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Removing guests and handling duplicates

Take a guest off your list, remove several at once, and understand how InviteBird skips duplicate entries on import and manual add.

Last reviewed 4 min read

On this page7 sections
  1. Remove a guest
  2. Remove several guests at once
  3. How duplicates are skipped when you import
  4. How duplicates are caught when you add by hand
  5. What matching is based on
  6. Common questions
  7. Related articles

You can take a guest off your list at any time, and InviteBird keeps duplicates from piling up when you add or import guests. Removing is deliberate — it always asks you to confirm first — and it never quietly messages anyone.

Remove a guest

  1. Open your event and go to the Guests & RSVP tab.
  2. Find the guest and open their row.
  3. Select Uninvite.
  4. Confirm on the prompt: Uninvite [name]? They come off the guest list and their reply is removed — meal, seat and anything they signed up to bring go with it.

Once confirmed, the guest is taken off your list and any response they left is removed with them — including a reply you matched to them by hand — so it won't reappear later as a walk-in. You'll see a brief [name] uninvited confirmation. If the guest you're removing is also a co-host, the prompt notes that they'll lose their co-host status too.

Removing a guest sends them no message — they aren't told they were taken off the list. If you add them back later, though, that counts as a fresh invitation and InviteBird will send one (unless you uncheck Send the invitation now while adding). Their previous response does not come back, so they'd RSVP again from scratch.

Remove several guests at once

To clear out a batch:

  1. On the Guests & RSVP tab, tap Select above the list, then tick the guests you want to remove (or Select all to take everyone the current filter shows).
  2. A bulk action bar appears at the top of the list.
  3. Choose Uninvite and confirm Uninvite [N] guests?

InviteBird confirms with Uninvited [N] guests. Their replies go with them, exactly as when you uninvite one guest. The same bar lets you tag, seat, set a meal for, message or re-invite the selected guests, so you can also use it to organize your list rather than trim it.

How duplicates are skipped when you import

When you import a spreadsheet, InviteBird checks each incoming row against the guests already on your list. If a row shares an email or phone with an existing guest, it's treated as a duplicate and skipped rather than added a second time.

Your import summary tells you how many were skipped this way, for example 34 guests added · 3 duplicates skipped. This means you can safely re-import an updated list, or combine two exports, without doubling up your guests. Note that skipping means an existing guest's details are left as they are — a re-import won't overwrite a guest who's already on the list. See Importing your guest list for the full flow.

How duplicates are caught when you add by hand

If you add a guest whose email or phone already exists on the event, InviteBird stops and tells you who has it: Priya is already on your list with that email. To bring someone along, add them as a plus-one on Priya's row. Nothing is added, so you won't create a second copy by accident. In a batch of several new guests, only the refused one stays in the form, with the reason under it — the others are added.

What matching is based on

Duplicates are matched on email or phone, not on name. Emails ignore capital letters, and phone numbers match however they're written — (555) 123-4567, 555-123-4567 and +1 555 123 4567 are one number. Two guests named "Chris Taylor" with different email addresses are kept as separate guests, which is exactly what you want for a common name. The flip side: the same person entered once with an email and once with a phone (and no overlap) can slip through as two rows — give each guest a consistent contact detail if you want the matcher to catch them.

Common questions

Does removing a guest tell them? No. Uninviting sends no message at all. The guest simply comes off your list.

I removed someone by accident — can I undo it? Add them back from the Add guest button. Their earlier response won't return, and adding them can send a fresh invitation — choose Add to list (untick Send the invitation now) if you don't want them re-notified. A whole import added by mistake is different: its summary has an Undo button that removes exactly those guests.

Two of the same guest still ended up on my list. They likely had different contact details on each entry (or one had none). Open one of the rows and uninvite it, and make sure the remaining guest has the email or phone you'll use to reach them.

Can I remove a guest who already RSVP'd yes? Yes. Their response is removed with them and their seat frees up. If you're at a capacity cap, that opens a spot for someone else.

What happens to a co-host I remove? They come off the guest list and lose their co-host access to the event in the same step.

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