The Duplicate Transaction Check is a tool designed to help you identify accidental duplicate entries in your Pulse accounting records. It scans your transactions and flags any that appear to be duplicates based on matching date, description, and amount.
How to use the Duplicate Checker
- Navigate to Duplicate Checker from your reports dashboard
- Select the Financial Year you want to check (April to March)
- Click the Check Duplicates button
- The tool will scan all your transactions and display any duplicates found
What items does it check?
The Duplicate Checker scans across all your transaction types:
- Income – Income entries with matching date, description, and amount
- Expenses – Expense records with matching date, description, and amount
- Shop Sales – Shop sales with matching date, description, and amount
- Gift Vouchers – Gift voucher/Countdown sales with matching date, description, and amount
- Mileage – Mileage entries with matching date, purpose, and miles
- Work From Home – WFH records with matching month and hours
What constitutes a duplicate?
The tool flags a transaction as a duplicate when it finds multiple entries with:
- The same date
- The same description
- The same amount (or miles/hours for mileage and WFH)
Understanding the results
No duplicates found
If you see a green “No duplicates found” message, your records are clean for that financial year. Great!
Duplicates found
If duplicates are detected, they’ll be displayed in a table showing:
- Date – When the transactions were recorded (in UK format: dd/mm/yyyy)
- Description – What the transaction was for
- Amount/Miles/Hours – The value of each transaction
- Record IDs – The unique ID numbers for each duplicate entry (for support team assistance)
The duplicate entries will be highlighted in a light orange/tan colour to make them stand out.
What should I do if I have duplicates?
Important: This tool is for viewing only – you cannot delete duplicates directly from here.
If you have duplicates:
- Review the flagged transactions carefully
- Confirm they are indeed duplicates (not separate legitimate transactions that happen to have the same details)
- Head to the relevant section of your accounts, and locate the duplicate transactions
- Click the ‘delete’ button next to the relevant duplicate
- You’re done! You can check the checker again, and the duplicate warning should have been removed.
Need help?
If you’re unable to locate the individual transactions, you can contact our support team for assistance. Please provide either a screenshot of your results screen, or provide the Record ID which is listed against the relevant duplicates.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the tool show transactions from before I started using Pulse?
The Duplicate Checker scans all records in your system. If you migrated historical data from spreadsheets or other systems, duplicates may have been created during that process.
Can I delete duplicates myself?
Yes, you can remove duplicates from the relevant section of your accounts. If you need help, contact our team.
Why isn’t a transaction I think is a duplicate showing up?
The tool only flags transactions with exactly matching date, description, and amount. If any of these details differ slightly (even by a penny or a different wording), they won’t be flagged.
You should always manually check your records to ensure they’re accurate and complete.
How often should I check for duplicates?
We recommend checking periodically, especially after migrating data or if you suspect you’ve accidentally submitted something twice. The improved save button should prevent most new duplicates going forward.