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CSV Import: Updating Records without adding new records

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Megan_Martinez
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I have a a base that has a set IDs (600+ unique IDs). I need to update their status’s weekly but the report to update has over 9000+ IDs. I only want to update my 600 without adding any other records to it.
Is that possible with the CSV import extension?

Screen Shot 2022-09-09 at 2.40.31 PM

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
kuovonne
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

It looks like the merge settings are correct. However, it sounds like you want only the updates for existing records and no new records created.

The CSV import will create new records that do not yet exist, as you have noted. This cannot be changed in the CSV import. However there are some workarounds.

  • Add a created time field to your table. Go ahead and let the CSV import app create the records. Identify the newly created records based on the created time field. Then delete the newly created records.

  • Add a checkbox or single select field to indicate which records are actual valid records that you care about. Set this field for the existing records. You can set this field in bulk by copy/pasting in an unfiltered view. Do the CSV import and let it create the new records. Those new records will not have the checkbox selected. Use view filters to hide the unchecked records, letting you effectively ignore the extraneous records. This is probably the easiest method unless you have problems keeping under record limits.

  • Pre-process the CVS file to include only the data to be updated. This might be realistic for your use case.

  • Use scripting to import the CSV file and only update existing records, ignoring data that does not apply. This process would require a custom script. If you do not know JavaScript, this may also require hiring someone to write the script for you, which may or may not be in your budget.

See Solution in Thread

6 Replies 6

Hi @Megan_Martinez, yeap, this is doable as long as you’ve got a field with a unique identifier

Here’s a link to the documentation, check out the Merge with existing records section

Hi!

I have tried toggling the skip CSV values in hopes it would skip all the unique IDs but it is still showing that 9648 records will be created.

Screen Shot 2022-09-12 at 11.53.32 AM
Screen Shot 2022-09-12 at 11.53.25 AM

Hmm, it should work fine as you’ve got the “Merge with existing records” toggle checked

In my experience, as long as the merge field (StyleColorNumber in your case) is mapped to the right CSV column and the values match, it’ll update those records instead of creating new ones

Barring checking your existing CSV’s data against your table’s data, I think you might want to message support about this?

kuovonne
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

It looks like the merge settings are correct. However, it sounds like you want only the updates for existing records and no new records created.

The CSV import will create new records that do not yet exist, as you have noted. This cannot be changed in the CSV import. However there are some workarounds.

  • Add a created time field to your table. Go ahead and let the CSV import app create the records. Identify the newly created records based on the created time field. Then delete the newly created records.

  • Add a checkbox or single select field to indicate which records are actual valid records that you care about. Set this field for the existing records. You can set this field in bulk by copy/pasting in an unfiltered view. Do the CSV import and let it create the new records. Those new records will not have the checkbox selected. Use view filters to hide the unchecked records, letting you effectively ignore the extraneous records. This is probably the easiest method unless you have problems keeping under record limits.

  • Pre-process the CVS file to include only the data to be updated. This might be realistic for your use case.

  • Use scripting to import the CSV file and only update existing records, ignoring data that does not apply. This process would require a custom script. If you do not know JavaScript, this may also require hiring someone to write the script for you, which may or may not be in your budget.

Apologies! Reading kuovonne’s message made me realize I completely misunderstood what you were trying to do

So sorry about that

@kuovonne thanks sigh

Thank you! This will solve my problem!!!