# Dedupe Before and After a CRM Migration | Dedupely > Moving to a new CRM, or combining two CRM accounts after an acquisition? Dedupe the old one first, then the new one once its integrations are live. - URL: https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-dedupe-before-and-after-a-crm-migration - Section: knowledge-base - Site index: https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt - Any page: append `.md` to its URL for this plain-text form --- ## How to Dedupe Before and After a CRM Migration By [Gaby Salinas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbyslns) Updated October 30, 2026 Move to a new CRM, or combine two accounts after an acquisition, without carrying duplicates across. A migration is the best moment to dedupe, and the easiest one to get wrong. With Dedupely, you dedupe twice: first in your old CRM, before you migrate, so you don't move duplicates into a fresh system. Then in your new CRM, once it's set up and its integrations are running, to catch the duplicates the migration and the integrations create. This works whether you're moving to a different CRM (e.g. from Pipedrive to HubSpot) or combining two accounts of the same CRM after an acquisition. ### Before you start - **Access to your old CRM**, with the permissions Dedupely needs. See [Connect your CRM](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/connect-your-crm) and your CRM's deduplication guide. - **A migration plan for your data.** Dedupely finds and merges duplicates. It doesn't move data between CRMs. ### Which situation are you in? | Situation | Example | What's different | | --- | --- | --- | | **Moving to a new CRM** | Pipedrive to HubSpot | Duplicates in the old CRM travel with the migration, and the import can create new ones. | | **Combining two accounts after an acquisition** | Two HubSpot portals, or a Salesforce org and a HubSpot portal, becoming one | Each account has its own duplicates, and both companies probably share some customers. Those shared customers only become duplicates once the data is in one CRM. | Dedupely matches records within one CRM, not across two connected CRMs. That's why the order below matters: dedupe each old system on its own, then dedupe everything together in the new one. ### Phase 1: Dedupe your old CRM before you migrate - **Connect your old CRM** to Dedupely and turn on the objects you'll migrate. See [Syncing Records](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/syncing-records). - **Run the preset Duplicate Searches** for each object, then add your own. Match on at least three fields. See [How to Find Duplicates](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-find-duplicates). - **Set your Merge Rules**, so the right values survive. See [Merge Rules](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-rules). - **Test, then merge.** Do 1–2 Single Merges, check them in the CRM and in [Merge History](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-history), then bulk merge. - **Download your Merge History as a CSV** before the old CRM is switched off. It's your record of what was merged and the original values. Combining two accounts? Do this for each account, one after the other. **Why first?** Merging in the old CRM brings each customer's activities, deals and notes together on one record, so their history migrates as one record instead of several. ### Phase 2: Migrate The migration itself happens outside Dedupely, with your new CRM's import tools or a migration service. - **Map a unique identifier** for each object (email for contacts, domain for companies, or the old record ID), so the new CRM can match rows instead of creating new records. - **Migrating with spreadsheets?** Dedupe each export as a CSV before you import it. See [Dedupe a List Before You Import It](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/dedupe-a-list-before-you-import-it). ### Phase 3: Set up your new CRM and its integrations Before you connect Dedupely to the new CRM, finish setting it up: objects, fields, forms and every integration that creates or syncs records. Integrations create records of their own, and two-way syncs can re-create records after a merge. If you dedupe before they're running, you'll have to do it again, and you may merge records an integration then brings back. See [Merging duplicates with an active HubSpot-Salesforce Integration](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merging-with-hubspot-salesforce-integration). ### Phase 4: Dedupe your new CRM - **Turn off the old CRM's objects** in **CRM Settings** once you no longer need them, so its records stop counting toward your plan's record limit. Records from every connected CRM add up. - **Connect your new CRM** and turn on its objects. The first sync usually takes 2–15 minutes for up to 50,000 records, and up to 10–12 hours for 1M+ records. - **Build your Duplicate Searches.