How to set Duplicate Checking preferences in Act!

Question: How do I set preferences for duplicate checking in Act! for use during duplicate scans and data imports?

Product Details:
Product Family: Act!
Product: Act! Pro, Act! Premium
Version: 2005 and later

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Answer:

For instructions on configuring duplicate checking settings, refer to the section below that applies to your version of Act!

Act! versions 2011 and later

Note: For duplicate checking settings in Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud, refer to the following knowledgebase article:

How do I manage duplicate checking settings in Act! Premium (access via web)?


Set field matching preferences for duplicate record checking

Note: If you are working in a remote database you will not be able to set duplicate checking preferences. You must set them in the host database and synchronize.

1. Login to Act! as an Administrator
2. From the Tools menu, click Preferences.
3. On the Admin tab, click Duplicate Checking. The Duplicate Checking dialog box opens.
4. From the Record type list, select a record type to check (Contact, Group, or Company).
5. Under Duplicate Match Settings, do the following:
   1. Select the primary field to use from the Match [Record type] records on list. (This field is matched first when importing data, adding new records, and so on, for duplicates.)
   2. (Optional) In the Then on lists, select a second and third field to check.
      
      Example: If you match only on the contact name, the result may show John Smith at AT&T in New York as a duplicate to John Smith at General Electric in Cleveland. You can eliminate this by matching on name, company, and city. This is especially useful when importing or adding groups and companies since they can have duplicate names.
6. To check other record types, repeat Steps 3 and 4.
7. Click OK.

Disable duplicate checking for the database

1. From the Tools menu, click Preferences.
2. On the Admin tab, click Duplicate Checking. The Duplicate Checking dialog box opens. By default, Enable duplicate checking in the database is selected. To disable duplicate checking, clear the check box. Note: When you disable duplicate checking, this means that you may have duplicate records added to the database. All field matching settings for each record type are not available..
3. Click OK.

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Sage ACT! 2010 and older

Enabling duplicate checking

1. Login to Act! as an Administrator
2. From the Tools menu, click Preferences.
3. Click on the Duplicate Checking button.
4. Check the check box for "Enable duplicate checking in the database" option.
5. Set the criteria for checking for duplicates from the drop down boxes.
6. Click OK

Disabling duplicate checking

1. From the Tools menu, click Preferences.
2. Click on the Duplicate Checking button.
3. Uncheck the check box for "Enable duplicate checking in the database".
4. Click OK.