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GoHighLevel Duplicate Contacts: Stop Them and Merge Them
GoHighLevel Import Fix
Want your contact file cleaned, deduped and mapped to your pipelines before import? We return an import-ready CSV and field map in 48 hours.
Duplicate contacts in GoHighLevel usually come from forms, Zapier, Facebook or Instagram while Allow Duplicate Contact is turned on, or from contacts that share a name but not an email or phone. Below we go through the setting and the merge tool, citing GoHighLevel's help articles Contact Deduplication Preferences and How to Manage and Merge Duplicate Contacts (retrieved 2026-10-13).
1. Check the deduplication setting
- Go to Settings > Business Profile and find Contact Deduplication Preferences.
- Turn Allow Duplicate Contact off if you want matching submissions to update the existing contact.
- Choose the primary match field (Email or Phone) and, optionally, a secondary one.
The help article says this setting applies to Forms, Zapier, Facebook and Instagram. CSV imports merge on email or phone regardless of the setting.
2. WhatsApp duplicates even with the setting off
GoHighLevel's help center describes this case: set Phone as the second search preference in Contact Duplicate Preference.
3. Merge the duplicates you already have
- In Contacts, open the three-dot menu and choose Manage Duplicates.
- Pick Email, Phone or Name as the match field, then Find Duplicates.
- Review each group, choose the master record and the values to keep, then merge.
Merges cannot be undone, so export your contacts first. The help article also mentions a Merge Contact workflow action if you want merging inside a workflow.
4. Facebook Messenger contacts
Facebook sends only the person's name, so Messenger can create a new contact. There is a Merge Facebook Contacts by Name option in Business Profile settings; use it only if names in your account are distinctive enough.
Duplicate cause checklist
Tick what applies to your account. The output is a list of the things to fix first. Nothing is uploaded; it runs in your browser.
If you want us to clean it up
Our GoHighLevel Import Fix cleans and dedupes your contact file before it goes in. If you prefer to do it yourself, the GoHighLevel Import Template Pack has the templates and a validator. Planning custom fields? Run them through our custom field name checker. If phone formats are mixed, our free phone number format fixer converts them to one format first.
GoHighLevel Import Fix
Want your contact file cleaned, deduped and mapped to your pipelines before import? We return an import-ready CSV and field map in 48 hours.