# Merge Duplicate Records From Phone and Call Tools | Dedupely

> Merge the phone-only records your calling apps create into the real contact with the Call-created filter, and merge new ones automatically every day.

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## Cleaning Up Records From Phone and Call Tools

By
[Gaby Salinas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbyslns)
Updated November 11, 2026
Merge the thin records your calling apps create into the real contact, and keep new ones from piling up.
Phone and call tools, like Aircall, Dialpad, JustCall or RingCentral, often create a new CRM record for every call they can't match: a phone number with no real name, email or LinkedIn. Your CRM's own duplicate tools usually match on email or name, so these phone-only records stay separate from the real contact. In Dedupely, you find them with Dedupely Intelligence's Call-created filter, or with a Duplicate Search on Phone Number, choose Merge Rules so the real contact survives, and then merge new ones automatically every day.

### Before you start

- **Your CRM connected and synced**, with the object your phone tool writes to (usually Contacts or Leads). See [Connect your CRM](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/connect-your-crm).
- **Know which phone tools write to your CRM**, and when you connected them.

### Why phone tools create duplicates

| **What the phone tool does** | **What you get in your CRM** |
| --- | --- |
| Logs a call from a number it doesn't recognize | A new record with only a phone number, or a name like "Unknown caller" |
| Formats the number its own way | +1 (555) 201-7788 in one record and 555-201-7788 in the real contact |
| Creates the record before a rep adds details | A thin record next to the complete one, with the call history split between them |

### Step 1: Set your Merge Rules so the real contact wins

Set this up before you merge anything, so the complete record survives and keeps the newest phone number:
- Go to **Merge Rules**.
- Set the **Primary Record** to **Most Field Data**, so the real contact wins over the thin record from the phone tool.
- On **Phone Number**, choose **Custom** and add a Win Rule: When Field **Create Date**, operator
**is newest**, so the contact keeps the most recent number.
Merge Rules apply to every merge except a Custom Merge, including Dedupely Intelligence and Auto Merge. Check the result in the **Merge Preview** column before you merge in bulk. See [Merge Rules](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-rules).

### Step 2: Find call-created records in Dedupely Intelligence

Dedupely Intelligence finds these duplicates with nothing to set up, and its **Call-created** filter shows only the matches that include a record created by a phone tool. A call-created record is one a phone integration created from a call: it has a phone number but no real name, email or LinkedIn.
- Go to **Duplicate Searches** and open **Dedupely Intelligence** under Contacts or Leads.
- Click the **Call-created** filter at the top of the search.
- Choose what to show:
- **Any call-created record**
- **Unknown caller:** records the phone tool saved as an unknown caller.
- **Phone number only:** records with nothing but a phone number.
- **A specific phone tool**, like Aircall, JustCall, Dialpad, RingCentral, CloudTalk, Kixie, Talkdesk, Ringover, OpenPhone, Twilio or Zoom Phone, among more than 20.
- **No call-created record**, to see every other match.
- Review the matches and merge the ones that are the same person.
Dedupely Intelligence is included in full on every paid plan, and its filters are saved. The free trial sees the first two pages of results and merges with its free merges. See [Dedupely Intelligence](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/dedupely-intelligence).

### Step 3: Build a Duplicate Search for new call records

Dedupely Intelligence can't run Auto Merge, so for the records your phone tools keep creating, build a Duplicate Search of your own:
- Create a Duplicate Search on Contacts (or the object your phone tool uses).
- Match on **Phone Number** with **Similar**. It ignores formatting and country codes and compares the last 7 digits.
- Add a filter: **First Name** · **is blank** · Applies to **one or more**, so every match includes a record without a name. If your phone tool saves a placeholder name instead, like "Unknown caller", add a second condition,
**First Name** · **contains**
· *Unknown*, and click the **AND**
badge to switch it to **OR**.
- Add **Visible Fields** like Last Name, Email, the field your phone tool fills in (like a lead source), and **Create Date**, to compare before merging.
- Click **Scan**.
To focus on one phone tool, add a filter on the field it fills in, or on **Create Date** · **comes after** the day you connected it. See [Filters](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/filters).
This is one of the few searches that can match on a single field: the filter for a blank name keeps it to the thin records phone tools create.

