Modify an email address for a merged record

[matthart]

I have two contacts, both with different names.  The first contact was created and mistakenly assigned the email for the second.  The first contact has now been changed, but the second contact cannot be edited and will not save with correct email address.  Each time I try to edit the properties, it simply lists "email already exists" as an error message and all of the info that I have entered is not saved, including contact properties that are unrelated to email address like phone number.

What do I do?

[BrettLanguirand]

Hello @matthart,

Welcome to the Hubspot Community!

Can you please private message me links to the two contact records?  Additionally please clearly specify which email addresses should be associated with each of the contacts.  

I may have run into something similar to this in the past, and it was because two contact records were merged together at some point.  Only one email address is kept during a merge, and the email address that is not used is still associated to the merged contact, though not visible on the front end UI.  We have the ability to free up that email address if need be, but I want to first verify that this is actually what the problem is.

Thanks,

Brett

[matthart]

John Johnson - https://app.hubspot.com/sales/2585363/contact/19251/

runfishclick@gmail.com

Adam Russell - https://app.hubspot.com/sales/2585363/contact/20701/

adam86mon@gmail.com

Deal - https://app.hubspot.com/sales/2585363/deal/62142001/

I think that your hunch is correct as someone else did attempt to merge their contacts earlier and then we started having trouble making changes after that.

Am I understanding correctly that when/if this happens we aren't able to make the edits ourselves?  If this is the case, what should our process to make the corrections should be.  

[BrettLanguirand]

Thank you for providing that information.  

I was able to confirm that this was because two contact records were merged together.  I filed an internal ticket with our development team to have the email address freed up so that it can be used on Adam's record.  When/if this happens again, this process will have to be repeated.  Only our development team has the ability to free up the second email address that was not taken during the merge.

I will update you here when I know that the email address can be added to Adam's record.  

Thanks,

Brett

[BrettLanguirand · Accepted solution]

@matthart You should now be able to add Adam's email address to his contact record.

Let me know if you run into any problems.

Brett

[wedotraining]

A bug

This original email address should be freed up by default.

This is associated with not being able to edit a contacts email address.

How can this be set in stone? People change their email address all the time!?

[BrettLanguirand]

Hello @wedotraining,

I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say "This is associated with not being able to edit a contacts email address." - You can change any contacts email address in the Hubspot CRM manually.  

What the original poster is referring to is if two contact records are merged, then the email address that is not kept during the merge will be made unavailable for future use.  We can free up an email address if a customer requests it, but the main reason for making it unavailable is because when merging, the customer chooses which email address to keep.  When they then try to add the unavailable email address to a contact record afterwards, it lets them know that a contact already exists with that email address (because of the merge).  This prevents duplicate contact records with different email addresses. Here is more detailed information on what happens when you merge contacts.  

I hope this helps clear things up.

Brett

[Sadiq]

Exactly the same thing is happening to me. I am trying to save an email address in which is not saving and it seems the email address already exists under another contact.

Company name - ESCP Europe

Email that is not saving - @escpeurope.eu (Gilles)

Email address currently exists under - Gaelle.

I would ideally like to remove the email address from Gaelle and save it under Gilles 

Any suggestions?

[BrettLanguirand]

Hello @Sadiq,

I reached out to the HubSpot development team to have the email address freed up so that it can be used on a different contact record.  As soon as they let me know that it is all set, I will be sure to update you here.  Additionally, I'm going to edit your post to not include the full names and email addresses of your contacts.  It's somewhat private information that we wouldn't want to post without the contact's consent.  

Thanks,

Brett

[BrettLanguirand]

@Sadiq This should be all set!  The email address has been freed up so you should now be able to add it to whichever contact you'd like.

Brett

[Sadiq]

Many thanks Brett!

[bcoles]

Hey Brett, 

I am having the same issue with a company called Apex.  I have a contact that has been through 4 email updates.  One of the emails should be associated to another contact but now when trying to add that other contact it is saying I can't because the email is associated to the first contact and I have no idea how to remove that email from the email history change log because searching for the email nothing comes up.  Let me know what you need from me. 

[nicolebrenner]

Hi @bcoles, can you share with me the following information:

1. The current email address of the user

2. The email address that you would like to use to update the contact

[Evan]

I need to modify an email address for a merged record. The help page states: The email address you are trying to save is unavailable because it was the email address on a contact record that has since been merged into another record. The value will not appear as a current email for the other contact record, but rather will appear in the contact's property history. If this is the case, please use the Help button in the bottom right-hand corner of your account to contact HubSpot Support. 

As a free user, I apparently cannot contact support directly. Is there a way for me to fix this?

[nicolebrenner]

Hi @Evan, welcome to the community. 

This is something that will need to be handled by someone on the HubSpot team. If you could send me a private message with following information, I can process this request for you:

1. The existing email address of the contact in HubSpot
2. The email address you are trying to update

[paddy_heliguy]

Hello 

I'm having the same issue - can you please assist?  Brett is no longer able to access the tools.

Many thanks

Paddy

[bcoles]

User Email: skehren@virtualclaimsadjuster.com

Emails to remove: 

melanieh@churchill-claims.com

jthomann@churchill-claims.com

apex.bwoods@gmail.com

skehren was the user that input the emails but I believe the user that owns them is icairns@virtualclaimsadjuster.com if you need to know that as well. 

[EJRetka]

I am running into the same problem with two records that seem to have gotten merged, and I need to free up the old email address. Who can I send the information to for untangling those accounts?

-Erin

[paddy_heliguy]

I messaged - nicolebrenner - who fixed it.

[nicolebrenner]

Hi @EJRetka, if you could send me a private message with the information requested in the post above I can look into getting this resolved for you. 

[OhJayEss]

@nicolebrenner are you still able to free up email addresses? I'm having the same issue. Or someone else there??

[jennysowyrda]

Hi @OhJayEss,

If you can explain the issue that you're experiencing and the contacts involved, I can take a look 🙂 

Thanks,
Jenny

[OhJayEss]

I have merged two contacts as one was incorrectly assigned, and I'm wanting to create a new contact with one of the email addresses but it won't allow me to do so as it's saying 'It looks like a contact with the email address XXX already exists' even though I've deleted it from the merged contact.

Emails involved: ophelia@ruggedvalley.co.nz and roeskelogging@gmail.com 

[jennysowyrda]

Hi @OhJayEss,

Since secondary emails are present on the contact record, you can simply edit the email property and X out the secondary email address. 

That should free up the email address.

Thanks,
Jenny

[OhJayEss]

hello @jennysowyrda yeah I had X'ed the email out of the secondary email address, but it was obviously still lurking in the background in the property history. It appears to have been cleared now somehow! thanks 😉

[tec]

Hi Jenny, I am running into the same problem as others with two records that seem to have gotten merged, and I need to free up the old email addresses. Am I able to message you the details and free up the email addresses so I can enter the contact records?

Thanks

Tec

[jennysowyrda]

Hi @tec,

Yes if you can direct message me the old email address and the new one, along with a link to the contact record, that would be great!

Thank you,

Jenny

[tec]

Thanks Jenny, I've sent you a message. Cheers Tec