Job spreadsheet-remove-duplicate-contacts · revised 11 October 2026
Merge duplicate rows in one product, part, asset or company list, with a review file
One list of items, parts, assets or companies, with no personal data, is checked against written rules. Clear duplicates are merged with a log; uncertain pairs stay separate for you to decide.
You might be seeing
- The same organisation appears with and without "Ltd", or with a changed address
- A quick duplicate removal deleted rows that were different items
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
A list built from several imports and typed entries holds the same item or organisation under different spellings, with or without a company suffix, with changed codes or postcodes. Excel's Remove Duplicates compares only the cell values as displayed, in the columns you tick, and deletes the later rows permanently. Near-duplicates survive, while two genuinely different items that share a field can be removed.
Who it’s for: An office manager or small-business owner whose product, parts, asset or supplier-company list has grown from several sources and now holds the same item or organisation more than once.
Usually starts when: The list is about to be used or moved, and the same item or organisation appears under several spellings or codes, or someone has found two different items merged into one by mistake.
The result: You receive a de-duplicated copy of the list in which each clear duplicate group is merged under written rules, a merge log showing which rows were combined and why, and a review file of uncertain pairs left separate for you to decide. Your original list is untouched.
Check whether this job fits
Answer these without sending the list. Nothing is submitted unless you choose to contact us.
Checks you can run yourself
Estimate the duplicates before you ask
Copy the sheet to a new file. Highlight duplicate values in the column you think identifies an item or organisation, using conditional formatting. Do not use Remove Duplicates on the original.
Look for: How many rows are highlighted, and whether highlighted rows are really the same item or organisation. Where they are not, the rule needs a second field.
What you get
- A de-duplicated copy of the list
- A merge log: each surviving row, the rows merged into it and the rule that matched
- A review file of uncertain pairs, and a short note of the rules used
Included
- One list of up to 10,000 rows in one sheet with up to twelve columns, holding items, parts, assets or organisations and no personal data, handled as a copy
- Agree the match keys first, such as an exact part code or a normalised organisation name plus postcode, and which row's values win when two rows merge
- Merge only groups that meet the written rules, record every merge in a log, and keep every other row
- Put each uncertain pair on a review file with the fields that matched and those that differed, and leave both rows in the list
Not included
- Lists of people. Names, email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses of individuals, and a sole trader's own name, are out of scope until a secure handover route exists, and this fixed job does not cover them
- Special-category data, payment details or children's data
- Contacting anyone named on the list by any route, or checking that email addresses or postal addresses exist
- Legal advice, including whether you may hold, share or use the list
- Adding outside information, or loading the list into a stock, catalogue, customer-relationship or email system
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
The number of rows in the original equals the number of rows in the cleaned copy plus the number of rows merged away, and each merged-away row appears once in the merge log with the row it was merged into.
Evidence: The reconciliation of row counts and the merge log.
In an agreed test set of at least 20 true duplicate pairs and 20 look-alike pairs that are not duplicates, chosen by you, half of each kind are kept back from us until the match rules are fixed in writing. Every true pair is merged and no look-alike pair is merged, in the kept-back half and in the rest.
Evidence: The test table listing each pair, whether it was kept back, the expected result, the actual result and a pass or fail mark.
Every pair that is similar but does not meet the rules appears on the review file with the matching and differing fields, and both rows remain in the cleaned copy.
Evidence: The review file and a check that its rows are all still present.
No row in the original list has been altered or deleted; the cleaned copy is a separate file.
Evidence: A comparison of the original file before and after the job showing it is unchanged.
Sign-off. You review the merge log and the review file, decide the uncertain pairs and sign off in writing. Payment follows sign-off.
