Is there a way to detect duplicate cards?
Asked by Andrea:

Dear Trello User,

we need a Tool for Trello that recognizes duplicate Cards. The tool should recognize while I'm writing that this card exists already. Is there an add on or a trick?

Thank you very much and have a sunny day!

Andrea


Answers:
author: Dreamsuite Mike
body: Quick answer for this:

Simple automation.

```
when a card is added to the board, lookup the card named {triggercardname}, add the yellow "Duplicate Detected" label and add the link "{foundcardlink} to the card
```


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Andrea](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2721668) what constitutes duplication? having the same title, same description, some portion of the title matching ... ?

comments: author: Andrea
body: Thank you for responding, Iain!

Having the same card title. It should be like that:

I create a new card and I start writing *Iain Dooley* and there is an automatic completion so I know, stop, we already have this card. Something like that :)

Sure, I could make a search, but that costs too much time. Any ideas?

Have a sunny day

Andrea


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Andrea](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2721668) hmm I can't see any existing chrome extensions or powerups that would do this while you were typing, but here's a solution in Trellinator that will detect when a duplicate card is created, link to it from the existing card, post a comment informing you of where the existing card is and archive the duplicate:

<https://gist.github.com/iaindooley/20a4f27a841aa94673c7ffad5bd026c1>

You can see how to setup/install Trellinator here:

<https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Marketplace-Apps-articles/Introducing-Trellinator-Automate-Trello-with-Google-Apps-Script/ba-p/925271>


author: Andrea
body: Thank you for helping, Iain! One of these days, when I have the courage to try this procedure I will install the Trellinator. And it is very likely that something happens I don't understand. I will tell :)

Cheers Andrea


author: Ian Gray
body: Hi Iain!  

Trellinator seems to be exactly what I've been looking for to remove duplicate cards that are created by the email-to-board feature.  

I've set-up Trellinator as per your instructions above and have copied the detectDuplicates code into Commands.gs. When I attempt to run the detectDuplicates function I receive this error:  

TypeError: Cannot read property "action" from undefined. (line 1127, file "apps/trellinator-libs/Notification")  

I know it's a bit of a long shot but do you know what could be causing this error?  

Thanks mate!


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Ian Gray](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3318506) \*probably\* it's because I've never used email to board with the createdCard() notification type before :)

The default email to board has some problems with attaching comments to existing cards even when they're archived if Trello determines they're part of the same thread (the determination of which appeared to be a bit hit and miss).

My discovery of this (and hence abandoning the email to board feature) long predates Trellinator, and I've since developed Benko Board which obviates the need entirely:

<https://trello.com/integrations/#/benkoboard>

That said, this is definitely a bug in the code, will take a look and fix it a little later today. You won't have a proper git update/deployment flow because you only copied the spreadsheet so I'll tell you which bit of the code to update in order to get the fix.


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Ian Gray](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3318506) hey sorry I didn't get to this for so long! Upon closer reading of your post, it appears that you're manually executing the function from the script editor.

What you need to do is put the function name into the function name column of the board on which you want it to execute (or in the Global Commands sheet if you want it to run on all boards).

When a card arrives, that function will be executed and a notification will be passed in. What you're seeing is an error based on the fact that when you manually execute the function, "notification" is undefined.


author: Frances Winters
body: The strongest way would be recognising same phone number


Tags: card

duplicate