Keep your contact list clean and organized with Clay's smart duplicate detection system. The Duplicates view helps you identify and resolve potential duplicate contacts across your network with ease. Clay intelligently analyzes your contacts to find possible matches, then presents them in a streamlined interface where you can review and take action. This powerful feature saves you time and ensures your contact database remains accurate and up-to-date.
Accessing your Duplicates
Navigate to the Duplicates view to see all potential duplicate profiles that Clay has detected across your network.
On Mac, Windows, and Web
- Navigate to the People tab on your left sidebar
- Click on the Duplicates tab at the top of the screen
On iOS
- Tap the People icon at the bottom of the screen
- Tap the arrow at the upper right corner then select Duplicates
Comparing Profiles
When reviewing potential duplicates, Clay allows you to compare profiles side-by-side. You can review names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other key details at a glance, making it easier to determine if they're truly the same person before taking action.
For cases where this quick comparison isn't sufficient, simply click the View Profile button to access either contact's complete profile, giving you all the context you need to make an informed decision. On iOS, you may tap the contact to reveal their full profile.
When dealing with groups containing multiple potential duplicates, you can click the Ignore button to remove any contacts that aren't actually duplicates of the others, ensuring only true matches remain in the group for merging.
Managing Duplicate Suggestions
Merge Profiles
You can either merge profiles directly from the list view (perfect when you're certain they're the same person) or use the more detailed merge option in the right sidebar after reviewing their complete contact information.
Ignore Suggestions
If contacts aren't actually duplicates, you can ignore the suggestion. You may ignore directly from the list view for quick decisions, or ignore from the right sidebar after reviewing detailed information.
Archive Contacts
If you'd prefer to archive contacts instead of merging or ignoring them, you may click Archive Profiles from the list to remove them from your active contacts while preserving their information.
Automated Duplicate Detection
Clay continuously scans your network for possible duplicates in the background. Whenever new potential matches are found, you'll receive a notification in the Activity view, ensuring you're always aware of opportunities to keep your contacts organized.
FAQ
I have auto-merge on, but I still see duplicates. Why?
Auto-merge only kicks in when there's high confidence that two contacts are the same person—which means more than just a name match. Contacts typically need shared information like an email address or phone number, since many people share the same name.
Even when duplicates seem obvious to you, slight variations in spelling or contact details can make our system less certain. We err on the side of caution to prevent accidental merges, especially with common names. For everything else, the Duplicates tab lets you review and merge contacts manually.
Why can't I merge multiple duplicates at the same time?
We intentionally designed the merge process to handle one duplicate pair at a time to help prevent accidental merges. Since we don't currently have an undo feature for merges, we wanted to ensure you have the opportunity to carefully review each potential duplicate before combining them.
Similarly, the confirmation modal that appears before finalizing a merge serves as an additional safeguard against unintended merges. This approach helps maintain the integrity of your contact database while we work on implementing more advanced merge features.
We're looking into possibly adding a multi-select feature in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for updates!
I accidentally merged two different people into one contact. Can I undo this?
We don't currently support the option to undo a merge but this is definitely on our radar! In the meantime, a workaround is to manually separate your contacts by editing the contact, removing the information of one person and keeping the other, then creating a new contact for the removed information.
For example:
If John Doe and Jane Doe were merged, identify whose information is on the merged contact, and for this example, let's say it's John's. Create a new contact for Jane and remove Jane's information from John's contact card. Edit Jane's card and add the removed information from John under Sources.