How to Bulk Insert Data into Multiple Select Column

Baserow Help
1

Hello Everyone!

I have a list of 12452 rows and I need to insert them as Options in the Multiple Select column.

I’ve already tested it by doing the following:

1 - Copy and paste.
2- Import file (CSV File)
3 - Taking a sample of 10 lines and joining them in the same cell separating them with a comma.

None of the options worked.

Does anyone have a solution?

1 Like
2

Hey @Kaique

You could try inserting all your data into a text field column and then converting that to a multiple select field.

text-to-ms

2 Likes
3

thanks for your help

however, I tried to do this.

But it is only possible with 10 Options at a time.

I need to add 12453 options. =(

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4

Hey @Kaique ,

If you want 10k+ options for a multiple select field you probably shouldn’t be using a multiple select field.

Instead it would make more sense to create a table where each row represents one multiple select option. Then you link to that table from your existing table and use a Link Row Field to select the options that you want for each of your rows.

The steps are:

  1. make another table which will have row per “option” using the CSV importer and a CSV with all of the distinct options. The primary field (first field) should be the name of the option.
  2. Setup new table
  3. Add a link to row field pointing at the “options” table
  4. Import CSV into this new table

Note that for step 4 you will have to import into an existing table, not create a new table using the CSV.

2 Likes
5

thank you very much, Alex.

This solves my case.

6

Hi, my use case is a bit less extreme, but the underlying issue seems very similar.

  1. I’d need to import new data from a CSV into a table

  2. for some multi select cells, the new data may contain new multi select values

At the moment, baserow seems to simply ignore the new values - and the imported data is missing the “new” multi select values (empty cells after import) .
Btw - the same issue happens when pasting values.

Question A:
is there a way to update multi select values automatically upon import? (or paste)

  1. Linked fields are actually even more problematic in this respect

For CSV import - if the imported value is not already in the linked table, the cell will be empty after import.

Even worse, when simply pasting a row of cells - if a value is not present in the linked table, the paste operation fails altogether for the whole row (no cells are pasted)

Question B:
Is it possible to update the linked table with the new values upon csv import (or paste)

7

Question A:
is there a way to update multi select values automatically upon import? (or paste)

There is a workaround. You change the multiple select field into a single text field. This shows all values separated by a comma. Now import the new records and make sure that the values for the multiple select field are separated by a comma. After the import you change the field type again to multiple select and it should recognize the new values.

Question B:
Is it possible to update the linked table with the new values upon csv import (or paste)
No, this does not work for a linked field. You must create the new values first in the linked table before using them. An automation service like Zapier or Make can assist you with this.

8

regarding Question A -
Thank you for the suggestion - I will check it out for sure!

Question B:
Is it possible to update the linked table with the new values upon csv import (or paste)

No, this does not work for a linked field. You must create the new values first in the linked table before using them. An automation service like Zapier or Make can assist you with this.

This does not seem possible without custom API calls, which I was hoping to avoid at this stage.
The Make modules only seem to allow for updating baserow tables row by row - which is slow and costly, given the amount of data I have to process monthly.
As the whole point of this is to minimize manual work - I’d also have to process the CSV (or json, etc) inside MAKE, to check for new values vs the existing baserow table, which is far from ideal regarding the “no code” approach. That said - if you already have a solution for doing all that in Make - I’d love to know your thoughts on that! Any tips or suggestions are welcome!

9

The automation can indeed be complex. I am not that familiar with Make, but it requires the following steps:

  1. Convert the CSV file to a tabular format
  2. Loop over it line by line. For every line:
    2.1 Check if the items exists in the linked table (filter by the name and check if a record is returned)
    2.2 If yes: it exists, no further action is needed
    2.3 If no: it does not exist: add the record to the linked table

I know this can be quite intensive when it comes to number of operations in Make. I personally prefer n8n because it does not count the number of steps, only the number of workflow executions.

10

Thank you - I’ll take a look at n8n.