Published at: 2026-09-17

Configure duplicate check rules

Overview

Duplicate check rules automatically identify duplicate records based on predefined field combinations during manual record creation, duplicate check tool queries, and data imports to prevent data redundancy. Administrators can configure exact match or fuzzy match rules for each object (Account, Contact, Lead) and control the visible fields in duplicate check results to ensure data security. This document also covers rule activation time, AND/OR logic for simple duplicate checks, and other key details.

Duplicate check on creation

This feature checks for duplicates on a specified object when records are created manually.

Enable duplicate check on creation: When enabled, the system matches records (including inactive data) against the duplicate check rules when you create a new object record. If duplicate records are found, the system alerts you. You can choose to ignore the alert and continue creating the record.
Supported objects: Account, Contact, and Lead.
Duplicate check logic settings: Matches records based on predefined fields of the object. You can combine exact match and fuzzy match on fields. For example, if the Account Name partially matches and the Phone number exactly matches, the system identifies the records as duplicate Accounts.
Duplicate check result display: You can configure which fields to display when duplicate records are found. Because duplicate records may contain data that the checking user does not have permission to access, you can control which fields are visible after a duplicate check. This ensures data security and prevents users from accessing Account information through duplicate check results.
Duplicate check rule field disable logic:
- Disabled or deleted fields do not participate in duplicate checks.
- Fields used in duplicate check rules cannot be disabled in field management.
Field types supported for duplicate checks: single select, multi-line text, phone, check-in component, single-line text, URL, country, province, city, district, owner, created by, external owner, and location.
Rule modification logic: After you configure duplicate check rules for an object, the rules do not take effect immediately. The system must reindex all data of that object into Elasticsearch (ES). The rules take effect only after the reindexing is complete. The system notifies you through CRM when the process is finished.
Activation time:
- Small data volume: If the object has a small number of records, the reindexing process is fast. Users may perceive the rules as taking effect immediately.
- Large data volume: If the object has a large number of records, the reindexing process takes longer, and rule activation is delayed accordingly.
If you attempt to edit duplicate check rules while data is being reindexed, the system displays the following message: “Duplicate check rules are being applied. Configuration changes are not allowed.”

Duplicate check tool

This feature configures duplicate check logic for use with the duplicate check tool.

Enable the duplicate check tool: Enable the tool for at least one of the three supported objects. The Duplicate Check Tool then appears on the My Workspace > Home page and supports record queries.
Supported objects: Account, Contact, and Lead.
Duplicate check logic settings: Matches records based on predefined fields of the object. You can combine exact match and fuzzy match on fields. For example, if the Account Name partially matches and the Phone number exactly matches, the system identifies the records as duplicate Accounts.
Duplicate check result display: You can configure which fields to display when duplicate records are found. Because duplicate records may contain data that the checking user does not have permission to access, you can control which fields are visible after a duplicate check. This ensures data security and prevents users from accessing Account information through duplicate check results.

Import duplicate check

Scenario: Duplicate checking is required when importing orders.
Account, Contact, and Lead objects: The system does not validate combined duplicate check rules.
If the duplicate check rule conditions include fuzzy match, the system does not perform duplicate checking during import and does not block the data import.
When an object has uniqueness rules configured, both rule types are applied.
Special note: When the duplicate check logic is set to AND, if the imported data contains null values, the result does not report duplicates. For example, if the rule is A AND B AND C and any one of A, B, or C is empty, the system reports no duplicate and allows the import.

Opportunity duplicate check

To prevent multiple sales representatives from following the same project under the same Account, you can enable “Prevent creating duplicate Opportunity names under the same Account.”

Simple duplicate check

AND relationship: All conditions connected by AND must be satisfied.
OR relationship: Only one condition connected by OR needs to be satisfied.
Both AND and OR relationships: AND has higher priority than OR. You can think of OR as splitting the rules into left and right sides for duplicate checking.

FAQ

The duplicate check rule supports a maximum of 5 condition groups. Can this limit be increased?

This limit cannot be increased at this time.

After enabling multi-dimensional fields, can dimension fields be used in duplicate check conditions?

This is not supported at this time.

A single duplicate check rule blocks imports even though no actual duplicate data exists. Why?

Confirm whether the rule is a single duplicate check rule.
Confirm whether the rule is set to “Do not match null values.”
When importing a large batch of data, does the import occasionally succeed in smaller batches?

If all three conditions above are met, this issue can be resolved by enabling the “Multi-rule duplicate check” feature. Submit a feature request.