How to see if column contains list of values then create new column?

[cmnflom]

I have a workflow with a list of Excel values that is to be used as a reference. The Excel file has 1 column called [Item Description] and has 346 rows of unique descriptions.

I have another main data table input (9,000 records) with the same [Item Description] column that I will be joining with this Excel file. 

What I am trying to do is the following:

If the [Item Description] from the Excel file exists in the [Item Description] from the data table, then create a new column [Area] = "YES".

 
I have tried to accomplish this several ways but am struggling to get the output that I am looking for. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[echuong1]

You can take advantage of a Join in this scenario.

Essentially, anything that joins based on the description field would be in both datasets. From there, I've used a formula to create a field called Area with a value of Yes. Anything that didn't join from the main dataset would come out of the L or R output (it depends on which input was which). In my case, they came out of the R output since the full dataset was the R input. I used a union to stack what matched and what didn't match back together.

[SeanAdams]

Hey @cmnflom 

As @echuong1  says, you can either do this with a join tool (as demonstrated below) your you can do this with a find/replace tool - with the setting turned on to add a column.

[cmnflom]

The issue I'm running into is that the reference file Item_Description column only contains a portion of the data contained in the main table.

For example, say the main table Item_Description is:

Apple Macbook Pro 15" 2015

The excel file Item_Description contains:

Apple

What I am trying to do is see which items in the excel file Item_Description match the main table description, and then pull the main table values (i.e. the full description)

I have tried the above two methods, but I have not been able to pull the full description. Do you have any suggestions?

[cmnflom]

Thank you for the reply! I tried this method did not work with my data - please see my comment below. Do you have any other suggestions for this scenario?

[echuong1]

Try using the Find and Replace.