Create Multiple Duplicate Contacts

[rdunlop]

Okay, this will not be a common task but her goes...

1. I have recorded individual contacts on the same contact record (e.g., husband and wife), as a means of house-holding.
2. I would like to split these contact records into two - duplicate them. 
3. I would rather not do this one contact record at a time but the "Duplicate Contact" option under the Edit menu is greyed out when I select more than one contact record.... 

Any suggestions as to how to duplicate multiple contact records all at once? 

Many Thanks...rd

[Gary W · Accepted solution]

You could do it by creating a lookup of all the contacts you would like to duplicate, then exporting them to text delimited file, or Excel. Edit the names/custom field, and then import the file back into Act. You would then have to go though the original contacts in Act to remove traces of the spouses you have just added as a new contacts.

[Gary W]

Hi rd,

This would be a manual task with some data manipulation in Excel. The complexity depends on how you have recorded the two names. Have you recorded them in separate fields?

[rdunlop]

Both:

I have recorded both names in the contact fields (e.g., First Name: John & Mary, Second Name: Smith).
I have also recorded the spouse name in separate customized fields (e.g., Spouse First Name: Mary, Spouse Last Name: Smith)

...Rd

[Gary W · Accepted solution]

You could do it by creating a lookup of all the contacts you would like to duplicate, then exporting them to text delimited file, or Excel. Edit the names/custom field, and then import the file back into Act. You would then have to go though the original contacts in Act to remove traces of the spouses you have just added as a new contacts.

[rdunlop]

Thanks Gary - I'll give that a try with some test data first of course. 

Much appreciated!