Merge records

In your HubSpot account, you can merge two records of the same object into one record. You can merge two companies, contacts, deals, tickets, or custom object records. For example, if two company records were created for HubSpot, you can merge one into the other, resulting in one company record with activities and associations from both records.

Before you merge records

Prior to merging records, you should understand how your record data will be affected. The expected behavior for merging records differs based on which object’s records you’re merging. Learn more about what happens to your data for each type of merge.

It's also important to note that once you've merged two records, it is not possible to unmerge them. For contacts and companies, you can create a new record with the merged email addresses or domain names. For all objects, you can use the Merged [record] IDs property to view previously merged records.

Merge records

To merge records in your account:

• Navigate to your records:
  
  • Contacts: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Contacts.
  • Companies: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Companies.
  • Deals: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Deals.
  • Tickets: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Tickets.
  • Custom objects: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM, then select the custom object.
• Click the name of the record that will be considered your primary record.
• In the left panel, click the Actions dropdown menu, then select Merge.

• In the dialog box, click the dropdown menu, then search for and select the record to merge into the primary record.

• Once you've selected your secondary record, click Merge.

Please note: if you merge records while on a call, the call will be automatically disconnected.

You'll be notified that the merge is in progress. It can take up to 30 minutes for all of the records’ activities to sync.

If your merge fails, it may be due to a merge limit. You cannot merge records if they've been included in a combined total of 250+ merges (e.g, Contact A and Contact B have been involved in 130 merges each). Once this limit is reached, you need to either create a new record or manually edit the record instead of merging. There are also certain scenarios where you will not be able to merge companies.

View records that have been merged

You can use the Merged [record] IDs properties to view which records were previously involved in a merge. You can access this property on an individual record, or filter all of your records based on if they have a value for the property.

To view the property on an individual record:

• Navigate to your records.
• Click the name of a record.
• In the left panel, scroll to the bottom of the About this [record] section, then click View all properties.
• In the search bar, enter Merged.
• If the record was involved in a merge, the Merged [record] IDs property will contain the Record ID values of all records previously merged into that record.

To view all records of a specific object that were involved in a merge:

• Navigate to your records.
• Above the table, click All filters.
• In the right panel, in the search bar, enter Merged, then select Merged [record] IDs.
• Select is known.

• Click Apply filter, then click the X in the top right to close the panel.

• The view will contain only records that have been included in a merge. For these records, the property will contain the Record ID values of all records previously merged into that record.

Learn more about filtering your records.

What happens when I merge records?

Depending on the object the records you’ve merged belong to, the merge logic differs. Below, learn what to expect when you merge records within a given object.

Company merges

When you merge companies, the primary company record will remain after the merge. The secondary company will be merged into the primary record.

There are scenarios where merges are not possible or will fail:

• A company is currently a parent or child company. If the parent-child relationship contains a loop, the merge may fail. 
• If you've enabled the HubSpot Salesforce integration, you will not be able to merge companies. Learn how to manage duplicate companies while using the HubSpot-Salesforce integration.

In the following sections, learn how merges affect company properties, associations, activities, workflow enrollments, and Salesforce sync.

Company properties, associations, and activities

All associations and timeline activities of both records will be merged and will appear on the primary company record. In general, the most recent value for each property is adopted by the primary company. The following properties are exceptions:

• Company name: the name of the primary company is maintained.
• Company domain name: the web address of the primary company is maintained.
• Lifecycle stage: the stage furthest down the funnel is maintained. For example, if one company is a Lead and the other is a Customer, the merged company will have a lifecycle stage of Customer.
• Create date: the value for the oldest company is maintained.
• Analytics properties: these properties are re-synced and you will see the total number of page views and visits for both companies combined.
• Analytics - Original Traffic Source: the oldest value for the original traffic source property is kept, unless the source has been manually updated. In that case, the manually updated value will remain.

The property value history for both company records can still be found in Property history in the primary company's record.

Workflow enrollments (Professional and Enterprise only)

• The secondary company will be unenrolled from all workflows.
• The primary company will not automatically enroll in any workflows as a result of data changes that happened during the merge.
• Moving forward, the primary company can be enrolled in workflows as a result of property changes or actions unrelated to the merge.

Salesforce sync (Professional and Enterprise only)

You will not have the option to merge company records if your account is integrated with Salesforce. To clean up duplicate records in HubSpot while the integration is installed, you can delete the extra duplicate companies in HubSpot using the duplicates management tool. Ensure that you keep the company in HubSpot that syncs to the primary account in Salesforce. If you have duplicate companies syncing from Salesforce, you can either merge the accounts or delete the extra duplicate accounts in Salesforce.

If your account has turned on the HubSpot setting to automatically create and associate companies with contacts, it is also recommended to turn off this setting to avoid future duplicates.

Contact merges

When you merge contacts, the primary contact record will remain after the merge. The secondary contact will be merged into the primary record.

In the following sections, learn how merges affect contact properties, associations, activities, list memberships, communication subscriptions, form submissions, workflow enrollments, and Salesforce sync.

Contact properties, associations, and activities

All associations and timeline activities of both records will be merged and will appear on the primary contact record. In general, the most recent value for each property is adopted by the primary contact. The following properties are exceptions:

• Email: the email address of the primary contact is maintained as the primary email address. The secondary contact's email address will be added as a secondary email address.
• Lifecycle Stage: the stage furthest down the funnel is maintained. For example, if one contact is a Lead and the other is a Customer, the merged contact will have a lifecycle stage of Customer.
• Create Date: the value for the oldest contact is maintained.
• Number of Conversions and Number of Unique Forms Submitted: these are added together with the values for each contact. For example, if the primary contact has submitted three forms and the secondary contact has submitted two forms, the value for Number of Forms Submitted will be five.
• Marketing contact status: if your account has marketing contacts, the most marketable status is kept. For example, if one contact is set as Marketing and the other as Non-marketing, the merged contact will be set as Marketing.
• Analytics properties: these properties are re-synced and you will see the total number of page views for both contacts combined.
• Analytics - Original Traffic Source: the oldest value for the original traffic source property is kept, unless the source has been manually updated. In that case, the manually updated value will remain.
• Email Information properties: the primary contact's values will remain for these properties, including the opt-out properties.
• Legal basis: the most recent values from both contact records are kept. 

