Anonymizing / GDPR

What does anonymizing mean?

When a contact is anonymized in Spotler, all personal data stored in Spotler for that contact is erased.

The contact record itself stays in the system (Spotler keeps it for internal tracking), but all identifying information — name, email address, phone number, and all custom fields — is wiped. The contact can no longer receive emails or be targeted in campaigns. It can not be found anymore.

⚠️Warning! Anonymizing is irreversible. Once a contact is anonymized in Spotler, that data is gone.

Automatic anonymization

The connector can anonymize a contact in Spotler automatically based on conditions in Dynamics 365.

"Do Not Email" is set to Yes

Do Not Email is a standard Dynamics 365 field that prevents all direct email communication with a contact.

When this field is set to Yes, the connector treats this as a GDPR signal and anonymizes the contact in Spotler during the next sync.

Email address is removed

Without an email address the contact can no longer be identified or reached by Spotler.

If the email address is cleared on a contact that was already synced to Spotler, the connector anonymizes that contact in Spotler during the next sync.

Contact is deactivated in Dynamics 365

Deactivated means the contact record is archived in Dynamics 365 — it can no longer be edited or used in active processes.

By default, deactivated contacts are automatically anonymized in Spotler during the next sync.

This behaviour can be disabled in the connector settings if that is not the preferred approach.

Contact is deleted in Dynamics 365

When a contact, lead, or account is deleted from Dynamics 365, the connector immediately anonymizes that contact in Spotler. No manual action required.

Do Not Bulk Email

Do Not Bulk Email is a standard Dynamics 365 field that prevents mass and marketing emails, while still allowing transactional (1-on-1) email.

When this field is set to Yes, the connector does not anonymize the contact in Spotler.

Instead, it sets all Spotler permissions to false (opted out of all mailing lists) during the next sync. The contact's personal data remains intact in Spotler — they just no longer receive bulk emails.

When a contact opts out in Spotler

For a full explanation of how individual and global opt-outs work, see the Sync Subscriptions page. From a GDPR perspective, the key difference is:

Single permission opt-out — the contact's preference is synced back to Dynamics 365. No anonymization occurs.

Global opt-out (contact sets themselves fully inactive in Spotler) — the connector sets Do Not Bulk Email to Yes, marks the Spotler status as Opted Out, disables all email subscriptions, and sets all permissions to false in Dynamics 365. No anonymization occurs, but the contact is effectively unreachable.

If you need to anonymize a globally opted-out contact, use an explicit Anonymize Contact Spotler Job — automatic anonymization does not trigger from a Spotler-side opt-out.

Explicit anonymization (Spotler Job)

For developers and power users who need to trigger anonymization from a workflow or automated process, this can be done by creating a Spotler Job with operation type Anonymize Contact.

Re-creation after anonymization

When a contact is anonymized, the connector marks their Spotler status in Dynamics 365 as Anonymized and stops syncing that contact.

This means you do not have to worry about the contact being accidentally re-created in Spotler — it is blocked.

If you later need to restore a contact — for example, because they gave renewed consent — reactivate their Spotler Info record in Dynamics 365.

Once reactivated, the connector will re-create the contact in Spotler on the next sync with a fresh, empty profile and resume syncing their data.