It would be nice if we could select which fields to return from a given record when using the "Lookup From Another Table" enrichment columns, as some columns from said record are simply used as transformers/middleware.
Currently, when using the "Lookup From Another Table" enrichment in Clay, you can specify which fields to return in Step 4 of the setup process. For the "Lookup Single Row in Other Table" and "Lookup Multiple Rows in Other Table" actions, there's an optional step where you can select specific fields to return from the record instead of returning all available fields. If you don't select any specific fields, the enrichment will return all available fields from the matched record by default. Selecting only the fields you need can help streamline your data and avoid cluttering your table with unnecessary information.
I can't find the option to select which fields to return
When using the "Lookup From Another Table" enrichment in Clay, you can select which fields to return in Step 4 of the setup process, labeled as "Specify fields to return" (optional). For both "Lookup Single Row in Other Table" and "Lookup Multiple Rows in Other Table" actions, this step allows you to choose specific fields instead of returning all available fields. If you don't select any specific fields, the enrichment will return all available fields from the matched record by default. This is similar to other integrations like Salesforce and Wiza, where you can select which data to add as columns to your table in the final steps of the setup process.
Sources: Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM integration overview | Documentation | Clay University Lookup Single Row in Other Table with Clay Lookup Multiple Rows in Other Table with Clay Salesforce integration overview | Documentation | Clay University Wiza integration overview | Documentation | Clay University
Hi João, Thank you for reaching out to the support team! We welcome and appreciate feedback from our users! Can you give me a little more context around the feedback? If you give me a link to the table you're working on and a list of the fields that you would like to return but currently can't. A loom video would be extra helpful! Any context that you can provide would be helpful when I pass this feedback on to our product team.
It's not that I can't return a specific set of fields, it's that I want to return only a specific set of fields, instead of all of the row's column/value pairs. So, I have this table here: Clay | Export to RecruitCRM setup in such a way that there's 3 columns that perform lookups to other tables within the worksheet ("Lookup Contact", "Lookup Company", "Lookup Job Openings"). It then has a 4th column, "Export Entities To RecruitCRM", which sends an HTTP request to an external webhook, sending the records that were looked up in the previous columns as the request's body. This means that it is essentially sending every column/value pair as key/value pairs in the corresponding record's value, including columns that the external service which serves the webhook doesn't need to know about. I know that I could theoretically configure the body of the request to only include the properties that I'd like for it to send, but to be honest doing so with Clay's formulas is rather clunky. If I could make it so the columns that lookup the records only return a specific set of fields, then only those would be sent in the HTTP request Let me know if I'm not explaining anything properly, happy to follow up, thanks!
Hey, great question—and you explained it clearly. Right now, there’s no way to limit what a lookup returns—it’ll always return the full object. The cleanest approach is to manually define which fields to include in the HTTP request body using the / syntax to reference just the values you want. If that feels clunky, one option is to use a tool like ChatGPT to help you write out the exact structure you need. Then, paste that into the body setup and swap in the fields using /. Let me know if you want help building that structure.
To be honest, from my experience, I'll be lucky if I can get any AI enrichment column to return the exact structure I want 75% of the times, and I want this to work every single time. I've just made it so its sending the full data to an external service (a n8n workflow) which I then use to extract only the relevant fields and then it passes it on
Makes sense One way to ensure consistency is to copy the JSON output from the lookup, then ask the AI to return only the specific fields you need formatted for an HTTP API call. Paste that into the HTTP step, and it should reliably follow the structure you define. Examplel prompt ##goal## Using this JSON return X, Y and Z formated for a Body of a HTTP API call in Clay.com ##JSON## Paste it there. Let me know if you have more questions
