It's common for many of our partners to store complex information in spreadsheets related to services that they provide. If information in those spreadsheets is constantly changing, it takes a lot of effort to constantly Edit it on the Contact Field level so that you can provide it to clients using our platform. 

We've created our Loookup Workflow to make it simpler to manage data that changes in this way. Instead of having to update individual Contact Fields, every time your data changes you just need to upload your spreadsheet to our platform. You can then create Flows that provide the most updated information based on your spreadsheet using Lookup.

1. Creating Your Spreadsheet

Your spreadsheet must be formatted as a CSV or XLS file. 

You should format your spreadsheet with the first column being the value you plan to key off that doesn't change. An example could be the name of a Food Bank, which doesn't change -- but the location and hours of that particular food bank might. 

Your subsequent columns should be all the relevant data you want to provide that might change. For example, your second column might be an address and your third might be hours of operation.

Important: in order for your data to be mapped correctly, please add the prefix 'numeric_' to columns that are formatted as numbers and 'date_' to columns formatted as dates. Accepted date format: dd/mm/yyy.

Remember that if you're using an XLS file, you need to set all data as text (no numeric and no date/time fields). 

2.  Creating a Lookup Collection

Your second step is to create a database with your Lookup, which starts by creating a Lookup Collection. To do so, access your dashboard and scroll down to the Lookup Collection option.

Create a New Collection and click save. The name of the collection should reference the data in your spreadsheet, like "Food Bank Names and Locations."

3. Import Data to Your Collection

Now that you have created your collection you need to import your spreadsheet data to it. To do so, click the Settings icon on the top right of your dashboard and select 'Import Parse Data.'

Now select Lookup as the type of database, select the collection you created, and add the file to be imported. 

4. Create Flow to Provide Lookup Data 

Within your Flow, create a Ruleset and select 'Lookup' as the type. Save the result as 'lookup' and as the query type, select 'Lookup Address.' 

Under Lookup Parameters, the Field is the name of your first column in which the data isn't changing. Your Value is the expression you'll use to share field information in your Flow. 

Once you've created your Lookup Ruleset, using the '@extra.result' expression you can send data from your other columns to your users. For example, if you have a column named 'address', to share the address information with clients you'll use '@extra.result.address'. 

Please Note: The 'matches regex' Rule under Lookup Parameters is case sensitive. If you need it to be case insensitive, you need to add "(?i)" in the Value field, e.g. "(?i)@flow.company.text"