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Hi,

I would like to transfer information about leads from one Zapier Table to the others. My main challenge is to avoid data getting lost. 

I am looking for best practice, really, as I don’t know what the best concept would be. In an ideal world the following would happen: 

  1. A lead is new or updated in Table A
  2. Zapier looks for that lead in Table B (identified by the file number)
  3. Zapier fills all columns for this lead which are filled in Table A and empty in Table B
  4. In case a column has data already, it should be appended to the existing data in the same column in Table B

As I believe this is a very generic problem, I searched the community...but couldn’t find anything. What would you do? 

 

Hi @ssielmann 

Good question.

You need to map the returned data from the Find Step to the Update Step back in the same fields along with appending any new data in those fields.

Posting screenshots with how your Zap steps are configured will help us have proper context.


Hi @Troy Tessalone,

The setup is fairly basic. If I wouldn’t care about the overwriting part, I am almost done:

 

I think I understand what you mean, thank you very much. Something like this?

 

How can I now avoid having duplicates every time? It’s likely, that the same information is existing. The first name is a bad example, because there is no likely case to append it, but for other fields this will be relevant?


@ssielmann 

We would need to see an example of how you are trying to append data to a field. (screenshots)

 

That is not a valid record ID from Step 1.

 

You would likely want to add a space between the mapped variables.

 


Thanks, fixed the two issues (record & space): 

 

 

What exactly do you need a screenshot of?  :) 


@ssielmann

What exactly do you need a screenshot of?

How you are trying to append data to a field.

e.g. If Step 2 returns Field X and you want to append data to Field X, then you would map the variable for Field X back to the same field in Step 3 along with the variable (or static value) to append in the same field.


Hey @Troy Tessalone , 

 

Thanks again for elaborating on this. I’m afraid, I haven’t fully understood what to do. I am now pasting screenshots of ever single step hoping this includes what you’re looking for :) 

 

 

I think I have done what you said: Updating the record ID with both the old and the new value (“Armin”). This at avoids that I lost data. But: If the value is the same, the new value is “Armin Armin”, and the next time it will “Armin Armin Armin”. Am I correct? 

 

Cheers,

Sebastian


@ssielmann 

When updating a record…

  • If you want to keep only the existing field value, then either leave the field blank or map the same field variable from the previous step.
  • If you want to keep the existing field value AND append a new value, then map the same field variable from the previous step and add in the new variable.

 

EXAMPLE

For the First Name fields…

  • If you want to update the field value with the value from step 1, then only map the variable from step 1.
  • If you want to update the field value with the value from step 2, then only map the variable from step 2.
  • If you don’t want to update an existing value, then don’t map a variable.
  • If you want to append a new value to an existing value, the map as you have below.

 

TIP: When in doubt, test it out.