FLOOKUP GETTING STARTED GUIDE

Quick Introduction

This guide is designed to help you, as a new user, get up and running with Flookup in Google Sheets quickly and easily.
For a more detailed version of this guide, visit our documentation page. Otherwise, use the table of contents below to jump to a topic of interest.

Installing Flookup  

1. Temporarily log out of any other account. If you do not do this, Flookup might fail to authenticate correctly.

Please click here for more information about this requirement.

2. On your computer, open the Google Sheets spreadsheet in which you want to install Flookup.

3. In the menu, click Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons.

4. In the new window, search for "Flookup" or "Flookup Data Wrangler" and click on it.

5. Click the "Install" button and then the "Continue" button.

6. To allow Flookup to work, read the important “Request access” message and then click the "Allow" button.

7. When installation is complete, click the button labelled "Done" to finish.

8. In your spreadsheet, head to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Manage subscription > Dashboard and click the "Fetch status" button to refresh your activation status. You only need to do this once.

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FREE PLAN USAGE POLICY

• The free plan is subject to a usage policy that may be amended at any time without prior notice. For the latest details, please refer to our pricing page.

WHEN TO CONSIDER UPGRADING

• You only need to upgrade if you are working with complex data with typos, punctuation marks, partial entries or any other text-based variations. Upgrading lifts all limitations and also activates powerful features like custom functions, function automation and data cleaning with AI.

Custom Functions 

• Integrate custom functions effortlessly into your data workflows for automation.

• Standardize datasets, merge different tables and remove duplicates.

FUNCTION USAGE

• Enter functions like =NORMALIZE() or =FLOOKUP() directly in Google Sheets cells.

FUNCTION EXAMPLE

• =FLOOKUP(A1:A10, B1:D100, 1, 2, 0.8) matches text in range A1:A10 to their best matches in the first column of B1:D100 at a 0.8 level of similarity and returns values from the second column of B1:D100.

Check out this Demo Spreadsheet for a detailed visual aid.

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Intelligent Data Cleaning  

• Leverage AI to clean data using natural language instructions.

• Specify cleaning tasks such as merging, standardising or outlier removal.

STEPS TO CLEAN DATA WITH AI

1. Go to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Intelligent data cleaning.

2. Select a mode e.g. Match and merge.

3. Highlight the data range.

4. Enter a prompt e.g. "Match data in the first column to data in the third column".  

5. Click an empty cell to lock in the result display location.

6. Click the "Submit" button.

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Schedule Functions 

• Schedule functions to run at set intervals.

• Merge datasets or remove duplicates from them automatically.

FUNCTION SCHEDULING STEPS 

1. Go to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Schedule functions.

2. Choose a function e.g. "Match and merge by percentage".

3. Set the frequency i.e. hourly or daily.

4. Save the schedule by clicking the button labelled "Schedule".

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Match and Merge Datasets 

• Match and merge datasets by comparing different datasets.

• Combine entire datasets or merge specific columns from one dataset to another datasets.

MATCH AND MERGE STEPS 

1. Go to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Fuzzy matching.

2. Choose whether to process the datasets "By Percentage" or "By Sound" similarity.

3. Choose what mode you want the function to run.

4. Select the data in a single column e.g. A2:A500.

5. Select the data in a range of more than one column e.g. B2:D500.

6. Enter the column to lookup and the column to return data from.

7. Set the threshold e.g. 0.8 if you are processing by percentage.

8. Click the button labelled "Get fuzzy matches".

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Remove Duplicates 

• Identify and eliminate duplicate rows.

• Configure criteria for what constitutes a duplicate using the "threshold" parameter.

DUPLICATE REMOVAL STEPS 

1. Go to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Remove duplicates.

2. Select the data range e.g. A2:D500.

3. Choose "By percentage" or "By sound".

4. Set the similarity threshold to a value that suits your dataset.

5. Click the button labelled "Remove duplicates".

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Highlight Duplicates  

• Visually mark duplicate text entries in your datasets.

DUPLICATE HIGHLIGHT STEPS  

1. Go to Extensions > Flookup Data Wrangler > Highlight duplicates.

2. Select the data range.

3. Choose "By percentage" or "By sound". 

4. Select "Highlight all occurrences" or "Skip first occurrence".

5. Choose if you are comparing data in one column to two different columns. 

6. Click the button labelled "Highlight".