of the next one, and an alert full of them signals that the search needs stricter criteria. #### [Duplicate prevention](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/duplicate-prevention) Duplicate prevention stops some duplicates at entry, for example with a warning when a new record looks like an existing one. Auto match catches the ones that still get in, from imports, syncs and other sources. #### [Native deduplication](https://dedupe.ly/glossary/native-deduplication) Native deduplication is the duplicate checking built into a CRM. It often covers a few fields, and auto match on a dedicated search covers the patterns it misses. Skip to content