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Need urgent help- Uploading CSV file every week keep adding data from week before- how to prevent duplication

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Hello appreciate the community’s help here. 

I am uploading a CSV file on a weekly basis (the data is from application form submissions on google form). So every week I am getting new applications in. I uploaded last week matched the fields and all was good. I even started reviewing and syncing some applications on the airtable base. I had 10 applications last week. This week I got 17 more. So I downloaded CSV file (business as usual). I went to airtable and uploaded and suddenly i realize it created 27 new records. I proceed and on the base I find 10 old records + 17 new records (out of which 10 are duplicates from the old upload). How can I prevent this from happening, appreciate your support.

Best answer by TheTimeSavingCo

Are you using the CSV Import Airtable Extension?  If so, you should have the option to merge with existing records, which will prevent the duplicates:

 

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5 replies

TheTimeSavingCo
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Are you using the CSV Import Airtable Extension?  If so, you should have the option to merge with existing records, which will prevent the duplicates:

 

Adam, Consultant @ thetimesaving.company
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    Malak Marzouk
Mike_AutomaticN
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Hey ​@Malak Marzouk!

Forward looking ​@TheTimeSavingCo’s answer is spot on!
For merging already created duplicates on your base, you might want to check out Airtable’s Dedupe extension.

Hope this helps.

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation  

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    Malak Marzouk
mtrebinonixon

Hi Malak, in this case since your data is received via a Google Form, and it creates new lines in Google Sheets, I would recommend to use an Airtable Automation that triggers for every new line in Google Sheets, and adds the new submission to your table checking if the submitter already exists in your table, maybe by their email, to avoid duplicates.

This will streamline the process to work with no manual effort.

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    Malak Marzouk
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  • Malak Marzouk
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  • April 14, 2025

​@Mike_AutomaticN ​@TheTimeSavingCo  ​@mtrebinonixon Thank you so much for your help.. I toggled merge with existing files and chose the startup name as the benchmark and it worked. Only got the additional 17 records added to my base, the 10 old ones remained unchanged (although it did tell me 1 of the 10, was updated not sure why because applicants cannot adjust their application, but anyway).

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
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  • April 14, 2025

By the way, ​@Malak Marzouk, I wanted to let you know that if you’re looking for a completely automated way of importing your CSV files and having duplicates automatically merged on your behalf (without you manually needing to import nor manually needing to check for duplicates), you can do that with Make’s CSV automations. I demonstrate how to do that on this Airtable podcast episode.

Hope this helps!

- ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant

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