How to delete duplicate transactions in MYOB
Find them with a report, delete the spare one at a time — and merge duplicate cards, because a card with transactions cannot be deleted at all.
MYOB has no bulk duplicate cleanup. You find duplicates with a report and delete them one at a time, and a duplicate card usually cannot be deleted at all — because it has transactions attached, MYOB protects it, and your only route is to merge it into the card you are keeping. Merging has its own limit: about 100 cards before MYOB runs out of memory.
What MYOB allows
| What you want to clear | Built-in option | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate bank transactions | One at a time | Unmatch the spare before deleting it |
| Duplicate invoices or bills | One at a time | Remove any applied payment first |
| Duplicate customer / supplier cards | Merge | A card linked to transactions cannot be deleted |
| Large merge runs | Merge in batches | About 100 cards at a time before MYOB runs out of memory |
| Duplicate recurring entries | Delete the template | Stops future ones; past ones stay |
Last checked 3 October 2026. Merge limits are MYOB’s own; where the product and this page disagree, trust the product.
Step one: find them
There is no “find duplicates” command, so start with a report that lists transactions in date order. A pair sharing the same date, amount and reference is the usual signature. Bank-feed duplicates are the easiest to confirm because two lines describe the same payment on the same day.
Step two: delete the spare, carefully
- Confirm which one is real — do not delete the copy that is matched or coded.
- Unmatch the spare — a transaction matched to a bank line, or reconciled, will not delete until you undo that.
- Reverse, don’t delete, if it was reconciled — that keeps the audit trail honest.
Step three: merge duplicate cards
A duplicate customer or supplier that has transactions cannot be deleted — MYOB will stop you. The right tool is merge: you combine the duplicate into the card you are keeping, and its transactions move with it. Do it in batches of about 100; beyond that MYOB runs out of memory and has to be restarted.
Before you delete anything: back up, then export
On AccountRight, take a company-file backup first — a real restore point. On MYOB Business there is none, so export the set you are cleaning and keep the file. Only then start deleting.
What a safe bulk delete looks like
You cannot delete what you have not exported. Reconciled lines and closed periods are reported as skipped, never forced — QuickBooks will not allow it, and a tool that tried would be the harm this design exists to avoid.
Is there a better way?
We build Multi-Delete for QuickBooks Online, not MYOB — so this page answers your question and stops there. There is no MYOB tool from us today; if a safe, self-serve MYOB cleanup ever makes sense to build, it will be described on these pages first.
The pages you are reading stay free and need no signup. We store nothing about you — no accounts, no email gate, no tracking.
Questions people actually ask
How do I find duplicate transactions in MYOB?
There is no built-in “find duplicates” button. The practical route is a report that lists the transactions in date order — MYOB’s transaction reports will show the repeated entries that share a date, amount and reference — and then checking each suspected pair. Duplicates from a double bank-feed import are the easiest to spot, because two lines describe the same payment on the same day.
How do I delete duplicate bank transactions in MYOB?
Compare the two entries, decide which one is real, make sure the spare is not matched to a bank statement line or reconciled, and delete it on its own. If both copies are matched, unmatch one before deleting. There is no bulk route, even when the duplicates arrived together.
Can I merge duplicate cards in MYOB?
Yes — and for a card that already has transactions, merging is the only option, because MYOB will not let you delete a card that is linked to transactions. You select the duplicates and merge them into one. It is slower than it looks: there is a cap of about 100 cards at a time before MYOB runs out of memory and has to be restarted.
Why can’t I delete a duplicate customer or supplier card in MYOB?
Because the card has transactions attached. MYOB protects any card that is linked to a transaction, so it cannot be deleted — even if it is a duplicate you want gone. The fix is to merge it into the card you are keeping instead.
Is there a bulk delete for duplicate transactions in MYOB?
No. MYOB provides no bulk delete for transactions at all, so duplicates are cleared one at a time. This is the same gap as everywhere else in MYOB, and it is the reason a service that scripts keystrokes exists.
How do duplicate transactions happen in MYOB?
Three common causes: importing the same bank statement twice, having both a bank-feed entry and a manual entry for the same payment, and a recurring template that was created twice. The first two are bank-side duplicates; the third is a template problem, fixed in the recurring-transactions list.
Should I delete a duplicate or reverse it?
If it is a duplicate that was never reconciled, delete it. If the duplicate was reconciled or reported, reverse it so the audit trail keeps both sides. The same delete-versus-reverse rule applies as for any other MYOB transaction.