# A Weekly CRM Deduplication Routine | Dedupely > A simple weekly, monthly and after-import routine in Dedupely to catch new duplicates, clear your review queues and keep your automations safe. - URL: https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/your-deduplication-routine - Section: knowledge-base - Site index: https://dedupe.ly/llms.txt - Any page: append `.md` to its URL for this plain-text form --- ## Your Deduplication Routine By [Gaby Salinas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbyslns) Updated October 28, 2026 A weekly, monthly and quarterly checklist to keep your CRM free of duplicates after the first cleanup. Deduplication isn't a one-time project. Forms, imports and integrations keep adding records, so a short routine keeps your CRM from filling up again. In Dedupely, most of the work runs on its own with Auto Match and Auto Merge. Your routine is about checking what they found, clearing your review queues, and adjusting your searches as your data changes. This playbook gives you a checklist for each week, each month, each quarter, and after every big import. ### Before you start - **Your backlog merged**, or most of it. See [Your First Deduplication Project](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/your-first-deduplication-project). - **Auto Match or Auto Merge on your main searches.** See [How to Stop Duplicates From Getting Into Your CRM](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/how-to-stop-duplicates-getting-into-your-crm). ### Every week (15–30 minutes) - ☐ **Read your Duplicate Report.** It's emailed weekly by default. Check whether your number of duplicates is going up or down. See [Notifications](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/notifications). - ☐ **Act on Auto Match emails.** Everyone in the account gets them, so agree who handles each search. Open each search that notified you, and merge, reject, or send matches to Manual Review. - ☐ **Clear the Manual Review tab** on each search, with the people who need to decide. See [Manual Review](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/manual-review). - ☐ **Check each Auto Merge dashboard.** Look at **Recent Auto Merges** and **Attention Needed**, and hover over any merge with an **Error** status to see why. ### Every month (about an hour) - ☐ **Check the Excluded tab** on your main searches. A growing number of large matches means a search has become too broad. See [Excluded Matches](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/excluded-matches). - ☐ **Spot-check Merge History.** Open a few recent merges and confirm the right values won. See [Merge History](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-history). - ☐ **Check your record count** in **Billing & Usage** (Admins). Up to 10% over your limit, you have 10 days to upgrade or turn objects off. After that, your account becomes read-only, and merging and Auto Merge stop. See [Billing & Usage](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/billing-usage). - ☐ **Look for patterns in rejections.** If you keep rejecting the same kind of match, fix the search instead. See [Avoiding False Matches](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/avoiding-false-matches). - ☐ **Move proven searches up.** A search on Auto Match that you've stopped rejecting matches from is ready for Auto Merge. ### Every quarter (about an hour) - ☐ **Review your Merge Rules.** New fields, new teams or a new process can change which values should win. See [Merge Rules](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-rules). - ☐ **Review your Safety Settings** for each object. See [Merge Safety](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/merge-safety). - ☐ **Check your objects in CRM Settings.** Turn on objects you haven't deduped yet, or turn off ones you no longer need. - ☐ **Tidy up your Duplicate Searches.** Delete old test clones and give each search a clear name, like "Contacts · Web forms · Exact email". - ☐ **Review the Audit Log** (Admins) for unexpected changes to searches, rules or users. See [Audit Log](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/audit-log). - ☐ **Look for new sources** of duplicates: new forms, integrations or tools added this quarter. ### After every big import or new integration - ☐ **Dedupe the list before importing** it. See [Dedupe a List Before You Import It](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/dedupe-a-list-before-you-import-it). - ☐ **Scan your main searches** after the import, and merge the new matches. - ☐ **Watch a new integration for 2–4 weeks**, with a search on the data it sends and Auto Match on, before you turn on Auto Merge for it. ### Who does what | Task | Who | | --- | --- | | Weekly: Auto Match emails, Manual Review, Auto Merge dashboards | Whoever owns the data for that object, e.g. Marketing for contacts, Sales Ops for companies | | Monthly: Excluded tab, Merge History, rejections | The person who owns your Duplicate Searches | | Monthly: record count | An Admin | | Quarterly: Merge Rules, Safety Settings, Audit Log | An Admin | See [Working as a Team in Dedupely](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/working-as-a-team). ### Example routine A marketing ops manager at a SaaS company with HubSpot: - **Monday, 20 minutes:** reads the Duplicate Report, works through two Auto Match emails, and checks the web forms Auto Merge dashboard. - **Thursday, 10 minutes:** clears Manual Review with the sales team lead. - **First Monday of the month:** checks the Excluded tab and 10 random merges in Merge History, and confirms the record count with the Admin. - **After each webinar:** dedupes the registration list as a CSV before importing it, then scans the contacts search. ### Common mistakes - **Ignoring Auto Match emails.** Matches pile up, and the backlog comes back. - **Letting Manual Review grow.** Matches there are never merged automatically. Set a weekly time to clear it. - **Not checking Auto Merge errors.** An error usually points to something in your CRM, like a missing permission or a read-only field, that someone needs to fix. - **Going over the record limit without noticing.** After the 10-day grace period, your account becomes read-only, and Auto Merge stops. - **Never revisiting Merge Rules.** Rules set for last year's process can keep the wrong values today. ### FAQs about a deduplication routine - **How often should I dedupe my CRM?** Check weekly, adjust monthly, review quarterly. With Auto Merge on your tested searches, most new duplicates are merged without you. - **How do I know if duplicates are going down?** Your Duplicate Report shows your duplicates across your connected CRMs, weekly or monthly. - **Can I get the Duplicate Report monthly instead of weekly?** Yes. Change it in **My Account** → **Notifications**. - **Does Dedupely tell me when new duplicates appear?** Yes, with Auto Match. Everyone in the account is emailed when a search reaches the number of matches you set. - **What if I'm over my record limit?** Up to 10% over, everything keeps working for 10 days. After that, or if you're more than 10% over, your account is read-only until an Admin upgrades or turns off objects in **CRM Settings**. ### Next up [Notifications Set up your Duplicate Report and alerts, so new duplicates come to you.](https://dedupe.ly/knowledge-base/notifications) ### 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/your-deduplication-routine.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. 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