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Winner rules and field rules

Two kinds of rules automate the decisions a merge involves: which record survives (winner rules) and which values it ends up with (field rules). Both are optional — you can also just crown a keeper by hand in each group.

Winner rules — who keeps the trophy​

By hand, you click the crown on the record to keep in each group. With many groups, apply Winner Rules instead: rules run in order, each awards points to records, and the highest score keeps the trophy.

Pre-built rules, always available:

  • Most Recently Modified Record — keep the record changed most recently.
  • Newest Record — keep the most recently created record.
  • Oldest Record — keep the earliest created record.
  • Most Complete Record — keep the record with the most populated fields.

Custom rules are built from field conditions with scores — e.g. +10 if Phone is populated, +5 if AnnualRevenue > 1000000. Custom rules are saved per object and offered wherever you dedupe that object; manage them from Manage winner rules.

[SCREENSHOT REQUIRED: Apply Winner Rules dialog with a rule sequence]

Field rules — assembling the golden record​

By default, a merge keeps the winner's values and fills the winner's blank fields from the duplicates. Field rules override that per field, so the surviving record ends up with the best data from the whole group:

  • From all fields: update if empty (default), don't update if empty, clear the field, take the value from the oldest/newest/most recently modified record, most common value, combine distinct values with a separator, a constant, copy from another field, or scoring-based picks.
  • Text: regex match.
  • Dates: oldest / newest date.
  • Numbers: sum, largest, smallest, average (blank ≠ 0).

Scoring-based rules add scoring criteria — conditions with points — and the highest-scoring duplicate supplies the value.

Rule sets can be saved by name and reloaded on future scans of the same object, so your merge policy is defined once.

[SCREENSHOT REQUIRED: Field Rules dialog with rules and a saved rule set loaded]

A sensible starting policy​

For a first Contact dedupe:

  1. Winner rule: Most Complete Record.
  2. Field rules: leave the default (fill blanks from duplicates), plus Combine on a multi-select picklist field if you use one.
  3. Review a handful of groups by hand to sanity-check the outcome, then merge — as a dry run first.