Data Cropping Tool

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This tool works like a pair of scissors, allowing you to cut data from any set of values. You can cut half of the line (e.g. from the beginning to the middle) or a value in the middle of the line (e.g. from the 3rd to the 5th character).

Let's look at the functionality of the tool using the following example.

Suppose we receive information about Google's click identifier (called GCLID) from some source (eg, an online store on InSales). The information comes in the format http://www.site.com/?gclid=1234. From this line, we'll just need to get the numeric value 1234, which we'll pass to Google Sheets. For this, we use the Data cropping tool.

Step 1. Adding the tool

First, you need to open your automation, click the plus sign (+) between the steps and select the Tool option.

Then, just select the Data cropping tool.

Step 2. Configuring the tool

In this step, we configure the tool itself. See the guidelines for filling in the 6 fields.

1. Create a name for the dataset that will be formatted.

2. Choose a value for data processing. In our case, we will select the “URL from where they went to the website” field of the InSales trigger as the value.

3. Select the data cropping direction, that is, choose where the clipping will start: from the beginning or from the end. Let's follow the direction from the beginning. With this, the system will run the algorithm starting from left to right. If we choose the “from the end” option, the algorithm will be mirrored and run from right to left.

4. Choose the data cropping type. There are 2 types: “By a number of characters” and “By a specified character”. In our case, we will select the type “By a specified character”. Next, we configure the data-slicing algorithm itself.

5. Here, you need to indicate "what character to start cropping from" (ie the moment of the beginning of the data that we want to transfer later). For our example with you, based on the InSales – Google Sheets integration, we entered the following configuration: specify the value “d=”. So the cut will look like 1234.

6. We do not enter any value in the field “Up to what character to crop”, but we mark the field “Crop to the end”. So, for this parameter, the algorithm will understand that it is necessary to get the data from the location specified in topic 5 to the end of the line.

If it is necessary to define an algorithm for the end of the cut before the end of the line, just specify the value in this field so that the platform can cut and collect the data in question.

How to split a full name into separate parameters

In the next example, we will split a full name into two separate values (First name and Last name) with the Data Cropping tool. We will use the tool twice, because each Data Cropping step extracts only one part of the string.

Example input: Michael Johnson.

Our goal is to extract:

• Michael → first name.
• Johnson → last name.

The automation consists of the following steps.

Step 1. Create the automation

• Trigger: Google Sheets: watch for cell change and send the row;
• Tool: Data Cropping (first parameter);
• Tool: Data Cropping (second parameter);
• Action: any app where you need the separated values.

Important: To split a string into multiple parameters, you need to add the Data Cropping tool as many times as needed, one tool per parameter.

Step 2. Extract the first parameter (First name)

In this step, we extract everything before the first space.

1. In the Value for processing field, select the Full name value from the trigger (for example, a Google Sheets column).
2. Set the Data cropping type to Cropping data by a specified character.
3. Enable Crop from the beginning.
4. Then enter a space in the Up to what character to crop field to extract the first name.

The tool returns: Michael

Step 3. Extract the second parameter (Last name)

Now we extract everything after the last space. When extracting the last value from a string, use Crop from the end of the row together with Up to what character to crop. The tool will search for the specified character from the end and return everything that comes after it.

1. In the Value for processing field, select the same Full name value from the trigger.
2. Set the Data cropping direction to Crop from the end of the row.
3. Keep Crop from the beginning enabled (this option defines which part is removed, not the cropping direction), then enter a space in the Up to what character to crop field to extract the last name.

The tool returns: Johnson

Step 4. Add an action

After configuring the Data Cropping tool, add an action step where the extracted values (first name and last name) will be sent, for example, to a CRM field, a Google Sheets column, or any other connected app.

You can use the same approach to extract other parameters as well, such as middle names, phone codes, order numbers, IDs, or any values separated by spaces or other characters (commas, dashes, or symbols).