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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Apps - Microsoft Dataverse / Migrating data of Look...
Power Apps - Microsoft Dataverse
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Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments

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Posted on 24 Jul 2024 09:06:48 by Thinzar
 
Hello, I am now migrating data from one environment to another using data flows (connector as Dataverse). But, I am facing with some issues in migrating lookup column (which is used as foreign key column in child table). I have also created the alternate key and mapped to the unique column name. However, the column appears as null.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Plus, I could not create an alternate key for the primary key in the parent table. Why? How should I solve this problem to populate data in that lookup column. In this, tbl_FundRequests is the lookup column as well as foreign key in the child table, the key which is from the parent table.
 
Thanks.
 
  • Suggested answer
    Fubar Profile Picture
    Fubar 7,718 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 30 Jul 2024 at 06:03:25
    Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments
    For Dataflows:
    • You need to define an Alternate Key for each Lookup table (i.e. an Alt Key defined on each Parent table [the table with the actual lookup field defined on it is the child])
    • With an Alt Key on the table being Looked up the field becomes available to the Dataflow, and you can map your value to it.
    Unfortunately with Dataflows:
    • Without an Alternate Key you won't be able to map source data to the Lookup field
    • You cannot use the existing Primary Key column (note: the actual Primary Key is not the "Primary Name" column, it is an auto generated GUID that this held in a field with the same schema name as the Table but with an 'id' suffix e.g. for a Table called "new_table" the primary key is in a column called "new_tableid").
    This video runs through the basic steps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m24yu-dwK8Q
     
    As already mentioned by previous posters, if it is a one time import then doing an out of the box data import or using the Configuration Management Tool may be an easier option as both of them do not require a Alt Key to be defined.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Parvez Ghumra Profile Picture
    Parvez Ghumra 1,579 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 29 Jul 2024 at 15:31:18
    Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments
    @thinzar I would suggest reviewing the status of the Dataflows and refresh history. There might be some evidence of failed refreshes with potentially some meaningful errors which you could use to troubleshoot
  • Thinzar Profile Picture
    Thinzar on 25 Jul 2024 at 05:38:00
    Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments
     
    Thanks for the suggestions.
     
    Is there any way can I use Dataflows to populate the Lookup column correctly?
    Because, it is way more convenient for us to use Dataflows since it allows manual sync by using Refresh.
     
     
  • Ram Prakash Profile Picture
    Ram Prakash 5,154 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 24 Jul 2024 at 13:19:26
    Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments
    Hi ,
     
    In Simple Way,, if the data is less please goahead with Data Import using Excel Operation
     
     
  • MichaelFP Profile Picture
    MichaelFP 1,637 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 24 Jul 2024 at 11:49:10
    Migrating data of LookUp colum between environments
    You will do this migration one time only? If it is i would recommend to to use Configuration Migration Utility, it is more simple and easy to copy data.
     

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