How to Merge Duplicate Records in Airtable

Duplicate records in Airtable are a real headache, especially when they’re caused by small spelling mistakes or formatting differences.

For example, let’s say you have a table with companies and another table with agents. Due to spelling errors or formatting inconsistencies, some companies have multiple entries—like “Clarence” and “Clarance.” These are the same company, but because of the mistake, separate records were created.

Luckily, Airtable’s Dedupe Extension makes this process easy. Here’s how to do it step by step.

Step 1: Add the Dedupe Extension

• Open your Airtable base.

• Click on the Extensions panel.

• Select + Add an extension and search for Dedupe.

• Add it to your base.

Step 2: Find Duplicate Records

• Open the Dedupe extension.

• Choose the table where you want to find duplicates.

• (Optional) Select a view if you only want to check a subset of records.

• Select the field(s) to compare for duplicates (e.g., Company Name, Email, or Phone Number).

• Choose a matching type:

  • Exact (case-sensitive match)

  • Similar (ignores capitalization, punctuation, and spaces)

  • Fuzzy (detects typos and swapped characters)

• Click Review Duplicates to see a list of potential duplicate records.

Step 3: Merge Duplicates

• The extension will show duplicates side-by-side.

• Select the Primary Record (the one you want to keep).

• For each field, choose which value you want to retain. You can also combine values (useful for multiple select fields, linked records, or attachments).

• Click Merge Records to finalize the merge.

Step 4: Confirm and Finalize

• Review the merged record to ensure everything looks correct.

• Repeat the process for any remaining duplicate sets.

• Click Cancel or X in the top right when done.

By following these steps, you can efficiently clean up your Airtable base while keeping all your important data intact!