# How to Find Duplicate Contacts With Different Emails | Dedupely

> One person with a work email, a personal email and an "Email 2" field becomes several contacts. Find them without matching on email, then merge safely.

- URL: https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/one-person-several-email-addresses
- Section: knowledge-base
- Site index: https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt
- Any page: append `.md` to its URL for this plain-text form

---

## One Person, Several Email Addresses

By
[Gaby Salinas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbyslns)
Updated October 28, 2026
Find the contacts that are one person with a work email, a personal email or an old address.
Most CRMs check for duplicates on one email address. When the same person shows up with a personal email, a new work email or an address stored in a custom field like "Email 2", the CRM creates a new contact. In Dedupely, you find these duplicates by matching on the person instead of the email: name plus phone or company. Then you choose which email survives each merge with Merge Rules.

### Before you start

- **Where your extra emails live:** in your CRM's email field, its additional-emails field, or custom fields like "Email 2" from a migration or integration.
-
**Exact email duplicates merged first.** See [Your First Deduplication Project](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/your-first-deduplication-project).

### Why does one person become several contacts?

| Cause | Example |
| --- | --- |
| **Work and personal email** | ana.lopez@acme.com and ana.lopez@gmail.com |
| **A new job or a new domain** | ana@acme.com and ana@acme-group.com |
| **Extra emails in custom fields** | A migration put old addresses in "Email 2", and the CRM doesn't check that field |
| **Aliases** | ana+webinar@acme.com from a form |

### How to match without the email

Leave email out of the match, and match on the person:
| Search | Fields |
| --- | --- |
| **Same person, same phone** | First Name: Similar Words (Any Order) with **Match nicknames** · Last Name: Exact · Phone Number: Similar |
| **Same person, same company** | First Name: Similar Words (Any Order) with **Match nicknames** · Last Name: Exact · Company: Similar Words (Any Order), with Ignored terms *Inc.*, *LLC*, *Ltd.* |
Add Email and your custom email fields to **Visible Fields**, so you can compare the addresses during review. See [Catching Hidden Duplicates](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/catching-hidden-duplicates).

### What about emails in two separate fields?

If old addresses sit in a custom field like "Email 2", a search on Email and Email 2 only matches records that have the same two addresses, even if they're swapped between the fields. **Cross-field matching** (on by default) handles the swap. Records with an empty "Email 2" drop out of that search, and records that share only one address don't match.
To catch a person who shares only one address, match on the person instead, as above. If your CRM stores several emails in one field, sharing any one of them is enough for a match. [Dedupely Intelligence](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/dedupely-intelligence) compares every email field a contact has, so it also finds people who share only one address.

### Which email survives the merge?

Email fields in a CRM can't be appended, so one value wins in each email field. Decide which one before you merge:
-
**Keep the work email:** set the Primary Record to the record your team works on (**Last Updated Record**), or use a field-level rule on Email.
-
**Check the Merge Preview** in **View Match Details** to see which email survives.
- **Keep a record of the other addresses:** Merge History keeps the original values of every merged record, and you can download it as a CSV.
Some CRMs keep the other email on their own. Pipedrive combines all unique emails and phone numbers when records merge.

### Example setup

A team migrated from another CRM, and old addresses landed in a custom "Email 2" field. Contacts keep coming back as new records when people fill in forms with those addresses.
- **Search 1:** First Name (Similar Words, Match nicknames) · Last Name (Exact) · Phone Number (Similar). Visible Fields: Email, Email 2, Company.
- **Search 2:** First Name (Similar Words, Match nicknames) · Last Name (Exact) · Company (Similar Words, Ignored terms). Same Visible Fields.
- **Merge Rules:** Primary Record set to Last Updated Record.
- **Review:** Auto Match on both searches, reviewed weekly. Unclear matches go to Manual Review.

### Common mistakes

- **Matching on email.** It's exactly what differs. Match on the person.
- **Matching on name alone.** Many people share a name. Add phone or company.
- **Losing the address your team uses.** Check the Merge Preview, and set the Primary Record to the record your team works on.
- **Auto Merge on name-based searches.** Review them first with Auto Match.

### FAQs about contacts with several emails

-
**Why didn't my CRM catch these duplicates?** Most CRMs check one email field. A different address, or one stored in a custom field, isn't checked.
-
**Can Dedupely keep both emails in one email field?** No. Email fields in a CRM can't be appended. One value wins, and Merge History keeps the other.
-
**Which fields should I match on instead?** First name, last name and phone or company, with Match nicknames on.
-
**Can I see both emails while reviewing?** Yes. Add your email fields to Visible Fields.

### Next up

[Match Options Choose the right match option for names, phones and companies.](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/match-options)

### 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/one-person-several-email-addresses.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