The same vendor often ends up in the directory more than once, under different spellings of its name. Merging combines those rows into one vendor and keeps the other spellings as aliases pointing at it. This article covers how to spot duplicates, how to merge them, what to do if the wrong two are merged, and what to check afterwards.
Merging is done in Settings > Vendors > Directory. Nothing is deleted: documents, statements and history all move to the surviving vendor.
Spotting them
Duplicates usually take one of four shapes.
Case and punctuation.
SSF Auto Parts,SSF Imported Auto Parts,SSF IMPORTED AUTO PARTS LLC.Legal entity versus trading name. The LLC version appears on remittance documents and nowhere else.
Word order.
LAND JAGUAR -ROVERandPark Place Jaguar Land Rovercan be the same dealer parts counter.Extraction noise. A row like
WORLDPAC " Ogis a mangled read of a name you already have.
Sorting the directory alphabetically groups most duplicates together, because they usually share a first word.
Why duplicates matter
Statement reconciliation runs vendor by vendor. If the statement arrives under one spelling and half the invoices were filed under another, those invoices cannot match, and the statement reports unmatched lines for documents you already have.
Every figure about that vendor is also split across rows. Total spend, credits outstanding and parts bought but not sold are all understated on each of them.
How to merge
Select the rows that are the same company using the checkboxes.
Choose merge.
Choose which name survives. Pick the name that appears on the statements you receive, because statement matching is the job that depends on it.
Where the merge carries real risk, type the surviving vendor's name to confirm.
The typed confirmation is the step that stops a mis-click from combining two genuinely different companies.
If the wrong two are merged
A merge is not reversible with one click. Two real companies combined into one have to be separated by hand, document by document, and the aliases have to be unpicked as well. In the meantime, one vendor's statement will not reconcile.
Where it is not clear that two rows are the same company, leave them separate. An extra row in the directory costs very little.
If two names look similar but the addresses on their invoices differ, they are probably two branches or two companies. Open a document from each before deciding.
After merging
Aliases do the ongoing work. Once SSF IMPORTED AUTO PARTS LLC is an alias of SSF Auto Parts, documents arriving under that spelling attach automatically and never reach the Incoming queue.
That is why a merge is worth more than the tidier directory suggests. It stops the same rows appearing next month.
Check the payment configuration on the surviving vendor while you are there, because a merge can leave the wrong one set. See which vendors send you statements.
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