Zanda’s standard reports include the columns most practices need. If a report you use regularly is missing a field, like Date of Birth, this article shows a manual workaround using a spreadsheet — it isn’t a built-in Zanda feature. If this is something you need on an ongoing basis rather than as an occasional export, let us know via Help > Submit an Idea so we can consider it for a future custom report builder.
What You’ll Need
- Two exported reports that share a common column, Client Number: your primary report (for example, the Appointments or Sales report) and a client-data export that includes the extra field you want to add.
- Excel, Google Sheets, or a similar spreadsheet tool.
Note: Use Client Number, not client name, as the shared column between your two files. Two different clients can share the same name, but never the same Client Number.
Steps
- Export your primary report (for example, Reports > Clients > Appointments or Reports > Financial > Sales) as a CSV, filtered to the date range and client details you need.
- Export your client data, including the extra field you want (for example, Date of Birth), from Tools > Data Export > Clients. This export includes every active client’s Client Number alongside their other details, so it works as a lookup source no matter which clients appear on your primary report.
- Open both CSVs in your spreadsheet tool. It’s easiest if both are open as sheets in the same file.
- In your primary report, add a new column header for the field you’re adding (for example, “Date of Birth”).
- In the first row of that column, use a lookup formula referencing the Client Number column, for example:
=VLOOKUP(A2, 'Clients'!A:M, 13, FALSE). This looks up the value in cell A2 (a Client Number) within the Clients sheet’s column A, and returns the value from column M. Adjust the column letters and numbers to match your own files. XLOOKUP works the same way if your version of Excel or Sheets supports it. - Copy the formula down to cover every row, then check a handful of rows against the source data.
- Optional: select the new column, copy it, then use Paste Special > Values, so the result no longer depends on the second file.
Important: Once data is exported from Zanda, your organisation is responsible for ensuring the exported files are stored, accessed, shared and deleted appropriately. Some exports can contain a large volume of client data, so only export what you need and handle the files carefully.
Handling the Exported Data Safely
Because these exports contain client names alongside personal details such as Date of Birth, please:
- Only export the columns you actually need, don’t include extra clinical or financial fields “just in case”.
- Save the working files somewhere access-controlled, such as your organisation’s secure drive, not a shared or personal device or downloads folder.
- Don’t email the raw CSV or export as an attachment. If you must share it, use your organisation’s approved secure-sharing method.
- Delete both exported files, and empty your Trash or Recycle Bin, as soon as you’ve finished combining and using the data. Treat it as a temporary working copy, not a record you keep.
- Keep only the final report you actually need, for as long as your record-keeping policy requires, and delete the intermediate working file.
- Protect the final combined report appropriately and retain it only for as long as your organisation requires.
- Only provide access to people who need the information for their role.