You’re on the phone with a donor whose spouse also has a record, or you’re checking whether “Bob Smith” and “Robert Smith” are the same person, and you want both constituent profiles in front of you at once. Altru shows one constituent record per page, and there’s no built-in split view for comparing two profiles. You can still get both on screen. The method depends on what you need the comparison for.
Option 1: Open records in separate browser tabs or windows
Altru runs in a web browser, so the quickest approach is the browser itself. Open the first constituent, then open the second in a new tab or window. If you right-click a search result or a link to a record, your browser may offer “Open in new tab.” If that option doesn’t appear, copy the record’s URL from the address bar and paste it into a new tab.
For side-by-side viewing:
- Two monitors: drag one window to each screen. This is the most comfortable setup for anyone who compares records often.
- One monitor: use your operating system’s window snapping (on Windows, drag a window to the left or right edge; on a Mac, hover over the green window button) to tile two browser windows.
- Zoom out: constituent pages are dense. Zooming the browser to 80% or so helps when each window only gets half the screen.
A caution worth taking seriously: multiple tabs share the same login session. Reading two records side by side is generally fine, but be careful about editing in both at once, or starting a transaction in one tab while another tab sits on a stale view. If you edit a record in one tab, refresh the other before trusting what it shows. If you see odd behavior with multiple tabs in your environment, confirm with Blackbaud support whether it’s supported for your setup before making it standard practice for staff.
Option 2: Compare with a query instead of profiles
Often you don’t need two full profiles. You need a few specific fields next to each other: addresses, emails, membership status, giving totals, last visit. A constituent query does that better than any screen layout.
- Build an ad-hoc constituent query.
- Filter to the specific records you care about (by lookup ID, name, or a selection you’ve built).
- Add the output fields you want to compare: name, lookup ID, primary address, email addresses, phone, membership details, revenue summary fields, and any smart fields you already maintain.
- Preview the results, or export to Excel if you want to sort and highlight differences.
This also scales. Two records side by side is a browser trick; twenty records side by side is a query. Save the query so you can reuse it with different filters next time.
Option 3: Use the household view for related people
If the people you’re comparing belong to the same household, open the household record. It lists the members together, so you can see who’s connected and jump into each individual from there. It won’t show every detail of each person, but it’s often enough to answer “who in this family holds the membership?” without juggling windows.
When the real goal is finding duplicates
A lot of side-by-side comparison happens because someone suspects two records are the same person. If that’s your situation, comparing profiles one pair at a time gets slow quickly. A few habits help:
- Run a query that groups or sorts constituents by last name and email address, or last name and postal code, so likely duplicates land next to each other in the results.
- Before combining anything, check both records for memberships, revenue, and event or ticket history, so you know which record should survive.
- Altru’s options for merging constituents depend on your configuration and permissions. If you’re not sure what’s available to you, test on a pair of dummy records first or ask Blackbaud support, rather than experimenting on real donor records.
Picking the right approach
- Quick look at two people during a call: two browser tabs or windows.
- Comparing specific fields across several records: a constituent query, exported if needed.
- Family or household questions: the household record.
- Suspected duplicates: a query that sorts likely matches together, then a careful review before any merge.
Quick answers
Can Altru show two constituent records in one split screen?
Not natively, as far as we know. Separate browser tabs or windows, tiled side by side, are the practical workaround.
Is it safe to edit records in two tabs at once?
Viewing is low risk. For edits, work in one tab at a time and refresh the other afterward so you aren’t looking at outdated information.
