Zoho DataPrep allows you to seamlessly bring in your forms from Zoho Creator using the Zoho Creator connector. Using the connector, you can import your forms from Creator to perform data cleanup, data migration, data sync and data backup in more than one way.

Let us take a look at the steps to import data from Zoho Creator into Zoho DataPrep.

 To import data from Zoho Creator 

1. Click the Add dataset option to create a new dataset in your existing workspace or create a new one.

 

Note: If you are new to importing data into Zoho DataPrep, check out how to add a dataset and import data here.

2. Choose the Zoho Apps category from the left pane and click on Zoho Creator. You can also directly search the option in the search box.

3. Choose the required workspace and application from the Choose workspace and Choose application dropdown.

 

4. You can choose to import all data, or configure your import since a previous date.    

a) If you choose to import all data -  All data available in the selected forms will be imported.



b) If you choose to import data from a specific date - All data recorded in the selected forms (both added and modified) since (on or after) the chosen date will be imported.

 

Info: The new and modified data will be fetched from the selected date using the Added_Time and Modified_Time columns generated while importing data from Creator (system generated columns).

  

5. In the Select forms box, you can choose the required forms to be imported from your Creator application.

Note: The forms created using integration with other applications and data sources (Integrated Datasource) cannot be imported into Zoho DataPrep.

6. The selected forms appear at the top. Click Import to import the selected forms into Zoho DataPrep.

 

7. Once you have completed importing data, you can start preparing data right away.

 

Note: You can choose to schedule your data import from Zoho Creator using the connector periodically at regular intervals.

 Schedule import   

 You can schedule data import using the Schedule import option. You can also import incremental data from your Creator application while scheduling import. Incremental data import is a method used to import new or modified records after the previous sync.

 

 To import incremental data from Zoho Creator  

1. Select the Schedule import option from the Import menu in the top bar.

 

2. Select a Repeat method (Every 'N' hours, Every day, Weekly once, Monthly once) and set the frequency using Perform every dropdown.

 

3. Select the Time zone to import data. By default, your local timezone will be selected.

 Import configuration

You can configure how to import and fetch incremental data from your Creator form using the Import configuration option.

 

4. Select the required option from the How to import data from source? drop down. You can choose to import all data, modified and new data, or only new data using this option.

 

5. If you want to import all data, select the date from when data needs to be imported in the Sync historical data from field. This option will import all available data from the selected date for every scheduled run.

 Incremental data fetch

6. To import the modified and new data incrementally from the last imported time, select Only modified and new data option from the drop-down.

Info: The modified and new data will be fetched using the Modified_Time and Added_Time columns from the last imported time.

 

7. To import the new data incrementally from the last imported time, select Only new data option from the drop-down.

Info: The new data will be fetched using the Added_Time columns from the last imported time.

8. Click Save to schedule import for your dataset.

 

 Reload data from source   

You can manually refresh your dataset with the latest data by reloading all data from your Creator form.

 

Pro tip: For example, even if you've scheduled an import, you can get the new data before the next schedule run using the Reload data from source option.

Important: 

• If you have already configured an import schedule from Creator, data will be reloaded based on your earlier configuration under the Import configuration section when you click on the Reload data from source option.

•  If you've not configured any import schedule, the Reload data from source option will import all data available from the historical sync date that you had selected during your initial import.
  

 

After preparing your data, you can export your data from Zoho DataPrep to the forms in Zoho Creator using the Zoho Creator connector.

To export data to Zoho Creator 

1. Click the Export now option from the Export menu in the DataPrep Studio page.

2. You can search for Zoho Creator under the All destinations tab or filter using the Zoho Apps category and click on it.

3. Choose the Workspace, Application and Forms in Zoho Creator to which you want to export your data.

Note: Please note that exporting data to the forms created using integrated data source is not supported.

4. Choose one of the below options to determine how to handle the data being exported to Zoho Creator:

• Add only new records : Using this option you can only add newly imported records from Zoho Creator.
  

• Only update existing records : Using this option, you can update the existing records in Zoho Creator that match the selected field (match based on field).
  

• Both add and update records : This option will update the records that match the selected field provided and insert those records that do not match the selected field value.

5. Select a unique and mandatory field to match data from the Match based on field dropdown. Please make sure that the field is set mandatory and marked as no duplicate values in your Zoho Creator form. Click here to know more.