List memberships

• The secondary contact is removed from all static lists.
• Active list memberships may change as a result of data changes that happen during the merge.

Form submissions

• All cookies (HubSpot usertokens) that were associated with either contact will be merged into the primary contact.
• If the secondary contact submits a form from a device it had previously submitted on, the submission data is deduplicated and associated with the primary contact.
• The secondary contact's email address is permanently associated with the primary contact. If the contact submits a form from a device they have never submitted from but uses email address from the secondary contact record, this submission will be reflected on the primary contact's record.

Workflow enrollments (Professional and Enterprise only)

• The secondary contact will be unenrolled from all workflows.
• By default, the primary contact will not automatically enroll in any workflows as a result of data changes that happen during the merge. You can choose to allow merged contacts to enroll at the time of the merge in your workflow settings.
• Moving forward, the primary contact can be enrolled in workflows due to property changes or actions unrelated to the merge. 

Salesforce sync (Professional and Enterprise only)

If you have the HubSpot-Salesforce sync enabled, merging contacts in HubSpot will have an impact on Salesforce.

Please note: if both of the records you merged in HubSpot were syncing with Salesforce, it’s recommended to merge the records in Salesforce. You will want to keep the Salesforce record that’s syncing with the primary contact record in HubSpot.

• Since each HubSpot record can only link to one Salesforce record, following the merge in HubSpot, only the primary contact will continue to sync to the Salesforce record.
• If the secondary contact that was merged into the primary contact was syncing to Salesforce, that record in Salesforce will no longer sync to HubSpot because the record no longer exists.

Deal merges

When you merge deals, a new deal record will be created with a unique Record ID.

In the following sections, learn how merges affect deal properties, associations, activities, and workflow enrollments.

Deal properties, associations, and activities

All associated objects and timeline activities of both records will be merged and will appear on the new deal record. In general, the property values of the primary deal are adopted by the resulting deal record. The following properties are exceptions:

• Create Date: the value for the oldest deal is maintained.
• Deal ID: the resulting deal will have an entirely new value.

Workflow enrollments (Professional and Enterprise only)

• Any primary and secondary deals that are enrolled in workflows before a merge will be unenrolled following a merge. 
• The resulting deal will not be enrolled in the workflows that the primary and secondary deals were enrolled in as a result of the merge.
• The resulting deal will not automatically enroll in any workflows as a result of data changes that happen during the merge.
• Moving forward, the resulting deal can be enrolled in workflows due to property changes or actions unrelated to the merge.

Ticket merges

When you merge tickets, a new ticket record will be created with a unique Record ID.

In the following sections, learn how merges affect ticket properties, associations, activities, SLAs, and workflow enrollments.

Ticket properties, associations, and activities

All associated objects and timeline activities of both records will be merged and will appear on the new ticket record. In general, the property values of the primary ticket are adopted by the resulting ticket record. The following properties are exceptions:

• Create Date: the value for the oldest ticket is maintained.
• Ticket ID: the resulting ticket will have an entirely new value.

SLAs

When you merge tickets that both include SLAs, the new ticket will adopt the SLA of the primary ticket. If only one of the tickets has an SLA, the new ticket will adopt that ticket's SLA. 

Workflow enrollments (Professional and Enterprise only)

• Any primary and secondary tickets that are enrolled in workflows before a merge will be unenrolled following a merge. 
• The resulting ticket will not be enrolled in the workflows that the primary and secondary tickets were enrolled in as a result of the merge.
• The resulting ticket will not automatically enroll in any workflows as a result of data changes that happen during the merge.
• Moving forward, the resulting ticket can be enrolled in workflows due to property changes or actions unrelated to the merge.

Custom object merges (Enterprise only)

When you merge custom object records, a new record will be created with a unique Record ID.

In the following sections, learn how merges affect custom object properties, associations, activities, and workflow enrollments.

Custom object properties, associations, and activities

All associated objects and timeline activities of both records will be merged and will appear on the new record. In general, the property values of the primary record are adopted by the resulting record. The following properties are exceptions:

• Create Date: the value for the older record is maintained.
• Record ID: the resulting record will have a new value that is different from the primary and secondary custom object records.

Workflow enrollments

• The secondary record will be unenrolled from all workflows. 
• The resulting record will not automatically enroll in any workflows as a result of data changes that happened during the merge. 
• Moving forward, the resulting record can be enrolled in workflows due to property changes or actions unrelated to the merge. 

Can I unmerge records?

It is not possible to unmerge records. You can use the Merged [record] IDs properties to view which records were previously merged into an existing record. For contacts and companies, you can use the resulting additional email or domain name to create a new record.

If a merged contact has multiple emails, delete the additional email address in your merged contact and create a new contact with that email address:

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Contacts.
• Click on the name of the contact.
• In the About this contact section, hover over the Email property and click the edit pencil icon.

• Next to the additional email, click Delete.
• In the dialog box, click Delete email to confirm.
• Create a new contact with the deleted email address.

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Companies.
• Click the name of the company.
• In the About this company section, hover over the Company domain name property and click the edit pencil icon.

• Next to the additional domain, click the Actions dropdown menu, then select Delete.
• At the bottom of the screen, click Save.
• Create a new company with the deleted company domain name.