Merging Duplicate User Records
Duplicate User records are generated by design to allow your supporters easy access to many of the public elements without having to create a password protected account to prevent public access to their personal information stored on your site. The software was designed to accommodate duplicate user records - so dup records rarely interfere with it's functionality, and rarely need to be "managed".
There are two activities which DO require users to create a password protected account in order to allow repeated access:
- Team roles (Chair, Admin, Volunteer, Staff)
- Online Auction Bidding
And one activity which allows you to remove the password requirement if you don't need to allow repeated access:
- Purchasing Tickets for themselves or others (buyer accounts are created only for ticket buyers, not ticket holders).
If a user already has an account with their email as the login, the software will block the creation of a new user record with the same email login, but some Users will choose to proceed by using a different email address.
If Users do end up with different user records for online bidding and the gala event, the software will still function as intended - but the User will have separate shopping carts for their online and gala activity.
However, there may be situations where you want to "merge" duplicate user records so the user can use the same account/record for different purposes. Instructions for "merging" the accounts are shown below.
1. Review the duplicate user records:
Go to Admin > Manage Users:
1. Use Customize button to add "Login", "Role" and "Handle" to the display.
2. Locate duplicate records:
- Use search field or
- Sort Users by Name or Email columns.
Review duplicate records. In this case, Jill Morris has 4 records:
3. Donor: There is no value (in software functionality) to merge donor records with online or ticket records so we're going to leave it as is. If a user has duplicate donor records, especially if items are attached to both, you may want to merge them. Instructions can be found here.
4. Online Auction: Note that Jill has two user records with the Online Auction role. Ticket Holders and Ticket Buyers are automatically assigned the Online Auction role at the time of ticket purchase is they do not already have one. Having the role assigned does NOT create an online bidding account. To determine which user record Jill is using for online bidding - check for a Handle.
5. Ticket Holder: note that tickt holders (someone who did not buy their own ticket) do not have their email as a login. Instead, their user record will show a system generated, random string login. This allows them to access their account via the link/token provided in the self check-in and self check-out invitation emails.
6. To "merge" the online and ticket user records, Manage the Ticket Order and follow instructions below.
2. Edit Guest to Switch User Records:
1. Click on Edit Guest link in Ticket Order.
2. Click on Select User Tab.
3. Search and Select Desired User Record:
4. Confirm:
