How to merge duplicate insights
Found the same insight captured more than once? Merging combines two or more insights into a single one, so your library stays clean and your scores stay accurate. This article is for anyone with insight permissions who wants to tidy up duplicate insights in the library.
What merging does
When you merge, you select the insights that say the same thing and TheyDo creates one new insight that combines them. A few things happen at once:
The originals are archived, not deleted, so nothing is lost and you can restore them at any time. The new insight takes the place of the originals across your journeys, so wherever those insights were used, the merged one steps in. And before you confirm, you see a preview of the combined insight that you can edit freely.
One point on wording, because it trips people up: nothing is "kept." The insights you select are the sources, and merging creates a new combined insight. The sources move to your archive.
Which insights can be merged
You can merge active insights in the library. Archived insights and summary insights are skipped automatically. If some end up in your selection, the merge screen marks them as not mergeable and tells you how many will actually be merged. The screen also shows how many journeys will be affected, so you know the reach before you commit.
How to merge
- In the insights library, select the two or more insights you want to combine.
- Click Merge.
- The merge screen loads a preview and shows the headline numbers: how many insights will merge, how many were skipped, and how many journeys are affected.
- Review the combined insight on the right.
- Adjust anything you like, then confirm.
Each source on the left shows its key properties at a glance: type, persona, and score, where those exist. Expand a row to see the full description and details. On each row you have two controls:
- Use for merge: base the combined result on that specific insight, overriding the preview on the right.
- Remove: drop that insight from the merge if it does not belong.
What happens to your content
TheyDo pre-fills the preview with the strongest values from your sources, so you start from a sensible result instead of a blank one. You can change any of it before confirming.
For the title and description, if your company has AI enabled, AI writes a combined title and description for you. If not, TheyDo uses the values from the strongest source insight. Either way, you can edit them.
For single-value fields like type, owner, status, experience impact, and emoji, TheyDo suggests the best or most common value across your sources. For multi-value fields like personas, groups, tags, quotes, and linked items, everything is combined, so nothing gets dropped.
The score is recalculated automatically from all the combined quotes, so it reflects the full picture rather than any single source.
Comments and activity history are not carried over to the new insight.
Editing the preview
The preview is a starting point, not a final answer. Before you confirm, you can edit any field directly (add a persona, change the type, set a status, swap the emoji, and so on), remove a source you decide should not be part of the merge, or use a source as the base to lead the result from one insight.
Once you have removed a source or changed the base, you can regenerate the preview. The two regenerate options do opposite things, so it is worth knowing which is which:
- Regenerate: a full refresh. Your manual edits are discarded and the preview is rebuilt from scratch.
- Regenerate and keep my edits: anything you touched stays. Untouched fields like title, description, and owner may still update based on the new set of sources.
Tip: If you remove sources and then add the exact same set back, there is nothing to regenerate, so the button disappears and your preview stays as is.
After the merge
The new insight opens right away and shows that it was merged from your source insights. From there you can open any of the originals.
Changed your mind about one of the sources? Unarchive it to bring it back as an active insight, and the merged insight still keeps the reference. If you delete a source instead of leaving it archived, TheyDo lets you know: deleted insights are not tracked, but the merged insight will tell you that one of the originals was removed.
There is no one-click undo for a merge yet. Because your originals are archived rather than deleted, you can restore them if you need to step back.
Frequently asked questions
What if my duplicates have different values for the same field?
TheyDo picks the strongest one for you, and you can override it before confirming.
What if one insight is missing a value?
Empty fields are ignored, so a blank value never wins over a real one.
How does TheyDo decide which values to keep?
Most of the time you do not have to think about it. Without AI, the title and description come from the insight with the highest score (ties are broken by the insight that appears in the most journeys, then by the first one you selected), single-value fields take the most common value across your sources, multi-value fields are combined, and the score is recalculated from all the combined quotes. With AI enabled, instead of picking one insight's title and description, AI writes a fresh combined version from all your sources. You can still edit it.
Can I undo a merge?
There is no one-click undo yet, but your original insights are archived and can be restored.
Which insights can't be merged?
Archived insights and summary insights. They are skipped automatically, and the merge screen tells you the count.
What happens to linked items and journeys?
They carry over to the new combined insight, which replaces the originals across your journeys.