Pasting text into multiple fields OR splitting a field

[Alice_DuBois]

Hello,

I have text that I would like to paste text into a table. I’d like each line of text to get split across two columns. I know that I could probably get to this to work with a CSV import but I’m wondering if there’s a way to get the result I want with copy/paste.

Here’s an example of the text I would be pasting:
Line 1, Another boring day in the ocean.
Line 3, Another boring day in the ocean, SIR!

Here’s how I would like it to appear in a table:

Here’s how it actually appears in a table when I paste it:

I would either like the paste function to recognize the , and split the text into two cells at the comma (like a CSV import would do). Or I would like to paste the text then highlight column A and split the text at the comma into two columns.

Are either of these things possible?

[kuovonne · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Airtable Community!

When pasting text into single line text fields, Airtable uses tabs to split text in a single line into different fields. Can you edit your text to replace the first comma and space in each line with a tab character? If your text is very short, this might be the easiest method.

Another option is to paste the text into a single field, use formula fields to split the text into two different fields, and then finally convert the formula fields into plain text. This method works well if you are comfortable creating formula fields.

Here are some formulas where {String} is the initial field that contains the complete line.
Formula for the line number:

LEFT(
    {String}, 
    FIND(",", {String}) - 1
)

Formula for the dialogue

RIGHT(
    {String}, 
    LEN({String}) - FIND(",", {String}) - 1
)

If you need an ongoing process, you might want to look into other methods.

[Alice_DuBois]

Thank you so much Kuovonne! I didn’t realize that Airtable used tabs to split cells on paste. We can definitely put tabs into the text file so it will paste nicely. Thank you!