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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Apps / Prevent duplicate data...
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Prevent duplicate data to be entered on the system

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Posted on by 2,297

Hello,

 

In SharePoint lists, there is an efficient, simple way of avoinding duplicates.

 

However, in Dataverse, that is not the case.

 

So, how to avoid users with the same email?

 

I believe there are several server-side solutions for this, but can't manage to get any of them working...

 

1-Creating alternate keys:

Added an alternate key that is simply the email column:

WebPortal_0-1690899493134.png

 

However, upon testing entering a record with an existing email, it just saved the data.. so I wonder what - if anything - is happening.

 

2-Creating business rules.

Tried this one, but can't figure out how it works, when the old Dynamics 365 UI shows as a pop-up, it gets a bit scary and I have given up.

 

3-Add-ins

Still can't figure out how these work.

 

Isn't there just a check box somewhere in the table for this?

 

Can anyone help?

I have the same question (0)
  • MarioRing Profile Picture
    541 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

    Hi,

     

    There is an out-of-the-box feature for duplicate detection and prevention.

     

    See documentation provided here.

     

    You can set your own duplicate detection rules for custom entities - It is not as scary as you think!;). See here how to do this.

  • Fubar Profile Picture
    8,487 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Just be aware that Duplicate Detection rules are just a warning the user can still choose to save the duplicate - they are often all you need.  But if you need to enforce unique then Alternate keys are what you would use - if this didn't work for you you may not have something configured correctly.

  • WebPortal Profile Picture
    2,297 on at

    I guess the problem is Dataverse allows the creation of an alternate key, but if there are already duplicates, nothing will happen, the key won't work, and a warning shows up on the right, which is not very clear.

  • Parvez Ghumra Profile Picture
    1,579 Moderator on at

    @WebPortal Yes, you will need to de-dupe any pre-existing data in the environment before you Key can be activated. But I would agree, this is probably the most appropriate solution for your scenario

  • WebPortal Profile Picture
    2,297 on at

    @parvezghumra 

    I have removed the duplicates from the "email" field and tried again to create the alternate key.

    It throws an error:

    The CREATE UNIQUE INDEX statement terminated because a duplicate key was found for the object name 'dbo.cre05_FormandosGlobalBase' and the index name 'ndx_for_entitykey_cre05_Email_AK'. The duplicate key value is <redacted>.

     

    Double-checked again in Excel, there are no duplicates.

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