Merging duplicate products and suppliers (Tidy up duplicates)

Quick answer: If the same product ended up in your list twice (“Tomatoes Roma 5kg” and “TOM ROMA 5KG”), open the supplier and choose Manage Products & Prices → Tidy up duplicates. Pick the one to keep and click Merge. Nothing is merged until you click.

Why duplicates happen

Supplier invoices don’t always spell a product the same way twice. Products you added by hand can also end up alongside ones read from an invoice. Duplicates split your price history and can leave recipes costed off an old price.

Tidy up duplicate products

1. Go to Browse by Supplier and open a supplier you manage yourself.
2. Click Manage Products & Prices and choose Tidy up duplicates. The number in brackets is how many groups were found.
3. Each group lists products that look like the same thing typed two ways, with their unit, price and last invoice date. The one on the most recent invoice is pre-selected and tagged keep. Choose a different one with its radio button if you prefer.
4. Click Merge N → 1 to merge that group, or Not the same to keep them apart. Open Pantry remembers that answer and won’t ask about that group again.
5. To accept every suggestion at once, click Merge all as suggested.

When nothing else looks like a duplicate, you’ll see All tidy.

What merging does

• Past invoice lines, orders, recipes, pantry lists and favourites move onto the product you kept, so your recipes keep costing.
• The kept product’s price stays as it is. The other products are archived.
• The other spellings are remembered, so the next invoice that prints them matches straight away.

What is never grouped

• Different pack sizes or units (for example Kg vs Carton).
• Names with an extra word (“Tomatoes” vs “Tomatoes Cherry”).
• Products from a supplier who is connected on Open Pantry. Their catalogue is theirs to manage, so Tidy up duplicates only appears for suppliers you manage yourself.

Duplicate suppliers in the setup wizard

When you upload invoices during setup, obvious name variations (“Peter & Una” and “Peter and Una”) are combined automatically. If two names are only close, the later row under Suppliers found asks Same as …?:

• Yes, merge — combines them, so one supplier is created holding both invoices. This also works against a supplier you already have.
• No, keep separate — keeps both. Your answer is remembered.