Concatenate data from different file "only when there is an update"

[SubbuSharma]

Hello, 

I am looking to concatenate data from different files "only when there is an update" & the updates will be in red color fonts. 

The columns that I would like to concatenate are from file 1 (and updates are in red color font) to file 2.

I have attached two dummy .xlsx files for reference. 

[gabrielvilella]

You will need to explain this one a little bit better. What do you mean by concatenate? Do a VLOOKUP? What is the logic to know if there is a update to that specific row? What is the key field between those two files? 

[SubbuSharma]

hi @gabrielvilella 

To explain further,

1) in file 2, there is already an existing data set in column name "CO MONTHLY UPDATE".

2) in File 1, the updates for column "CO MONTHLY UPDATE" would have come in from the stakeholders & these updates would be red color in font.

3) the logic I am trying to build is, append/concatenate only those data/updates from file 1 which are in red color font, to the already existing data file 2

       a) there are related fields/columns in each files that could be used, for instance

                (i) Columns "CO MONTHLY UPDATE" are existing in both the files

                (ii) columns "Notable RCI" are existing in both the files

Please see ex: attached - Kindly note that File 2 and File 1 are two separate files

[gabrielvilella]

Alteryx cannot recognize the color of a cell in Excel. You need a field that identifies those records that have changes. Or if you have a unique key field on both tables, you can join based on this key and identify if there is any differences when comparing the same field from both tables. 

[SubbuSharma]

Hi @gabrielvilella 

Understood and point noted.

However, is there a way I could bring these data set as new columns or new data set in the existing file?  In that way, I can easily concatenate the data.

[gabrielvilella · Accepted solution]

You can have a single table with the columns from both tables. The logic to do this is the same as the VLOOKUP in Excel, you need a key field to match on. The tool that does this in Alteryx is the Join. 

There is another option that is matching by the record position using the join tool. However, with this approach you’ll need to be 100% sure that the records from both tables are always going to be on the same position. 

I encourage you to take a look at the example for the join tool, right click on it on the tool pallet and click on open example.