--- title: "Merge two records for one person" summary: "Practor flags two charts that look like one patient. Compare them and merge them into one." source: https://practor.app/en-za/help/patients-and-records/merge-two-records-for-one-person published: 2026-09-21T06:40:05.560Z updated: 2026-09-29T07:17:43.791Z category: "Patients and records" --- The same person can end up with two charts. They book online under a nickname, or reception adds them again without finding the first one. Practor spots these and flags them. Merging takes the Owner or Admin role. A member can filter the patient list to flagged records, but the banner and the merge screen don't appear for them. ## Find the records Practor has flagged A flagged chart has a **Possible duplicate record** banner at the top. It says which other record, and what the two matched on. To see them all, open the **⋯** menu above the patient list and choose **Possible duplicates**. Press **Review and merge** on the banner. ![The duplicate banner on a patient's chart](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/merge/duplicate-banner.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#1128x148 "Review and merge opens the comparison. Not a duplicate is the one you can't take back.") ## Pick the record to keep You get the two charts side by side. One of them is outlined and marked **merging into**. That's the one Practor will keep. It picks whichever chart has more on it. To keep the other one instead, press its name. The outline moves across. ## Choose what the merged record says Each row is one detail: date of birth, gender, ID number, passport number, phone, email, status. A row only appears if one of the charts has something in it. The name is at the top of each column. Look at the middle of each row. | What you see | What it means | | --- | --- | | A tick | The two agree, or only the kept chart has this | | An arrow | You choose this one | | Neither | Practor chooses, and the row says why | Press the arrow to take the other chart's value instead. On a row only one chart has, there's nothing to choose. That value moves across anyway, and pressing the arrow just shows you that. Practor chooses the status itself. If one chart is active and the other isn't, it keeps the active one. Where both charts hold the same detail, the merged record keeps one copy. Under the value you didn't take, its row says what happens to it: | The value you didn't take | What happens to it | | --- | --- | | Name | **Kept as a second name** | | Phone or email | **Discarded on merge** | | ID or passport number | **Discarded on merge**. Only one can be right | Addresses aren't on the comparison. The merged record keeps every address, once each. Undoing the merge brings back everything it discarded. ![The two charts side by side, with one row still to settle](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/merge/comparison.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#768x579 "The email addresses are the only row here anyone has to decide.") Under the rows, Practor counts what will move: appointments, invoices, notes, everything on the chart being closed. Anything the kept chart already has is counted on a separate line. **The merged record** at the bottom shows what you'll end up with. ## Check the verdict, then merge Above the counts, Practor says whether the two charts look like one person. | What it says | What to do | | --- | --- | | Both records carry the same ID number | Go ahead | | Nothing on either record confirms they are one person | Ask the patient first | | The ID numbers differ, the dates of birth differ, or the names differ | Look again before you merge | | Each record carries an ID number that matches its own date of birth. These are almost certainly two different people. | Don't merge. Press **Not a duplicate: keep both** | If the flag came from a shared phone number or email address, Practor says so, because people in one house often share a number. Press **Merge records**. Practor opens the chart you kept and says **Records merged**. ## Say they are two different people Press **Not a duplicate: keep both** on the comparison, or **Not a duplicate** on the banner. Practor says **Marked as separate people** and stops flagging the pair. You can't undo that, and the banner warns you before you press. A shared phone number is the usual reason to use it: two people in one house, not one person twice. You only get that button where Practor raised the flag. If you found the two charts yourself there's nothing to dismiss, so the comparison offers **Cancel**. ## Undo a merge The chart you kept has a **This record absorbed** banner on it, with the other patient's name and the date. Press **Undo merge**, then **Undo merge** again in the dialog. Everything the merge moved goes back, and the flag returns. Anything added since the merge stays where it is. ![The banner on a record that absorbed another](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/merge/undo-banner.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#1128x80 "There is no time limit on it.") ## What stops a merge Practor refuses some pairs. The screen says **These records can't be merged** and gives the reason. | The reason | What it means | | --- | --- | | A record carries a portal profile and cannot be merged as a duplicate. | One of them is signed in to the portal, so that chart is somebody's login | | Only practice records can be merged. A personal record is a portal identity. | The same thing, said about the other chart | | One or both patient records have already been deleted. | Nothing to merge | If you pick the same record twice, Practor says **That is the same record. Pick the other one.** ## Related - [Add a patient](/help/patients-and-records/add-a-patient) - [Import patients from a spreadsheet](/help/patients-and-records/import-patients-from-a-spreadsheet) - [Invite a patient to the portal](/help/patients-and-records/invite-a-patient-to-the-portal)