Find and Replace - Multiple Columns

[lynnekilgore]

Hello, my apologies if this is a duplicate; the discussion board was giving me an error and told me to start over.

I am seeking help with building a non-RegEx involved workflow (because I'm a beginner) that allows me to "mask" client IDs and client names in a given record by replacing them with a number. Two text columns need replacements: Desc_1_FT and Desc_2_NBI (see attached), and the value to replace them with is found in Generic_ID.

Conceptually I know what I'm trying to do but I just can't get the Find and Replace in my own workflow to run correctly, so I'm glad to start from scratch if anyone can help.

Thank you!

[Raj]

@lynnekilgore this client X remains same always or you have a unique code for each client?
also you want to remove the Bracket which is at last?

[lynnekilgore]

Hi Raj, the unique code is found in the Generic_ID column. There shouldn't be any duplicates as the Generic_ID is linked to a single matter. I'm unsure of what you mean by removing the Bracket. 

[Raj]

ok Got your point

[Raj]

@lynnekilgore find attached sol.

[Qiu]

@lynnekilgore 
For multiple column replacement, we can always use the combination of Transpose and CrossTab to do the work.
and for client matter ID, I assume it alwasy starts from "(".

[Raj]

@lynnekilgore what i wanted to confirm is this attached sol for removing the last part>
this will work for you

please like and mark as accepted solution if this solves your problem.

[lynnekilgore]

Raj, thank you for this. Simple and effective, and I understand what you've done here. I'm struggling to make this work with my full file, however (.xlsx). Is it possible that the workflow is requiring the full client name to be found in either of the text columns to make the replace work? 

[lynnekilgore]

@raj and @Qiu I'm still struggling with this workflow, even after your help.(thank you again)

I know I said previously that I wanted a non-regex solution, but I'm pressed for time and concerned I won't be able to accomplish this task without a different solution. Given what we've discussed and I provided previously, is there any solution (regex or not) you know will work to do the following: 

IF [Client] is found anywhere in either [Desc_1_FT] or [Desc_2_NBI] REPLACE that client's name with [Generic_ID]

Note that I only want the client's name to be replaced with that Generic ID, not the entire text within the cell.