A data merge change log records the rows updated or deleted during a deduplication operation.
It provides an audit trail after bulk processing and helps synchronize the cleaned result with a CRM or another application.
Why a change log matters
A merge preview shows proposed changes before processing. A change log records the changes that were applied.
Use conflict resolution to decide which values should survive before generating the applied-change log.
Use it to answer questions such as:
- Which records were deleted?
- Which retained records were updated?
- What values did a record contain before the merge?
- What values did the retained record contain afterward?
Datablist change log fields
After a single-collection processing action changes records, Datablist can export a CSV containing:
DatablistId- The change type, such as updated or deleted
- Every previous property value
- Every destination property value
The download is available on paid plans. It records processed changes, not groups left in Needs review or skipped without modifying the collection.
🔍 Use both safeguards
Download the duplicate groups before processing when you need the proposed group membership. Download the change log afterward when you need the applied updates and deletions.
Automatic Remove and Merge operations are also recorded in collection History, where the complete operation can be undone.
Follow the complete deduplication workflow, or see change logs and History in the product reference.
Read an updated row and a deleted row
Suppose two confirmed contact records share an email. The retained record contains the name but no phone; the other record contains a phone. After the merge, the retained record has the phone and the other record is deleted.
In the changes CSV, the retained record's updated row shows its old phone
under Previous Phone and the merged phone under Destination Phone. The
deleted row identifies the removed Datablist item and its previous values;
when it was merged into a retained item, the destination values describe that
merged record. A retained row with no value change does not need an updated
entry merely because another member of its group was removed.
DatablistId is the local item identifier. Keep your imported CRM ID property
in the data when you need to map changes back to the source system. Review the
duplicate merge rule for that ID
before processing. The log records changes in Datablist; downloading it does
not apply them to a CRM or undo the merge.
Save the log with the original export and match settings. Review counts and a sample of previous/destination values before using it for an external update.