6. By default, the Disable Creator Workflows option is enabled. This prevents the workflows from getting triggered when data is exported to Creator. You can also choose to disable it.

7. When you are exporting data to the same form that you imported from, you may choose to Delete records from Zoho Creator that do not match the data to be exported.

For example, if you've imported records from the Candidates form and removed duplicates, you may choose to delete those duplicate records from Zoho Creator when you export back to the same Candidates form.

You can also review the records before deleting using the Review records for deletion link.

8. Click Next to view the Export Summary. The summary consists of the details such as the destination, workspace, application, form, number of records to be exported, and the target match check result.

9. If the target match check fails, you need to fix the errors by completing the target matching steps. If the target match check is passed, you can proceed with exporting your data to Zoho Creator.

Info : Target matching is a useful feature in DataPrep that prevents export failures caused due to errors from the data model mismatch. Learn more about target matching.

Info : You also have an option to rollback your export because of partial failures or other problems during the export. Learn how to rollback.

10. Click the Export button to export your data instantly to Zoho Creator.

 Target matching during export to Zoho Creator

Target matching happens before the data is exported to the destination. Target matching is a useful feature in DataPrep that prevents export failures caused due to errors from the data model mismatch. Using target matching, you can set the required Zoho Creator table as the target and align the source dataset columns to match with your target Zoho Creator form fields. This ensures seamless export of high quality data to Zoho Creator.

Note: Target matching failure is not an export failure. Target matching happens before the data is actually exported to the destination. This way the schema or data model errors that could cause export to fail are caught beforehand preventing export failures. Learn more about target matching .

 When target match check fails

1. If the target match check fails during Zoho Creator export, you can click the View error details link from the Export summary pane to get an overview of the errors.

2. The Target match errors panel shows the different model match errors and the number of columns associated with each error.

Pro Tip: The default view shows only the error columns, but you can always uncheck the Show only error checkbox to view all the columns.

The errors in target matching are explained below:

• Unmatched columns : This option filters the columns in the source dataset that do not match the columns in the target.
  
  Info : When using the unmatched columns filter, you can toggle the Show only mandatory columns to verify if there are any mandatory columns required and include  them.
  

• Data type mismatch : This option filters the columns from the source dataset having data types that do not match the columns in the target.

• Data format mismatch : This option filters columns from the source dataset having data formats that differ from those in the target dataset.

• Constraint mismatch : This option filters the columns that do not match the data type constraints of the columns in the target. To know how to add constraints for a column, click here .

• Mandatory columns mismatch : This option filters the columns that are mandatorily required in your target.

• Data size overflow warnings : This option filters the columns with data exceeding the maximum size allowed in the target.
  
  

3. You can return to your dataset to fix the column-level issues shown in the Target match errors pane using the Fix errors button.

To make it easier for you to fix the errors, the target form in your Zoho Creator is attached as a target to your dataset. You can view the mapping of your dataset with the Zoho Creator form in the DataPrep studio page along with the errors wherever there is a mismatch. You can hover over the error icons to understand the issue and click on them to resolve each error.

• The Target match errors section shows the errors and the number of columns associated with each error.

• The section at the top lists the error categories along with the number of errors in each category.

• You can click them to filter errors related to each category in the panel.

• In the default view, all columns are displayed. However, you can click any error category and get a closer look at the columns or view the error columns alone by selecting the Show only errors checkbox.

• Your filter selection in the Target match errors panel will also be applied on the grid in the DataPrep Studio page.

4. After fixing the errors you can proceed with exporting your data to Zoho Creator.

5. Once the export is complete, the export summary widget shows the number of records inserted, updated, deleted, and in some cases, failed to export, if there were any.

6. You can choose to schedule the export by selecting the Schedule this export? option.

To schedule export,

• Select a Repeat method (Every 'N' hours, Every day, Weekly once, Monthly once) and set frequency using the Perform every dropdown.

• You can also select the Time zone to export data. By default, your local timezone will be selected.

• Click Save.

Click here to know more about Schedule export.

7. You can also download the deleted and failed records if any by clicking the download icon, if you wish to review them.

Note: When there are multiple duplicate records in a Creator form, only the last duplicate record will be updated based on the unique field; the other duplicate records will be skipped. We recommend using the deduplicate transform in Zoho DataPrep before exporting to Creator to avoid duplicates.

