Join items in a table

The Join tables helper combines two tables by matching the items within the tables. If you're familiar with VLOOKUP in Excel/Google Sheets, it's a lot like that.

Setup

The helper takes two tables as input, Table 1 and Table 2. Then, you need to specify which items to keep in the output. There are three options:

• Items from Table 1 with data added from joined items in Table 2, in addition to items from Table 1 that weren't joined with any items from Table 2

• Only items from Table 1 with data added from joined items in Table 2 (items from Table 1 that weren't joined are discarded)

• Items from Table 1 with data added from joined items in Table 2, in addition to items from Table 1 that weren't joined with any items from Table 2 and items from Table 2 that weren't joined with any items from Table 1

Finally, you set up the condition for joining between items between two tables. Typically, you will join items based on exactly matching values in a certain column.

Example

Let's say you have two tables. The first includes product IDs and quantity.

Product ID	Quantity
1	25
2	50
3	75
4	100

The second includes product IDs and descriptions.

Product ID	Description
1	Red t-shirt
2	Blue jeans

You want to add as many descriptions as possible to the first table, based on matching product IDs, without removing any products from the table.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Insert the first table as Table 1 and the second table as Table 2

2. In "Items to keep", choose All items from Table 1 with matches from Table 2

3. In the condition for joining items, create the condition "Product ID (Table 1) and Product ID (Table 2) are an exact match"

The result is the following table:

Product ID	Quantity	Description
1	25	Red t-shirt
2	50	Blue jeans
3	75
4	100

If you wanted to remove any products without descriptions from the table, then in "Items to keep", choose Only matching items from both tables. This removes any items from Table 1 that are not joined with anything in Table 2, like this:

Product ID	Quantity	Description
1	25	Red t-shirt
2	50	Blue jeans

Another example

Let's say both tables have products not included in the other table:

Product ID	Quantity
1	25
2	50
3	75
4	100

Product ID	Description
1	Red t-shirt
2	Blue jeans
5	White hat
6	Brown shoes

Table 1 includes products 3 and 4 (not in Table 2), and Table 2 includes products 5 and 6 (not in Table 1). You want to create a complete table of product IDs, quantities, and descriptions.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Insert the first table as Table 1 and the second table as Table 2

2. In "Items to keep", choose All items

3. In the condition for joining items, create the condition "Product ID (Table 1) and Product ID (Table 2) are an exact match"

This is the setup and result: