Merge Data
Merge Data combines records coming from different components into a single list. You can put them one after another, pair them by a field they share (such as the email or customer number) or pair them by their position.
In every case, if a record is missing a field the others have, that field appears empty. That way every record in the result has the same fields.
When to use it
- Join the contacts coming from two different forms into one list.
- Complete each customer from the CRM with their store orders, using the email as the shared field.
- Pair each meeting transcript with that meeting’s calendar details, matching them by order.
- Prepare a single table with information from several sources before saving it to a spreadsheet.
Configuration
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Data Inputs | The records you want to combine. Connect all the source components here. |
| Merge Type (required) | How they are combined. append puts all records one after another. combine by key joins into a single record those with the same value in the shared field. combine by index joins the first record of each source with the first of the others, the second with the second, and so on. |
| Key Field | Only shown with combine by key. The shared field or fields used to pair records, for example email. |
| Join Type | Only shown with combine by key. outer (the default) keeps every record, even without a match. inner keeps only those with a match in another source. |
Output
The Merged Data output returns the list of combined records. You can connect it to a Loop, to Parse Data, to a component that stores data or to any component that takes records.
Example
A sales team has its customer list in the CRM and last month’s purchases in the online store. It connects both to Merge Data, chooses combine by key, types email in Key Field and leaves Join Type on outer. The result has one record per customer with their details and purchases; customers with no purchases show those fields empty.
Good practices
- With combine by key, check that the shared field has the same name in every source.
- With combine by key and combine by index, the component tells which source each record comes from by the fields it has. Records from the same source should have the same fields, and records from different sources, different fields.
- Use inner when you only care about records present in every source, for example customers who have also bought something.