Hi there! This help-file explains how to find similar users so you can identify and merge duplicate user contact records. You are probably asking yourself, how could I end up with duplicate user contact records? Simple. A user might have forgotten their password, therefore then decides to create a new user account. This happends quite often, which is why Tendenci added this cool tool to help you keep your user contact record list accurate and up to date, while also keeping your website's database records organized. 

** Note: A user profile, user, and user account are all pretty much referring to the same thing, however it can be a little confusing. Here's some clarification on the differences in the terms:

• User = a real person, Users can be your staff, your members, donors, and anyone who has a login or a user profile on your site. You're a User too! 
• User Profile = a real person's information that will change from time to time, such as a job title, an address or a phone number. These things can change during a person' life, so the user profile enables you and your users to edit and update this information
• User Account = the real person's activities, contributions, login permissions and other things related specifically to how the person is interacting with your Tendenci website and your organization through your website. The user account also contains the user profile information.  

Steps to Merge a User

1) To search for duplicate users to merge, you'll need to be logged into your Super User account. 

2) You have two options: You can go to your Users Profile and hover over to 'Users' and select 'Similar Users List' located at the admin naviagtion bar .  Or, type in the URL and search https://yoursite.org/profiles/similar 

Click on "Search Similar Users" to got to a list of users that Tendenci has identified as possible Duplicate Users in the system. Tendenci determines possible duplicates based on matching first names, last names, and email addresses. The list will group possible duplicate profiles together and each grouping has a  button.

The image above, is a screenshot demonstrating an example of groups of user profiles with similar names that could be possible duplicate user accounts. 

3) Click on the  button to review the different profiles and determine if you want to merge the user profiles into one single profile. You will have a chance to look at all of the individual profiles and select which profile is the primary, current User profile on the next screen.

4) Review the user accounts that you would like to merge.

There are two steps to merging the user accounts into one single profile:

1. Select which one user profile will be designated as the Master account. This is the account that all of the other users will be merged. 
2. Select which user profiles to merge into the Master account. In some cases, Tendenci may suggest multiple possible duplicate users but not all users on the list are identical people. That's why you'll want to also check each of the boxes next to the user accounts that should be merged into the Master account you selected in the first option. 

** Note: Pay close attention as you review the user profiles and select the Master account and which profiles to merge to avoid mistakes. Once you've completed the merge process - you won't be able to undo the merge. **

5) After you've selected the Master account and checked which users will be merged, click the "merge" button to merge these users. 

Security First - You'll be asked to enter your Super User password for the account you're currently logged in on before Tendenci will merge the users. This is an extra measure of security that will help prevent user data from being deleted or changed without the appropriate authorizations on your site. 

6) After you've entered your password, the users will be merged and you'll be returned to the User Profile search page and see a "Success" notification bar at the top informing you that those users were merged into one account. 

You can repeat this process for each group of similar user profiles to merge your user accounts. 

Caution with User Merge

When you merge multiple user profiles into a single Master user account - only some of the user profile information is merged from the non-Master accounts. 

Data that's Merged: 

Data that's merged from all the user profiles into the designated Master will consist primarily of activities and contributions the user has made to your site. 

1. Contributions the user made on that profile
2. Events the user registered for from that profile
3. Invoices connected to the profile
4. User Groups connected to the profile 

Data that's NOT Merged: 

For the most part, any of the user profile contact information will be deleted when you merge a user profile into a Master user account. If one of the user profiles that will not be the Master has information that you want to include - we recommend you add it to the Master profile before the merge or write it down someplace and add it to the user profile after the merge. 

1. Name Information: First & Last name, Position Title, Salutation, Display Name
2. Phone Information: Work Phone, Home Phone, Fax, Mobile, Other
3. Email and Internet Information: Email 1 and 2, website address 
4. Company Information: Company Name, Department
5. Address Information: Mailing name, Address Line 1 and Line 2, City, State, Zip, Country 
6. Login Information: Username, Password, Status and Status Detail
7. Anything contained in Notes, Optional Information, and Administrator Information 

Thank You!