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AvaniAvani 

Autofill Option.

I have a very simple question to you all.

Under Accounts, I have a filed called Account type which is a picklist.

I am adding a custom picklist which is dependent on one of the text value in the Account type.

I would like to know if there is a way what I could auto populate all the past records of one Account type with one of the new value in the custom picklist field created.

Example.

account type = customer.
all past records of "customers" need to pick the new custome picklist value " on demand service". And the new accounts created from that day onwards can have the choice of picking either "on demand service" or "basic service."  Both these options are available only when account type is "customer." Therefore it is a dependent picklist.

any suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks Much.

Avani
Kent ManningKent Manning
Avani:

I don't know of a way to Autofill existing records, but I can think of two possible ways to update older records with your new picklist values. 

One is to go to reports within Salesforce and genterate a custom report that contains the account record ID's of all accounts that have account type = customer. Export this report to excel and then add a column to your spreadsheet called something like "picklist value".  Populate the  "pickist value" column with "on demand service"  for each record you want updated.  Save this as a comma delimided file, then use the data loader to update all of your past account records.   The steps are outlined in the online help.  Search for Mass Update ID's then uder Solutions found Select "How do I use record ID to mass update records?"

The second option would be to use Demand Tools - Mass Impact program.  Under step 2 - Select Conditions and Settings- you would specifiy a search for all accounts with account type = customer and then under the Field to Update, you would select your picklist field and set it's value to "on demand service".  Proceed to step 3 - Review records and update.  That's it your done.

Hope these suggestions help.

bioscience man
AvaniAvani

:smileyvery-happy:Thanks much! Bioscience Man.

I did a test run on 3 accounts. Since I only have professional edition, I cannot use Data Loader,  but I can take advantage of Import wizard.

I exported my report in .csv file. Added the new values for picklist in the column. And imported it back to account by mapping the fields.

I only used three fields. Account Name, Account ID ( same as record ID) and the new custom field name.

I hope that the update only occurs for the new field and the rest of the data remains the same for all the accounts, when I do mass update on real accounts which is about 700 records. Wish me luck?

Best!

Avani