Merging contacts | 1pm Help

When the same person ends up in your contacts twice (once from a lead form, once from an import, or typed in by two people on your team), you can merge the two into one. Everything attached to either contact ends up on the one you keep, and the other is deleted. This article covers how to start a merge, what the preview shows you, and what happens to the things only one contact can have.

Nothing changes until you confirm

A merge always shows you a full preview first: every detail that differs, everything that moves, everything that can't be kept, and every link that stops working. Nothing is changed while you read it. If anything changes on either contact while the preview is open (a new booking, a new answer to a request), the merge refuses and shows you the updated preview instead, so you never confirm something you weren't shown.

A merge can't be undone, which is why the preview is worth reading properly.

Starting a merge

Open the contact you want to keep from the Contacts page.
At the bottom of the form, click Merge with another contact.
Search for the other contact and click Show what the merge does.

The contact you started from is the one kept. If you'd rather keep the other one, click Keep [name] instead at the top of the preview and the two swap places.

Choosing the details

The Details table lists every field where the two contacts differ.

Both have a value. Choose which one to keep. The other is deleted. For internal notes you can also choose Keep both, one after the other.
Only one has a value. It's used, and the row says so. A blank on the kept contact is always filled from the other.
Custom fields are in the same table. Answers to sensitive fields are compared but never shown here, and the same answer on both contacts isn't a difference.
Upload fields aren't a choice. Every file moves to the kept contact, and the row shows the file they'll have on file after the merge: the newest one that wasn't rejected, the same rule the contact form uses. A contact can only hold one file you attached yourself per field, so if both contacts have one, the older is deleted and listed under Can't be kept.
Tags from both contacts are combined, up to the limit of 20 a contact can have.

What moves

The Moves to the kept contact section counts everything that moves across and names the first few of each:

Bookings where they're the client or organizer, and the bookings they have a crew or client link to.
Leads, quotes and invoices billed to them, appointments, programs, and Spaces they're the main contact for.
Ingredients they supply, and their prices.
Run of show items assigned to them.
Their RSVPs, table seats, dietaries, notes, check-ins and statuses on each booking.
Requests they answered, files they uploaded, and request sections shown only to them.
Saved cards and card requests.
Their email history, and their check-in, status and answer history.

What can't be kept

Some things a contact can only have one of per booking: an RSVP, a table seat, a check-in, a status, your brief to them, their feedback, and the notes they wrote. When both contacts have one on the same booking, the kept contact's stays and the other is deleted. The Can't be kept section lists every one of these by booking, and turns red when there are any.

The same goes for two answers to the same request. The kept contact's answer stays. The other is moved into the answer history, so a signed acceptance of your terms is never lost.

Things worth knowing

Sample contacts can't be merged with your own. Removing the sample data later would otherwise take your own work with it.
Invoices already sent to Xero keep the contact they have in Xero. Only the contact in 1pm changes.
The merge is recorded. If you ever need to know what a merge did, contact support within 90 days: we keep the merged-in contact's details and the preview you confirmed for that long. Deleting the kept contact deletes the record too.
Links and cards in progress follow the merge. A client who was adding a card to the merged-in contact when you merged gets it saved to the kept contact, and a queued invite email that would have sent a link that stops working sends the kept contact's link instead.

When merging isn't the right tool

If the two contacts are actually two people who share an email address (a couple, or an office's shared inbox), don't merge them. Edit one of them instead so each has their own details.