If it fails. If the agreed checks do not pass, you do not pay for this fixed scope. If the list turns out to hold personal data, or no rule can separate duplicates from similar items, we explain why, hand back what we have and agree whether to re-quote or stop. No surprise work.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- The list holds only items, parts, assets or organisations: no personal data about individuals, such as names, personal email addresses, phone numbers or home addresses
- You are entitled to hold the list and to share it with a contractor, and you confirm that in writing
- The first enquiry contains only column headings, counts and invented examples
- A named person can decide the review pairs and sign off
We stop and tell you if
- The list holds personal data about individuals, special-category data or payment details
- You cannot confirm that you may share the list
- No rule can tell a true duplicate from two items that share a code, an address or a role mailbox, and you want us to decide by judgement
What could go wrong
The original list is never changed. The merge log names every row merged away, so any merge can be reversed by restoring that row from the original.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Two different items or organisations are merged because they share a code, a name or an address. | Merges happen only when the written rule is met, and uncertain pairs stay separate. Look-alike test pairs from you must stay unmerged. |
| A real duplicate is missed because the spelling differs. | We report this as a limit. Pairs that look alike but do not meet the rule go to the review file, so they are seen even when they are not merged. |
| The list turns out to hold personal data. | No list in the first enquiry, and you confirm in writing that it holds none. If people's details appear we stop, do not process them and agree with you how the file is returned or deleted. |
A reviewer who did not do the merging checks a sample of merged groups and a sample of review pairs. You decide the review pairs yourself and sign off.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Agree the match keys, which values win in a merge, and the test pairs in writing; you keep half of the test pairs back until the rules are fixed
- Copy the list and prepare normalised comparison columns without changing the original columns
- Group rows that meet the written rules, merge them and record each merge in the log
- Place every pair that is similar but does not meet the rules on the review file and keep both rows
- Run the withheld test pairs and reconcile row counts
- Have an independent reviewer check a sample of merges and of review pairs, then hand over
This is a one-off job, not a subscription. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept. Work starts only after the agreed files, the secure handling route and the acceptance checks are written down. An enquiry creates no charge or booking. We give no legal, medical, financial or tax advice.
Need to keep it working?
If new entries keep arriving, a monthly check of new rows against the cleaned list can be agreed separately.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Explore an ongoing engineering lane, or mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- Excel can filter for unique values without deleting anything, or highlight duplicates with conditional formatting. Copy your data first, because Remove Duplicates deletes rows permanently and compares displayed values. support.microsoft.com
- If the list lives in a stock, catalogue or supplier system, check whether it has its own duplicate-merge tool before exporting anything.
Questions
Will you contact anyone named on the list?
No. We only work on the file. We never contact anyone named in it.
Can you clean a list of customers, members or staff with their names and emails?
Not under this job. Lists of people are out of scope until a secure handover route exists, and no such route has been set up yet. Please do not send one.
What happens to pairs you are not sure about?
They stay in the list as separate rows and appear on a review file for you to decide. We do not merge on a guess.
Does this work for product or parts lists?
Yes, that is what the job is for. The same item can carry different codes and descriptions, so the rules are agreed first. Describe your list in an enquiry and we will say whether the same rules fit.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The column headings, the approximate row count and where the entries came from
- Three invented pairs you would count as duplicates and three that look similar but are not
- Confirmation that the list holds no personal data and that you hold it lawfully; no list or real entries in the first enquiry
Later, once you agree
- The list, through the secure handover route we agree in writing before any file moves, with your confirmation that it holds no personal data and that you may share it for this purpose
- Your decisions on match keys and on which row's values win
- A named person to review the uncertain pairs, and half of your test pairs held back until the rules are fixed
You keep ownership of every file we work on and of what we return. No upload portal exists yet, and the first enquiry never includes documents: send a description, counts and an invented or redacted sample only. Work can start only after we have agreed with you, in writing, a secure way to hand the files over, who may see them, how long we keep them and how we delete them. If we cannot offer a way you are comfortable with, we decline and nothing is charged. Files may be handled by automated software, including services run by other companies, and we tell you which in writing before any file moves. We work on copies, never on your only original, and we do not send, publish or contact anyone for you.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “spreadsheet-remove-duplicate-contacts” as the subject.