8. In case of partial export failures, you may choose to undo or cancel the changes done to the Zoho Creator form using the Rollback now feature. You can rollback even a successful export if you want to. Learn more about rollback in the next section.

 Rollback export    

You can undo or cancel the changes done to your Zoho Creator form in case of partial export failures using the Rollback feature. Rollback will help you delete the inserted records, undo changes in the updated records, and restore the deleted records in your Zoho Creator form.

You can rollback either immediately after the export from the export summary pane, or later from the Processed Data panel accessible from the Workspace details page.

 Rollback now

In case of partial export failures, you may choose to undo or cancel the changes done to the Zoho Creator form using the Rollback now feature. You can rollback even a successful export if you want to.  

1. Click the Rollback now link in the Export summary to rollback the export immediately. Review the rollback details and click Rollback in the confirmation dialog.

2. The rollback progress is shown. Please do not perform any other action while rollback is in progress. The rollback process cannot be reverted once started.

You can also choose to Rollback later if you do not wish to rollback immediately.

 To rollback later

1. Go to the Workspace details page.

2. Hover over the required dataset, click the ellipses menu and select Processed Data from the context menu.

3. The side pane will open up listing all the processed data IDs available for the dataset, along with the generated time. 

4. You can view the Zoho Creator icon against those IDs which contain exports carried out to Zoho Creator destination.

5. Click on the required ID to view all the exports that were carried out using the processed data.

6. Each export's summary widget shows the number of records inserted, updated, deleted, and in some cases, failed to export, if there were any.

7. You can also download the deleted and failed records by clicking the download icon, if you wish to review them.

8. Click the Rollback data sync link of the required export to rollback the updates pushed to Zoho Creator by the export.

Important:

• You can rollback only the latest export, i.e., the Rollback data sync link will be visible only for the most recent export that was carried out using the processed data.

• The rollback process cannot be reverted once started. Please do not perform any other action while rollback is in progress.

To schedule data export   

You can schedule data export using the Schedule export option.

1. Select the Schedule export option from the Export menu in the DataPrep Studio page.

2. Click the New schedule button to create a new schedule for export.

Note:

You can also pause or resume, edit, share, and delete existing schedules from here.

3. In the Schedule config section, select a Repeat method (Every 'N' hours, Every day, Weekly once, Monthly once). Choose a time to repeat (i.e. set a frequency) using the Perform every option and your Time zone.

 

4. Select the Time zone to export data. By default, your local timezone will be selected.

5. Click Next and select Zoho Creator to export your data.

6. Choose the Workspace, Application and form in Zoho Creator to which you want to export your data.

7. Choose one of the below options to determine how to handle the data being exported to Zoho Creator:

• Add only new records : Using this option you can only add newly imported records from Zoho Creator.

• Only update existing records : Using this option, you can update the existing records in Zoho Creator that match the selected field (match based on field).

• Both add and update records : This option will update the records that match the selected field provided and insert those records that do not match the selected field value.
  

8. Select a unique and mandatory field to match the data from the Match based on field dropdown. Please make sure that the field is set mandatory and marked as no duplicate values in your Zoho Creator form. Click here to know more.

9. By default, the Disable Creator Workflows option is enabled. This prevents the workflows from getting triggered when the data is exported to Creator. You can also choose to disable it.

10. When you are exporting data to the same form that you imported from, you may choose to Delete records from Zoho Creator that do not match the exported data.

For example, if you've imported records from the Candidates form and removed duplicates, you may choose to delete those duplicate records from Zoho Creator when you export back to the same Candidates form.



11. Click Next to view the target match result in the Export Summary section.

12.  If the target match check fails, you need to fix the errors by completing the target matching steps. If the target match check is passed, you can proceed with exporting your data to Zoho Creator.

Info : Target matching is a useful feature in DataPrep that prevents export failures caused due to errors from the data model mismatch. Learn more about target matching.

13. Click the Export button and schedule the export.

 Limitations

1. You can use only the unique and mandatory columns under the Match based on field to match data during export.

2. The list of fields in Creator that can be set as mandatory and unique columns are as follows:

3. You can export a maximum of 50,00,000 (5M) records at a time.

SEE ALSO

Learn different ways to prepare data from Creator using Zoho DataPrep.

Learn more about Target Matching

How to schedule imports?

How to manage import and export schedules?

How to import data from Zoho Analytics?

How to import data from Zoho CRM?