Okay, so today I wanted to figure out how to merge some Apex accounts. I had a few duplicate accounts floating around in my Salesforce org, and it was starting to get messy. Time to clean things up!
Finding the Duplicates
First things first, I needed to find those pesky duplicate accounts. I started by running a few reports. I looked at accounts created around the same time, accounts with similar names, and accounts with matching website addresses. This gave me a good starting point.
I also used the “Find Duplicates” feature in Salesforce. You know, the one you can sometimes see when you create or edit record. It’s not always perfect, but it helped me catch a few obvious ones.
Choosing the Master Record
Once I had my list of potential duplicates, I needed to decide which account would be the “master” record – the one I’d keep. This was a bit tricky. I compared things like:
Account creation date: Usually, the older account is the better one to keep.
Number of related contacts and opportunities: Which account had more activity?
Completeness of data: Which account had more fields filled in with accurate information?
I picked the account that seemed to be the most complete and active. It’s kind of like choosing the “main” profile when you have multiple social media accounts.
Merging Accounts using Apex code
I prepared and triggered Apex code snippet as following steps:
Open the Developer Console.
Open the Execute Anonymous Window.
Paste the Apex code below and modify the Account Ids.
//Master record Id, and duplicate record Id;
Account masterAcct = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Id = '0012v00002STkXXXX'];
Account duplicateAcct = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Id = '0012v00002STkYYYY'];
try {
//'masterAcct' will be remained and other account record will merge to it.
merge masterAcct duplicateAcct;
catch(DMLException e) {
//Handle the exception.
Double-Checking Everything
After merging, I double-checked everything. I made sure all the related contacts, opportunities, and other data were now associated with the master account. I also checked for any weirdness or inconsistencies. It’s always good to be thorough!
It took a little bit of time, but I finally got those accounts merged! My Salesforce org is feeling a bit cleaner now. It’s like decluttering your closet – a little effort, but so worth it in the end.
