Sometimes users create multiple accounts by mistake. When performing a User Merge, the data from one User is merged with the data from another User. This process handles the data in one of three distinct ways depending on the type of data involved.
This article applies to All editions.
For the purposes of this article, we will assume that the User account being Merged into another User account is the "From User" and the resulting User account from the Merge process is the "To User".
When performing a User Merge, the data from one User is merged with the data from another User. This process handles the data in one of three distinct ways depending on the type of data involved, as detailed below.
Merge
This is the most common way of handling data in the merge process. This takes the data from the From User and replaces it directly with the data from the To User. The vast majority of data merged between the two User accounts is handled this way, and some examples of this are:
- User Comments
- Forum Post Author
- Sent Email
- Distributed Values
- Feedback Submitter
- Wiki Participation
Blend
When merging, the data that can only be contained once per User is generally blended, meaning that the data from the To User is used unless it does not exist for that User, in which case the data for the From User is used instead. These are generally special cases, and some of the more common ones are:
- Surveys
- User Profiles
- Notice Completion
- Task Acceptance
- Watched List
Remove
When merging, the data that can not properly be converted gets removed, both from the From User and the To User. This is the least common way of handling data in the merge process and applies to things that generally can not be maintained in the process. Some examples are:
- User Configurations
- User Settings
- User Signup Association