### Step 4: Test, then automate

- Merge 1–2 matches by hand, and check the result in your CRM and in [Merge History](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-history).
- Reject the false matches, like two people who share an office line. Rejected matches never come back in any search for that object.
- Turn on [Auto Match](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/auto-match) for 2–4 weeks, and review the matches when you're notified.
- When the search stops finding false matches, turn on [Auto Merge](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/auto-merge) on a daily schedule, before your reps start their day.
Auto Merge is included in every paid plan, not in the 7-day free trial.

### What protects you while you merge

- **Safety Settings** set aside matches built on placeholder numbers, like 000-000-0000, and matches with more than 20 records, which usually mean a shared number like a main office line. See [Merge Safety](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-safety).
- **Merge History** records every merge, with who ran it and the original values.
- **Undo:** if two people who weren't duplicates were merged, undo the merge from Merge History within 30 days. See [Undo a Merge](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/undo-a-merge).

### Example setup

A sales team uses Aircall with HubSpot. Every missed call from a new number creates a contact with only a phone number.
- **Merge Rules:** Primary Record set to **Most Field Data**. Phone Number: Custom, Win Rule: When Field Create Date · is newest.
- **Cleanup:** in Dedupely Intelligence, the team filters by **Call-created**
→ **Aircall**, reviews the matches and merges them page by page.
- **Duplicate Search "Contacts · Aircall":** Phone Number: Similar · Filter: First Name is blank, Applies to one or more · Visible Fields: Last Name, Email, Create Date.
- **Automation:** Auto Match for three weeks, then Auto Merge every day at 7 AM.

### Common mistakes

- **Merging before setting the Primary Record.** The thin record from the phone tool might survive. Set Most Field Data first.
- **Matching on Phone Number with Exact.** Phone tools format numbers their own way. Use Similar.
- **Leaving out the blank-name filter.** Without it, a search on phone alone matches colleagues who share an office line.
- **Turning on Auto Merge right away.** Run Auto Match first, until the search stops finding false matches.
- **Expecting Dedupely Intelligence to merge on its own.** It can't be automated. Use your own Duplicate Search for that.

### FAQs about duplicates from phone tools

- **Which phone tools does the Call-created filter recognize?** More than 20, including Aircall, JustCall, Dialpad, RingCentral, CloudTalk, Kixie, Talkdesk, Ringover, OpenPhone, Twilio and Zoom Phone, plus records saved as an unknown caller or with only a phone number.
- **Is the Call-created filter available in my own Duplicate Searches?** No. It's a Dedupely Intelligence filter. In your own searches, match on Phone Number with a filter for a blank name.
- **Which record survives the merge?** The one your Merge Rules pick. With Primary Record set to Most Field Data, the complete contact survives over the thin record.
- **Does the call history move to the surviving contact?** Activities and associations move to the surviving record, except where your CRM's API doesn't allow it. See your CRM's guide.
- **Can Dedupely stop phone tools from creating these records?** No. Dedupely merges them after they reach it. With Auto Merge on a daily schedule, they're merged before your reps start their day.

### Next up

[How to Prevent Duplicates in Your CRM See where duplicates come from, and merge new ones from forms, imports and integrations automatically.](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-stop-duplicates-getting-into-your-crm)

### Still stuck?

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Behind the article

### Gaby Salinas

Marketing Assistant at Dedupely
Gaby Salinas came to CRM data from marketing and advertising, so she looks at duplicates from two sides: the match and merge logic behind them, and what they do to the people using the CRM, like the rep who calls a customer twice, the admin who gets blamed and the cleanup nobody wants to start.
As Marketing Assistant at Dedupely, she follows how RevOps teams, end users, consultants and technical teams actually work with their data: the records they stop trusting, the workarounds they build and the moment they finally decide to clean up. What she finds shapes most of what Dedupely publishes.
[Connect with Gaby on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbyslns)

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