# Contact Duplicate Issue **URL:** \ **Category:** Tips, Tricks & Best Practices\ **Tags:** professional\ **Created:** [August 29, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466 "2024-08-29T14:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AJ\_Kakrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AJ_Kakrot)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/1 "2024-08-29T14:35:43Z")
Hello, I need a help for my use case. I know in HubSpot email is a primary key and unique identifier however in our use case the leads we acquire their mobile number is unique identlfier. Is there a way to make phone number as unique key identifier? (i’m sure HubSpot is currently not allowing for it) However, as a workaround solution is there any way or automation I can build for any incoming contacts where it can check if the phone number exists in the database that way the record can be merged? Some ideation on this requirement will be really helpful for me to make my usecase successful via HubSpot. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![LouiseHare](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/louisehare/32/49547_2.png) [@LouiseHare](https://community.hubspot.com/u/LouiseHare)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/2 "2024-08-29T14:48:29Z")
Hi [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/724085), You could do this by creating a custom phone number property and adding the rule that the value must be unique. ![](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/4/6/46aef79fda0c6d0f020f2590641909a4c66868c8.png) Just be sure to replace the standard phone number property with this custom property whereever you are collecting it (i.e on the create form, on website forms, etc) Hope this helps! | [![](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/2/c/2c4c27aa5080ed14205c6de27af8470e3d90a2e7.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-hare/) | | Louise Hare _she/her_ | | _Freelance HubSpot Expert_ | | | | | | If my reply helped to answer your question please mark it as a solution to make iteasier for others to find! | ---
**Author:** ![AJ\_Kakrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AJ_Kakrot)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/3 "2024-08-29T15:01:57Z")
Hi @LouiseHare, Thanks for your super quick response here. This is something I also thought about but HubSpot doesn’t allow to apply validation rules for phone number field type. ---
**Author:** ![deepikaverma](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/deepikaverma/32/671_2.png) [@deepikaverma](https://community.hubspot.com/u/deepikaverma)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/4 "2024-08-29T14:57:48Z")
Hi [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/724085) Thanks you for reaching out!! It’s correct that only the email address is used as a unique identifier in HS, not the phone number. Merging through WFs is also not possible. Here is the HS knowledge base article that elaborates on how to merge and what areas will be impacted by this. > **[Merge records](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/merge-records)** > > Learn how to merge records such as contacts, services, or custom objects. Also, review merge rules and exceptions. Unmerging records cannot be done. Thank you!! ---
**Author:** ![Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/jonas_de_mets/32/72908_2.png) [@Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Jonas_De_Mets)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/5 "2024-08-30T11:29:41Z")
[@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/724085) we developed [Koalify](https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/marketing/data-management/koalify-io)a plugin designed to help you identify duplicates and merge them automatically. You can set custom criteria to identify duplicates, such as First Name, Last Name, and Phone. Once the criteria are set, you can automatically merge records that meet these conditions through a simple workflow. I’ve included two illustrations below to show how this works. Hope this helps! ![Koalify Duplicate Rules, First Name, Last Name & Mobile Phone.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/2X/f/f92a8c72f3a110cf8203fd0b5181286adf62792f.png) ![Koalify merge duplicate contact based on same phone.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/5/f/5f234108e440a9f0815283d053e4b01c367c0dd9.png) ---
**Author:** ![AJ\_Kakrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AJ_Kakrot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/6 "2024-08-30T14:35:25Z")
[@Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/654259) this looks promising to us. I’ll certainly explore this plug-in and see if it can meet our requirements. In our use case many records get created with same phone number so want ensure there stays single record for single number. Is that doable with this plug-in? Also. I’m afraid to see that this works only with Marketing Hub Enterprise ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/jonas_de_mets/32/72908_2.png) [@Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Jonas_De_Mets)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 9:44am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/7 "2024-08-31T09:44:35Z")
Hi [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/724085), it’s definitely possible to create a single record for all contacts sharing the same phone number. Koalify is compatible with all Hubs, so Marketing Hub Enterprise is not required. We apologize for the error in our marketplace listing, but it has been corrected. Looking forward to simplify your HubSpot deduplication! ---
**Author:** ![AJ\_Kakrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AJ_Kakrot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/8 "2024-08-31T15:45:15Z")
[@Jonas\_De\_Mets](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/654259) thank you so much for the clarification. This is really helpful for us. ---
**Author:** ![RBozeman](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/rbozeman/32/8786_2.png) [@RBozeman](https://community.hubspot.com/u/RBozeman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/contact-duplicate-issue/115466/9 "2024-08-30T21:28:37Z")
Hi [@AJ\_Kakrot](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/724085), I believe to do this you would have to upgrade to Ops Hub or develop something in-house using the API. Also just wanted to mention that Insycle can do this. Full disclosure, I work for them. But you can choose any field in your database as a unique identifier, then use any fields you want as potential matching fields, and create templates to identify and merge duplicates in multiple ways in order to catch more. You also have full control over how data is retained during the merge, down to a field-by-field level, so you always keep the data that you need.