Merge Safety

How to access Safety Settings

You can configure these rules by navigating to Safety Settings in the main left vertical menu, located directly under Merge Rules.

Use the Record Type dropdown at the top of the page to configure independent safety thresholds for different objects in your CRM.

Available Safety Rules

You can enable and customize the following rules to prevent accidental merges of bad data:

• Records per match: Define a maximum threshold for duplicate groups. By default, any match containing more than 20 records is flagged, as massive groups often indicate broad or flawed match logic. You can adjust this number to fit your specific needs.
• Poor or example data: Check this box to automatically exclude matches built on placeholder, test, or low-quality data (e.g., "test@test.com" or "John Doe").
• Very short values: Check this box to prevent merges based on abnormally short text values that frequently lead to false positives.

Reviewing Excluded Matches

When a match trips one of your active Safety Settings, it is instantly removed from your active queue.

On your next duplicate scan, these flagged groups will be placed in the “Excluded” tab inside your Duplicate Search. From there, you can review the context of the match and decide whether to manually merge them, reject the match, or send the records to “Manual Review.”

Best practices for merging

To keep merges predictable and avoid losing data:

1. Preview before you merge: Use the Preview Merge panel or run a few single, manual merges to verify your logic before launching bulk actions or auto merge.
2. Build strong logic: Use at least 3 fields (such as First Name, Last Name, and Email) to define your match logic and ensure high-confidence duplicates.
3. Watch large groups: Watch for duplicate groups containing an unusually large number of records. This is typically a sign of weak search logic or missing filters. You can set up Auto Match to help keep track of these edge cases over time.
4. Control field outcomes: Use Merge Rules to set exactly which values win on each field.

FAQs about Safety Settings

• Do Safety Settings delete the bad data from my CRM? No. Safety Settings only prevent risky or low-quality duplicate groups from being merged inside Dedupely. Your live CRM data is never deleted, altered, or cleaned up by simply enabling these rules.
• Can I still merge records after they have been sent to the Excluded tab? Yes. The Excluded tab acts as a holding area, not a permanent block. You can manually review these flagged groups and choose to safely execute the merge, reject the match, or assign the group to another team member for further review.
• If I update my Safety Settings, do the changes apply to my current results immediately? Changes to your Safety Settings take effect on your next duplicate scan. If you have an active Duplicate Search, you will need to re-run the search for the new safety rules to filter the results.
• Why was a small duplicate group excluded when it didn't exceed my "Records per match" limit? If a small group was sent to the Excluded tab, it likely triggered one of the other safety rules. The records most likely contained placeholder text (tripping the "Poor or example data" rule) or abnormally short text strings (tripping the "Very short values" rule).

Mentioned in this article: Duplicate Searches, Auto Match, Merge Rules, Excluded Matches, and Manual Review.