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Actions

Understand how different actions work when resolving duplicates and data quality issues.

Overview

True Record provides several actions for resolving duplicate matches. Each action has different effects on your Salesforce data.

Merge

Combine two records into one, preserving the best data from each.

Dismiss

Mark a match as not a duplicate without changing any records.

Convert Lead

Convert a lead while merging with an existing contact.

Transfer & Delete

Move relationships to one record and delete the other.

Merge Records

Merging combines two duplicate records into a single master record. The survivor record keeps its ID while inheriting selected field values from the duplicate.

How It Works

  1. 1Select the survivor record (the one to keep)
  2. 2Choose which field values to keep from each record
  3. 3Review the merged result preview
  4. 4Confirm and execute the merge
  5. 5The duplicate record is deleted and all relationships are transferred

Survivorship Rules

Decide which field values survive the merge using manual selection or automated policies.

Manual Selection

Review each field and pick the value you want to keep. Ideal for one-off merges where data quality varies.

Survivorship Policies

Configure automated rules to always prefer most recent, most complete, or values from a specific source.

Native Salesforce Merge

For Lead, Contact, and Account, True Record uses Salesforce's native SOAP merge API. This ensures all related records (Activities, Opportunities, Cases, etc.) are automatically reparented to the survivor.

LeadContactAccount

Other Objects

For all other objects (including standard objects like Opportunity, Case, Campaign, and all custom objects), we use a consolidate-and-delete approach: copy selected field values to the survivor, reparent updateable lookup relationships, then delete the duplicate. Some relationship types may require manual attention.

Dismiss Match

Dismissing marks a potential duplicate as 'not a duplicate' without modifying any Salesforce records. Use this when records look similar but represent genuinely different entities.

What Happens
  • Match status changes to 'dismissed'
  • Records are excluded from future scans as duplicates of each other
  • Both records remain unchanged in Salesforce
What Does NOT Happen
  • No Salesforce data is modified
  • Records are not deleted or merged

Reversible Action

You can undo a dismiss action from the audit log. This will restore the match to its original pending state for review.

Convert Lead

When a Lead matches an existing Contact, you can convert the Lead while simultaneously merging data. This combines Salesforce's lead conversion with our duplicate resolution.

How It Works

  1. 1Select the matching Contact as the conversion target
  2. 2Choose which Account to associate (existing or create new)
  3. 3Optionally create an Opportunity during conversion
  4. 4Select field values to preserve from the Lead
  5. 5Execute conversion - Lead is converted and merged with Contact

Uses Salesforce Lead Conversion

We call Salesforce's native convertLead API to ensure all standard lead conversion behaviors apply: Tasks/Events transfer, Campaign Member status updates, and proper lead source tracking.

Transfer & Delete

For cross-object matches (e.g., Contact matching an Account), merging isn't possible. Transfer & Delete moves key relationships to one record and deletes the other.

How It Works

  1. 1Identify which record to keep (target) and which to delete (source)
  2. 2Review relationships that will be transferred (Opportunities, Cases, etc.)
  3. 3Confirm which fields to copy from source to target
  4. 4Execute transfer - relationships move to target, source is deleted

Reversible with Unmerge

Transfer & Delete operations can be reversed using the Unmerge feature. True Record captures a snapshot of both records before the operation, allowing you to restore the deleted record and revert field transfers within your plan's retention window.

When to Use

Use Transfer & Delete when you have genuinely duplicate data across different object types, such as a Contact that should have been created as a Lead, or an Account that's actually a duplicate of another Account with a different record type.

Audit Trail

Every action is logged with full details for compliance and troubleshooting.

  • Who performed the action (user email)
  • Timestamp of the action
  • Record state before the action
  • Record state after the action
  • Undo capability for reversible actions

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to related records when I merge?

For standard objects (Lead, Contact, Account), Salesforce automatically reparents all related records to the survivor. For custom objects, we explicitly move lookup relationships before deleting the duplicate.

Can I undo a merge?

Yes! Use the Unmerge feature in Merge History to fully reverse any merge. This recreates the deleted record, reverts field changes on the survivor, and re-reparents related records. Unmerge is available within your plan's retention window (7-90 days, or unlimited on Enterprise).

Why can't I merge records of different object types?

Salesforce's merge API only works within the same object type. For cross-object duplicates, use Transfer & Delete to consolidate data before removing the duplicate.

What permissions do I need to perform actions?

You need Modify All Data permission (or object-specific edit/delete permissions) for the objects you're merging. Lead conversion also requires the 'Convert Leads' permission.

Does dismiss permanently exclude records from matching?

Dismissed matches won't resurface for the same record pair. However, if either record is modified significantly, it may match with different records in future scans.

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