EZ Exporter Update: Sort Data by a Custom Column and an Extra Option to Exclude Specific Columns

We've just pushed 2 additional options in the Data Settings configuration of EZ Exporter:

  1. Sort by a custom column.
  2. Extra option to exclude specific columns.

Both of these options are applied near the end of the export process, after Custom Fields and Calculated Fields have already been evaluated so they'll often be used together with these fields.

Sort by a Custom Column

This one is pretty straightforward.  You might want to sort the data based on the output of Custom Fields, Calculated Fields, or specific Metafields.

For example, you might have a field that combines the product title and variant title in one column and sort that column:

Another example is if you have a Calculated Field that pulls out the value of the "Delivery Date" from the note_attributes field.  You can use this option to sort the order data based on the this custom "Delivery Date" column.

Exclude Specific Columns

This one might seem weird as EZ Exporter already lets you select just the pre-built fields you want to include.  But there are a few scenarios where this will come in handy:

Filtering based on the output of a complex Calculated Field

There may be cases where you need to filter the data using complex logic that the standard filtering operators don't support.  In this case, you can create a Calculated Field instead for more flexibility and then filter the data based on that custom Calculated Field column.

You may not want that custom column included in the report, however, so you can utilize this option to exclude that column post-filtering.

When using the Grouping and Aggregation feature

When grouping and aggregating data, only fields part of the grouping and agregation will have values.  You might want to manipulate the aggregated values further using Calculated Fields, but don't want the original values in the exported file.  For example, you might want to add a currency symbol or make the value of an aggregated field negative.

This option will let you exclude those original aggregated fields on export while still able to reference them in Calculated Fields.

When sorting by a Custom Field or Calculated Field

For example, you might want to sort your data based on values from multiple fields. Our app only supports sorting by one column but a workaround is to create a Custom Field that combines values from multiple fields, sort by that Custom Field, and then exclude that column from the final export.

Here's what this option looks like in the app:

We don't expect a lot of users to need these options but should come in handy for those who have more advanced use cases.

Tags: new features, ez exporter