How to create/filter a unique select list when Coda see data as unique but it is not?

[Theresa_Aguilar]

Hi,
Not sure how to frame this question to best utilize the search function first [please forgive] but I am having trouble creating a unique table of organization/customer names from packs for Google Contacts and Quickbooks (Vendors and Customer Info).

So to give some context, I imported databases from these packs and used the Merge Table Pro pack to create a Master Contact list. For each external database I created additional columns with standard names to be used across each database for an easier merge. I used the following: Organization Name, Contact Person, Contact Email, Contact Phone No. I was able to merge everything into my Master Contact list with no issue. However, I am running into a technical issue when using lookup in another table.

So, I have a project table that I want to create a column linked to that Master Contact list where I can select the organization/customer first and have the contact info of people associated with the organization pulled in automatically. The trouble I am having is that the same organization name is populating my select list, multiple times. I tried using the unique() formula but I found out that it won’t work for Google Contacts because while the organization name is the same for a group of people, it is still unique when imported into Coda (hope that makes sense).

I’m at a loss as to how to extract/create/filter a table for unique organization names (that aren’t really unique). I was thinking I needed to do a unique text match that would input the results in a subset table. However, I don’t know how to test this option or if there is an easier way. Any help is appreciated.

TIA

[Theresa_Aguilar]

For anyone interested… found a solution that appears to work. From other posts, I saw where a filtered list was essentially created in column (_RowID < thisRow._RowID) that I called _FilteredList. I then created a formula that checked if that row’s filtered list contained (text matching) to the row’s single Organization Name. If it was already in that filtered list, then I knew it was not unique (false), otherwise it was unique (true).

This works for data imported from Google Contacts. I had a group of people under the same organization all seen as unique in Coda (when using unique formula). By using .ContainsText formula, I was able to match similar groups.