Question

Create or update Google Sheets creates double records

  • 7 December 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 50 views

Hi,

I created a zap which should create or update a row in Google sheet based on Expandi. 

Somehow it creates double records sometimes. So instead of updating the row it creates a new one. 

Can anyone help me to find out if and how I made a mistake in this zap? 

Best, Myrna 


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2 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @Leadlinq 

Best advice is to check your Zap Runs history details for examples that resulted in a duplicates: https://zapier.com/app/history/

Make sure to check the DATA IN/OUT for each Zap step.

Guessing the GSheets Find/Create Row is returning a false, thus creating a new row.

This might be due to the supporting (secondary lookup value).

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @Leadlinq

So there could be a couple of issues at hand.

First, within your second step you have your look column set to “ID” and a supporting lookup column set to “first_name”. Although, it shouldn’t be a problem most of the time, I would recommend removing the supporting lookup column. This is because your primary lookup is an ID which is guaranteed to be unique, and when you have a supporting lookup column both the ID and name must match. On top of this it is possible that the name that is coming in from Expandi does not match the existing names. For instance, there could be a space at the end of the name that we cannot see or something else.

 

The second possible issue is something that I have run into only a few times, but it is possible. On rare occasions, Google Sheets might have a caching issue that is causing the problem. I have resolved this in the past by creating a new spreadsheet, copying all my data from the old sheet and pasting it into the new sheet. (If you do this you will need to re-setup your zap so you are using the correct Google Sheet.) Personally, I do not think it is a caching issue, I think it has something to do with the issue mentioned above.

 

Hope this helps!