The “Copy Down” function is very useful in a variety of situations. This feature facilitates the copying of field values from a parent item (ie. Account) to a child item (ie. Contact) each time a NEW item is created from it.
Examples
- The first example is a screen shot of Account details that are copied down to the Contact automatically when a new Contact is created.
- The following example displays an Opportunity with a new Interaction being created from it. The Opportunity details are copied to the child Interaction:
- The next example shows a New Task that has Details copied from a parent Interaction:
Note: The Copy Down function doesn’t update field values. It only works when Creating a New item takes place.
Example: If you copy down a Status field from the Account to the Contact, and later the Account status changes, the Contact’s status would not be changed. To update existing field values use the Flex Data Refresher which can be configured to copy down field values on a one-time or scheduled basis. Contact support@lookout-software.com for a complimentary copy within a current Maintenance Agreement. Search for Data Refresher within this guide for details on using this application.
Field Mapping
It isn’t necessary that the Column names on the Parent item and the Child Item be the same, however for ease of use it makes it easier to work with if they are.
Copy Down fields do not have to be the same Column type either, as long as the value can be copied down. For example, you would not copy a “Single Line of Text” field to a “Numeric” or Choice field but you can copy a “Choice” field to a “Single Line of Text.” Use common sense when determining whether a field value from a parent can logically be copied to a child value.
There are many possible copy down combinations however if you find a copy down combination that doesn’t work, please contact support@lookout-software.com.
The example below shows how to copy a field value from an Account item (Industry), which is a Choice column type, to a Contact item by adding a Single Line Text column titled “Industry” to the Contact List.
Configuring
- Create a Column Field in the Child list which is to be copied from the Parent.
- Use any “Create New” Flex process to open the New Form (in this example, we are using Create New Contact from an Account).
- Select the Quick Edit icon to edit the properties, or use Page/Edit Page:
- Select the “Open CRMEditNewForm properties” link then scroll down to add the matching fields in the Copy Down section of the New form.
- Enter the field name(s) that are to be copied down from the Parent record. Each field is on its own line as shown below.
- Enter the field name exactly as it was created. If something isn’t working it’s most likely because of a spelling error or the field names are entered in the wrong order.
- Click Save Settings.
LookUp Copy Down Values
The September 2016 Update enables the copying down of Lookup fields which previous couldn’t be copied down from a parent item to a child item.
Please consider the type of fields involved in the copy down process involving Lookup fields. For example, if the source Lookup column refers to an “Account” column on the Accounts list but the designation column Lookup refers to “Main Phone” on the Contacts list the copy down will fail.
Both Lookup columns involved must have the same type, such as Multi or Single Value.
Order of Copy Down Entries
Note: The Copy Down feature in Flex recognizes the values in the order they are presented. To alleviate confusion if multiple lists are being used for Copy Down purposes use the same Column name, (such as “Details” highlighted below) it is best to have a different parent value. See screenshot below for example.
In the above screenshot, if an Interaction is created from an Opportunity, Flex will not recognize the “Body” column (the Opportunity List does not have a “Body” column) so it skips to the next line and finds “Details”. If both the Opportunity and the Interaction have Details fields then the value will be copied down.
Editing Copy Down Values
Consider whether the field value should be editable once it is copied down. In the majority of cases the data that is being copied from the parent to the child item shouldn’t be edited by the user but in some cases, it might be. It really depends on the purpose of the Copy Down being used.
For example, copying the Account address to the Contact is useful as it may often be the correct address, but if it needs to be changed the fields can be left editable for that purpose. On the other hand, Industry is typically not a field that would change at the Account level and therefore should not be editable at the Contact level.
To prevent Copy Down field values from being edited, simply do not include them to the New/Edit forms.
- Take steps to create a new item, and from the New Form select the Display/Edit Properties icon as described in the previous section.
- As in the example above where the “Industry” field value is copied down, we have not moved the field into the “Selected” grouping. This prevents the column field from appearing on the New form, hence, the user will have no access to editing it.
- Follow the same steps on the Edit form.
Whether the value is added to the Display form will depend on the reason for copying the information down to the child item. There may be a use for copying down values for the purpose of list filtering or reporting. In this case, the value doesn’t need to be present on any form.
Note: If a Copy Down field value should be on the Display form you may wish to add the field name to the [ListName]DisplayFormLinkExclusions Setting which will remove the hyperlink.
Remember: The Flex Copy Down feature is versatile and very useful for a myriad of reasons, including to add information to list views and for reports, but the data values do NOT automatically update. Use the Data Refresher to update the values after the fact.