** After an acquisition, start with the customers both companies shared: contacts by First Name + Last Name + Email, and companies by domain and name. See [How to Dedupe Companies and Accounts](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-dedupe-companies-and-accounts). - **Decide which data wins.** When both companies have a record for the same customer, set a Primary Record rule, e.g. **Oldest Record** to keep the record with the longest history. See [Merge Rules](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-rules). - **Test, then bulk merge**, the same way as in Phase 1. - **Automate.** Once your searches are proven, turn on [Auto Match](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/auto-match) or [Auto Merge](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/auto-merge) for the duplicates your new integrations keep creating. ### Example setup Company A (HubSpot, 60,000 contacts) acquires Company B (Pipedrive, 25,000 people). Everything moves into Company A's HubSpot portal. - **Phase 1, Company B:** connect Pipedrive, dedupe People and Organizations, download the Merge History CSV. - **Phase 1, Company A:** connect HubSpot, dedupe Contacts and Companies. - **Phase 2:** migrate Pipedrive into HubSpot, mapping email for people and domain for organizations. - **Phase 3:** set up Company B's forms and integrations in HubSpot. - **Phase 4:** turn off Pipedrive's objects in CRM Settings. Scan HubSpot Contacts with First Name: Exact · Last Name: Exact · Email: Exact, and Companies with Company Domain Name: Domain Root · Name: Similar Words (Any Order) · Country: Exact. - **Merge Rules:** Primary Record set to **Oldest Record**, so the record with the longest history survives when both companies had the customer. - **Test** 2 Single Merges and 2 bulk-merged pages, then bulk merge the rest, and turn on Auto Match on both searches. ### Common mistakes - **Migrating first and deduping later.** You move duplicates into a fresh CRM, and each one's history arrives split across records. - **Deduping the new CRM before its integrations are live.** The integrations add new duplicates, or bring back records you merged. - **Expecting Dedupely to match the old CRM against the new one.** It matches within one CRM. Dedupe each one separately. - **Leaving the old CRM's objects on.** Its records keep counting toward your plan's record limit. - **Not keeping the Merge History CSV** from the old CRM before it's switched off. ### FAQs about deduping during a migration - **Can Dedupely migrate my data?** No. Dedupely finds and merges duplicates. Use your new CRM's import tools or a migration service to move the data. - **Can Dedupely find duplicates between my old and new CRM?** No. It matches records within one CRM. Dedupe the old one before migrating, and the new one after. - **Can I connect both CRMs at the same time?** Yes, you can connect several CRMs to one Dedupely account, but we recommend one after the other. Records from every connected CRM count toward your plan's record limit. - **Should I dedupe before or after the migration?** Both. Before, so you don't migrate duplicates. After, once the new CRM and its integrations are set up, to catch the duplicates the migration and the integrations create. - **How long does the first sync of the new CRM take?** Usually 2–15 minutes for up to 50,000 records, and up to 10–12 hours for 1M+ records. - **Can I undo a merge if I picked the wrong data?** No: undo is for records that weren't duplicates. Download your Merge History as a CSV and use it to restore the original values in your CRM. See [I Merged the Wrong Records: What Now?](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/i-merged-the-wrong-records) ### Next up [Connect your CRM Connect your old CRM to Dedupely and start Phase 1.](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/connect-your-crm) ### Still stuck? Our team helps on every plan and during the free trial, by chat, email or Zoom. - Need help? [Talk to support](https://dedupe.ly/contact) - Questions about plans? [Book a Zoom with sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales) - Reading this with a model? [Read this page as Markdown](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-dedupe-before-and-after-a-crm-migration.md) - Feeding it the whole site? [Read llms.txt](https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt) 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) ### Get started for free 20 free trial merges and as much free support as you need to get your duplicates under control. [Talk to sales](https://meetings.dedupe.ly/meetings/gaby-salinas/talk-to-sales)[Try for free](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup) [Or sign up with Google](https://v2.app.dedupe.ly/signup/google) Running CRM cleanup for clients? [See the Partner Program](https://dedupe.ly/become-a-partner) Skip to content