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Re: Strategy to manage duplicates from multiple sources

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Bern_Dubruel
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

I’ve encountered the following situation a few times when trying to cross-reference information from multiple sources.

In short, I’m creating a row for each source, with the source name in one of the columns. Then I can compare the data from multiple sources. I now want to set one row as definitive or authoritative.

For example, a bibliography. My base contains lists of books taken from multiple sources. Some books are mentioned several times. This is useful, as I can compare e.g. source notes. However, I want to mark one of the rows as the definitive entry.

At the moment, my approach is to have a column with a checkbox called ‘Duplicate’. I am hiding these ‘duplicates’ in an Airtable view.

I’m not sure this is the best approach.

I could perhaps tick the ‘best’ version and send that to another table within the base? Where I can amend the data?

The desired outcome from the bibliography example is a table with a consolidated, clean list of books.

I should mention also that the aim is to grow the bibliography over time, so a one-off dedupe is not ideal, but could be done.

3 Replies 3

Hi @Bern_Dubruel and welcome to the community!

To understand things right, 1 record = 1 source = list of multiple books? Or 1 record = 1 source = 1 book?

Bern_Dubruel
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Thanks @Databaser - I’ve found Airtable to be a revelation!

1 record = 1 source = 1 book

I think you can go both ways, so with a separate view or with an automation to a new table. Since you’re willing to grow your base, I personally would use the automation option.