Custom data tables offer a flexible and powerful way to store and utilize customer-specific information. This data can then be used to enhance targeting and deliver personalized content to your customers using SmartBlocks.

1. Create a custom data table

Go to Data > Custom Data.
Select CREATE DATA TABLE and enter the following details:
1. Name
  Enter the table’s name.
2. Table ID
  Enter the table’s ID or select Make Table ID after entering a name to autofill this field.
3. Type
  Expand the Type drop-down menu and choose the table type: Custom, Brands, or Categories.
Select CREATE.

2. Create table fields

Fields allow you to define the types of data you want to store in your table. There are four data type you can choose from when creating a field: String, Number, Date, or URL.

To create a field:

Select CREATE TABLE FIELD and enter the following details:
1. Name
  Enter the field’s name.
2. Field ID
  Enter the field’s ID or select Make Field ID after entering a name to autofill this field.
3. Field Type
  Expand the Field Type drop-down menu and select the type of data the field stores.
Select CREATE.

Edit a table field

Expand the field settings icon (⋮) menu and select the edit icon.
Change the name or field type.
Select SAVE.

You can’t change the field’s ID once it’s been created.

Delete a table field

⚠️ When a table field is deleted, any data stored under that field is also deleted.

To delete a table field, expand the Show options (…) menu for the field, and then select Delete.

3. Select a lookup field

To use the table, you need to select a lookup field. A lookup field is used to link the data in your custom data table to another location where this data is used, usually a SmartBlock. As such, the field you select as a lookup field should allow you to uniquely identify a particular record set.

For example, if you had a set of data about football stadiums that you wanted to add to a custom data table:

Stadium ID	Stadium name	Club name	Location
1	Emirates	Arsenal	London
2	Etihad	Manchester City	Manchester
3	Old Trafford	Manchester United	Manchester

you should use Stadium ID as your lookup field, as this value is unique for each data set.

Then, when you want to use this data in a SmartBlock, you use stadiumid as the lookup field for the SmartBlock and identify its value from a merge field, person data, or product data.

The SmartBlock lookup field value is used to pull any of the related data values from the Custom data table, such as Stadium name, into a Jinja-enabled field.

Learn more in Use Custom data tables in SmartBlocks.

To set your lookup field:

Select SAVE to open the Lookup field menu.
Expand the Lookup field drop-down menu and choose a field.

You can select Save without a Lookup field, but you can’t use the table until you set a lookup field. To set one later, edit the Custom data table, select the field you want to use, then select SAVE.
Select SAVE.

You can’t change a lookup field once it’s saved.

4. Import data

You can either manually import data to your Custom data table with a CSV file upload, or import data using an import channel.

Manual import

Go to Data > Custom Data.
Select the data table you want to add data to.
Select the Import data tab.
Select MANUAL IMPORT to open the Upload Data menu.
Select browse and choose the file you want to upload, or drag and drop the file.
You can choose if you want the upload to append or replace data in the table:
- To append new data to the table, clear the Replace All Data checkbox.
- To replace all data in the table, select the Replace All Data checkbox.
Select IMPORT.

Import channel

Select IMPORT CHANNELS FOR DATA TABLES.
Under Set up a new channel, expand the drop-down menu and choose the data table you want to import to.
Select CREATE IMPORT CHANNEL.
On the next page, specify the settings for the import channel.

Refer to the section Custom data table import settings below for more information. For FTP import channel settings, consult your IT team if you’re unsure.
Select SAVE.

Custom data table import settings

Setting	Description
Channel Name	An easy-to-remember name for your channel.
FTP Type	The type of FTP. For large files (10 MB or more), we recommend using FTPES.
FTP Host	The address of your FTP server.
FTP Port	The FTP port used: FTPes server Leave this field empty. The default port for FTPes is to leave it blank. SFTP This should usually be set to 22. If you're not sure what port you need to use, leave this field empty or to its default value, or contact your ESP or FTP support provider.
FTP User Name	The user name for connecting to your FTP server.
FTP Password	The password for connecting to your FTP server.
FTP Interval	The number of minutes between runs. We suggest entering a value of 60, which means the FTP server is accessed every 60 minutes.
FTP Directory	Where files on your FTP server are read from.
FTP Allowed Files Pattern	The file pattern allowed on the FTP server. For example, d.csv. A comma separated list is accepted, for example, d.csv,t.csv - you must specify a pattern, such as person.csv, transaction.csv, product_import.csv. CSV and TSV formats are supported. Import filenames specified on segments which import from this channel are also be read from the FTP server.
FTP Field Mapping	The JSON object that describes how fields from the CSV are mapped into the Custom Data Table. All field names are case sensitive. The outer key contains the logical field names (the field names that go into the system). Each field is an object which contains an `ftp_field_name` property, which contains the name of the field in the CSV. For example, to map TeamName from the CSV, to team_name for the system would look like this: `{"team_name":{"ftp_field_name":"TeamName"}}`. You must include all the fields you want to import in the field mapping, even if they are the same. You can also specify a date_format to go with a date field as follows: `{"date":{"ftp_field_name":"date", "date_format":"%Y-%m-%d"}}` If you don’t specify a date format, we try to automatically recognize it for the import.
Import Type	The type of import method: Append Update existing data and append new data. Replace Delete all existing data and replace with new data.
Is Service Paused?	Optionally select this checkbox to stop this import.

Import using the Fresh Relevance API

You can also use the Fresh Relevance API to import data to a Custom Data Table.

CSV file field mappings

You can’t create field mappings using this method. Only the data in the CSV file is uploaded.

To do this:

To create an access token, expand the User menu, and go to Settings > Other Integrations > Fresh Relevance Access Tokens.
Either:
1. Create a new token and copy the token’s name and key for later.
  Learn more in Create and edit API access tokens.
2. Copy an existing token’s name and key for later.
Make a POST request to /api/<website_id>/custom_data_tables/import/<table_id>/
You can include the token as either:
- A header. For example, HTTP_X_API_KEY.
- A query parameter. For example, api_token.
Add the CSV file you want to import to the form-data of the request under the key files[].
Provide the key importType, which is either append or replace, depending on which option you want.