# Combining Workflows **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask a question\ **Created:** [July 17, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830 "2020-07-17T18:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/1 "2020-07-17T18:05:41Z")
Hi. Newbie here. I just built out a workflow and then realized that it contains 3 different manual imports that won’t always be updated at the same time. So, I’m thinking I need a workflow for each import so it can run on it’s own. But on occasion I will need to combine all 3 workflow results and run them together. Can you pull from different workflows as an import source (without running and exporting), or would I need to export the results of each workflow as a file and then reimport it as a source in a different workflow to combine the 3? Also, when I run a workflow and export a file to google sheets does it export a new separate file each time, or does it overwrite the last export file, or can you append the new export data to the last export data? Thanks for the help! So glad I found Parabola! ---
**Author:** ![brian](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.parabola.io/brian/32/11_2.png) [@brian](https://community.parabola.io/u/brian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/2 "2020-07-17T18:54:56Z")
Hey Zach, Sounds like you want 3 flows, 1 for each import, and have them sent to a Google Sheet. Then create a 4th flow that pulls in all 3 Google Sheets to then work with them together. When you send to Google Sheets, it overwrites or appends to the same Sheet in the same File each time, but can be set to create a new file each run if that is desired. ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/3 "2020-07-17T18:57:00Z")
Thanks! So I haven’t gotten to the export part yet…is there a feature to tell it to append the new data to the old file? ---
**Author:** ![sachi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.parabola.io/sachi/32/10_2.png) [@sachi](https://community.parabola.io/u/sachi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/4 "2020-07-17T19:26:56Z")
Exactly! You set it as an Export Rule on the Send to Google Sheets step. ![Screen Shot 2020-07-17 at 12.25.48 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/parabola/original/1X/b5a6be031d7497414cb41a8f2757c94e5a93f80b.png) ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/5 "2020-07-17T19:49:28Z")
Thanks! I just realized that I need to compare the new data to the already exported data (master database) to remove duplicates before doing a new export. Is that another workflow? Or, can I do an initial run to start gathering the “master database” and then edit the workflow to run through that file to find duplicates? This master database will be an export that is appended to each time the workflow is ran, but I would like to eliminate duplicates before doing a new export. If the exported master database file is in the middle of a workflow does it still automatically update? I don’t know if that makes any sense… ---
**Author:** ![sachi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.parabola.io/sachi/32/10_2.png) [@sachi](https://community.parabola.io/u/sachi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/6 "2020-07-17T20:20:06Z")
I would just handle it in the same flow. One of your imports should be the Pull from Google Sheets step and then you can use our newly improved Find overlap step to compare your two lists to identify the new rows that don’t yet exist in the “master database”. You would then send just those new rows into the Send to Google Sheets step to append to your existing sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/7 "2020-07-17T22:28:45Z")
I’m still trying to understand this - so I can use a google sheet as in import within the same flow where it is an export? Also, can you export different reports to tabs within the same google sheet, or does the export only go on tab 1? ---
**Author:** ![sachi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.parabola.io/sachi/32/10_2.png) [@sachi](https://community.parabola.io/u/sachi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/8 "2020-07-17T23:28:49Z")
Yes, you can! This is a really simplified flow to explain generally how to set this up. When the Parabola flow runs, it’ll pull in the most updated version of your Google Sheet and then append new rows to it at the end of your flow. ![Screen Shot 2020-07-17 at 4.24.42 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/parabola/original/1X/e1a0e571c5c56ba364daef94fdb25987ac03f5fd.jpeg) For your second question about exporting different reports to different tabs, yep, you can handle it in a Send to Google Sheets step. You’ll see that the Send to Google Sheets step has 2 arrows (tables) feeding into it). When click to configure the Send to Google Sheets step, you’ll be able to select which sheet we should send each of the inputs too. ![Screen Shot 2020-07-17 at 4.26.17 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/parabola/original/1X/1bf104ef44573cfc8e4e191e72fde987c9d30c8e.png) If you need to send to different Google Sheets _FILES_, then you should use separate Send to Google Sheets steps for each file. ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/9 "2020-07-18T13:33:48Z")
Thank you! This is very helpful! ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/10 "2020-07-18T23:25:56Z")
Just ran my first flow - very exciting!! Everything worked well expect the export for the google sheet. I got “Error: Missing required parameters: range” Looking back at your screenshot, I don’t have the drop options to choose “CSV 1” or “CSV 2” to go into input 1 and input 2 respectively. I only have “sheet 1” as my option in all 5 inputs. I’m guessing this is the range issue, but I don’t know how to get it to recognize the different inputs so that I can choose them. Thanks for your help! ---
**Author:** ![Zach\_Willeford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ce7236/32.png) [@Zach\_Willeford](https://community.parabola.io/u/Zach_Willeford)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/11 "2020-07-20T18:06:43Z")
UPDATE - I figured out the export range issue. It helps if the google sheet is created and formatted properly! 🤦‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![sachi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.parabola.io/sachi/32/10_2.png) [@sachi](https://community.parabola.io/u/sachi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://community.parabola.io/t/combining-workflows/830/12 "2020-07-20T18:27:26Z")
Thanks for the update, @Zach_Willeford! Congrats on running your first flow, very exciting! 🙌