Handling empty field values in merged profiles within Adobe Experience Platform

Last update: Thu Feb 12 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

When data is ingested into Adobe Experience Platform, some fields show as empty for one identity but appear populated in the merged profile because another identity in the same graph holds a value. This article explains how to ensure a field remains empty across all related profiles by explicitly updating every identity involved in the merge process.

Description description

Environment

Product: Adobe Experience Platform
Constraints: Profiles associated with more than one identity; ingestion via batch datasets

Issue/Symptoms

A field ingested as empty (null) for one identity appears populated in the merged profile.
The merged profile displays a value such as [ fieldName] _0 when any identity fragment contains a non-null value.
The union merge operation returns a non-null value if present in any profile fragment.

Resolution resolution

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

Identify all identities within the same identity graph where the field needs to remain empty.
Prepare a batch ingestion record for each identity, setting the target field explicitly to null.
Ingest this batch data using the standard ingestion process.
After ingestion completes, verify that the merged profile displays the field as empty across all relevant profiles.

Additional information

This behavior is expected because Adobe Experience Platform uses union logic when merging profile fragments. A union between null and a non-null value returns that value.
If only one identity receives an empty value, any previously stored non-null values on other identities continue to appear in the merged profile.
Updating all identities ensures consistent empty fields across merged profiles.

Identity graph overview

recommendation-more-help