To use duplicate checking on Companies, Contacts, Leads and Projects, you will need to first enable the system to check for duplicates and then set up how you would like this check to be performed.

Step 1: Enable

Duplicate checking needs to be enabled by going to Additional Settings > Duplicate Check Settings:  

Duplicate checking can be enabled on any/all of these modules by checking the relevant box.  You can also set the system to notify a user, or users, when a record has been saved which matches the rules to determine a duplicate.  This requires the Send Notification When A 'Duplicate is created" check box to be checked, and one or more User IDs (this is the user record number not the user name) to be entered into the "Users to send notifications to (IDs separated by a semi-colon)" box.

Step 2: Configuration

Setting up duplicate checking rules is done by going to Settings > Configuration > Duplicate Checking Rules:

This will present you with links to the rule sets for each module which you have enabled duplicate checking on. If, for example, you only enable duplicate checking on Contacts, then you will only be able to set the rules on Contacts. 

Once you have selected the module, you will be presented with a screen like this.

This list will show those fields available for duplicate checking - note that not all fields are available..  

To set up your check:

1. You will need to first tick the Used box next to the field you want to use.

2. Choose which Rule you wish to use, you have a few options

Exact Match - the two records must match exactly on this field for the system to pick them up as duplicates, i.e. Smith and Smith
Contains - the new record will need to match a part of another to be picked up, i.e. Smith and Smith-Jones
First X - the new record will need to match the first so many characters (set the number in the next column), i.e. Smith and Smithers (matching on the first 3)
Last X - just as above, but using the last so many characters, i.e. Smith and Plaith (matching on the last 3)

3. Save

Important:

When setting up the rules, please be aware that the checks group the rules together.  For example if you select the rules on companies to be the first 5 characters of the account name, the last 4 characters of the phone number and an exact match on the website, an entry will only be seen as a duplicate if all 3 criteria are met.

Can I set Duplicate Checking rules to ignore certain characters?

When you are setting up the duplicate rules in OpenCRM (Settings > Duplicate Check Rules) you now have the ability to ignore specific characters or strings from the check.

This makes it easier to identify records which are duplicates but with a slight variation e.g. "My Company" and "My Company Ltd", or the phone numbers "0123456789" and "+44 0123456789".

The setting screen looks like this (see screenshot below). The first four columns enable you to set up standard duplicate checking, and the Characters To Ignore column is where you can enter additional characters or strings to be stripped out by duplicate checking:

Each different character or string should be separated by a space and NOT a comma. In the example above the website duplicate checking is set to ignore the three character strings "www." and "https://".

I've created a record and am now seeing a Duplicate Alert?

Once the rules are set-up and saved, if you try to create a record on the module which meets the duplicate check, you will be presented with a pop-up window which shows you all existing records in that module which meet the duplicate checking rules.

From that screen, you have a number of options:

1. You can select one of the entries to go to, by clicking the radio button next to it and clicking the Selected Record button.  This will close the record you are creating and take you to the detail screen of the selected record.

2. You are also able to click to cancel the duplicate checking and edit the record you are entering, or to save the record anyway as it may meet the duplicate checking rules, but not actually be a duplicate.

3. And third you can notify the owner of a selected record to get more information

Other Duplication Notifications

You can also set certain users to be notified when a duplicate record has been created by going to Settings > Additional Settings > Duplicate Check Settings.

To set this up, just tick the Send Notification when a duplicate is created and then in the field below (red arrow), add the User ID of the users who should be notified.