Fill Data into New Table

Watch the video to learn how to fill data into a new table in Crealytics’ Search Platform!

After setting up a new table, empty rows are awaiting first entries. At this point, it is essential to understand the meaning of every column and column set. The most important columns are described briefly in this article. These column names have developed to be our best-practice from years of experience in the creation of text ads. However, apart from “name” and “status” the usage of these columns is optional.

+-name
“name” is the term allocated to the corresponding table entry. It will be used in the ad text.
+-status
“status” indicates whether this table entry is activated, paused, or deleted. In Crealytics’ Search Platform, you can choose between literally removing a row or setting its status to ‘removed’. The latter will just exclude a row from the export, but make it available for later reactivation.
+-alias
“alias” contains all keywords that should trigger this entry. These should also include shortcuts, variant spelling, or extensions.
+-shortname
“shortname” is the term that should be used in the ad as an alternative to the “name” column. It will be used if the “name” entry is too long for a particular ad, and serves as a safety net for you.
+-alternative
“alternative” is the term that should be displayed if the user wants to show something different from the “name” column in the ad text.
+-negatives
“negatives” are keywords that enable advertisers to prevent ads from appearing when specific terms are a part of a user’s search query.
+-url_parameter_cleartype
“url_parameter_cleartype” is the most commonly used column for the keyword final URL. The parameters you enter here will depend on the structure of the store’s website.

Table Actions

+-Add or Remove a Column
There are two ways to add a table column:

  • Click the “+” button to the right of the column name row
  • Click “Settings” and choose “Columns/Settings”

Both options will open the “Edit Settings” dialog box, however the first option will automatically create a custom column. At the bottom of the dialog box is the option to add a column.

To remove a column, use the ‘delete’ button next to each existing column name.

Add a column

Edit the settings for tables

+-Delete a Row
To delete one or more rows, mark the row by clicking in the id or name column of the row(s) you wish to delete, and click the button “delete rows”. To mark more than one row, click each row’s id or name column. Using the SHIFT key makes it easy to select a range of rows with just two clicks.
Delete one or multiple rows
+-Enter Multiple Entries Into a List Field
When the column type “list” is selected (the column alias has this type selected per default), you can add multiple entries to one field. By pressing SHIFT + ENTER, the selector jumps to a new row. To finish editing the field, press ENTER to jump to the field below. When exporting the table, applications like Excel will also have multiple lines for the entries of a list field. To jump to the next row within a cell in Excel press ALT + ENTER.
+-Hide Certain Columns
Once a table reaches a certain size, the hide function can get very useful. There are two ways to hide a column. The easiest is to click on the column header and in the popup on “Hide column”. Alternatively, click on “Settings” and “Hide columns”.
Hide certain columns

+-Import a Text File or a Feed

It is also possible to import a text file into the table. This is helpful if you have existing data you wish to integrate in a Crealytics’ Search Platform table.

Importing Tables
Click “Import Table”, upload a file, and follow the instructions. The file you are uploading must be either .CSV or .TXT. Both can be created easily from an existing Excel file. Simply use the option “Save as” and select “CSV” or “Text” as file type. This feature works in the same way as the feed import.

Importing Feeds
Click “Import Feed” to import a feed. The article about Feeds explains it in far more detail. Learn more

+-Delete All Data
All data inside a table can be deleted by clicking the “Empty table” button.
Delete all data
Please note: The binding between name and id values will remain. If you need to remove this binding, please reach out to your digital marketing contact at Crealytics for further assistance.
+-Remove or Reactivate a Table
To remove the whole table, go to “Settings” and click “Remove table”. This will completely remove the table from Crealytics’ Search Platform if you never exported anything before. However, if you already made an export, Crealytics’ Search Platform remembers the prefix of this table. If you create a new table with the same prefix, the old table will be reactivated. This has the consequence that the connection between id and name values will be remembered as before.

Imagine entering “nike” as a brand into the name column. If this is the first entry, it gets the ID 1. Now, if you add more rows, remove the first row and add a new row entering “nike” again, the new entry “nike” will have the ID 1 again. Crealytics’ Search Platform remembers the combination of names and IDs. This information is also present in reactivated tables.

+-Sorting Tables
To work more efficiently with tables, each column can be sorted in alphabetical and reverse alphabetical order. Simply click the column header to activate the sorting of choice. Crealytics’ Search Platform will then save the sorting individually for each user.

If more than one column has set to be sorted, the order in which the sorting has been activated will determine which sorting will be prioritized.Sorting Tables
Example:  In this example, the ‘alternative’ column is sorted alphabetically and the ‘alias’ column is sorted reverse alphabetically. Thus, the sorting of the ‘alias’ column only changes the order for entries having identical entries in the ‘alternative’ column.

+-Table Filters
By using filters, you can ensure that only relevant content is displayed. Click the search bar of a column, type a word or number you wish to filter for, and press ENTER to apply the filter. A small yellow token in the search bar shows what term the table is filtered for. It will then only display entries that apply to the word or number in the token. Filters may also be set in multiple columns at once.
Table Filters
Example: It is possible to filter for two or more words and numbers at once within the same column. If a column entry matches either of the set filters, it will be displayed.

Special Filters can be used to filter the table for ’empty’ entries in a column. Numerical columns (of type decimal/whole number) have the special filters “Greater than”, “Less than”, and “Between # and #”. Meanwhile, non-numerical columns can be filtered for entries that have more than a certain number of characters (“Greater than # chars”). You may select these filters from the drop-down that unfolds when clicking a column’s search bar.

+-Undo Changes or Backup a Table - Step-by-Step Guide
Tables in the Crealytics’ Search Platform offer a backup functionality. Before certain table actions, a backup will be created to allow you to restore the previous state of the table. These table actions are:

  • Structure changed (e.g. column added/removed, relations added/removed)
  • Dynamic rule (a dynamic rule has been applied)
  • Restore operation (only if there have been changes since the last backup)
  • Table import
  • Feed import
  • Empty table
  • Table deleted (will only be available if the table is being reactivated)

Additionally, there will be an automatic backup of changes like adding a new row, changing entries etc. every 3 days (if changes were applied). Finally, you have the possibility to do a manual backup, which is outlined below.

Step 1: Create a backup or access previous backups

To do a manual backup of the table or access previous backups, click “Backup” in the far right of the tool bar. Click “Backup now” to make a manual backup, which will appear in the list of backups shortly after.
Access the backup options

Step 2: Select a backup to restore

Crealytics’ Search Platform will make a backup of the table before each of the changes mentioned above. To restore your account to a state before such changes took place, simply select the backup from the list.
Select a backup to restore

Step 3: Choose to restore with or without relations

The only thing left to do, is to choose whether to restore the backup with or without the relations set previously. The information in the pop-up helps you decide if the relations are still required or not. Finalize the backup by choosing either option.

Restore with or without relations

Optional step: Undo the restoring

Crealytics’ Search Platform also creates a backup before restoring one. If a backup has been restored by mistake or the restoration does not lead to the expected result, the state before the restore operation can be used by selecting “Restore operation” from the drop-down.