Split and Fold Columns
Infoveave Data Automation — Pivot & Transpose
Pick the column, set the separator — one row with five comma-separated values becomes five clean, individual rows.
Data from forms, CRMs, product feeds, and tagging systems frequently stores multiple values in a single delimited string — product categories, assigned skills, customer tags, department codes — packed together with a comma or pipe separator. Split and Fold Columns normalizes those multi-value fields by splitting each delimiter-separated value into its own row while duplicating all other columns alongside it, producing a properly normalized dataset ready for filtering, counting, and grouping by individual values.
What Split and Fold Columns does
Split a delimited column into multiple rows in Infoveave workflows. Normalize comma-separated tags, categories, or multi-value fields for filtering, aggregation, and analysis.
When to use Split and Fold Columns
- You have a Tags, Categories, Skills, or Labels column where multiple values are stored in a single cell separated by a comma, pipe, or other delimiter
- You need to filter, count, or aggregate by individual values inside a multi-value field, which requires first splitting it into individual rows
- You are preparing multi-label data for analysis where each label needs to be processed independently
- You want to join a multi-value field against a reference table that has one row per valid value
When to avoid it
- Your multi-value column is already stored as a proper array type — use Fold an Array for that case
- You want to produce binary indicator columns for each split value rather than individual rows — use Split and Unfold for one-hot encoding
- You need to split the column into multiple separate fixed-position columns rather than rows — use Split Column instead
Where it fits in your Infoveave automation
Split and Fold Columns is one step inside a multi-step Infoveave workflow. Chain it with other activities — no code, no manual hand-offs.
Build this workflow visually in Infoveave Data Automation — drag, connect, and schedule with no infrastructure setup.
How teams use Split and Fold Columns
Real scenarios where this transformation saves hours of manual work.
Expand Product Category Tags for Category-Level Analysis
A retail team imports a product catalog where each product row has a Tags column containing comma-separated category labels like Red,Blue,Green. Split and Fold Columns expands each tag to its own row while keeping the Product ID and Name on each resulting row. The team can then filter, count, and aggregate by individual tag values — something impossible while the values are packed in a single cell.
Normalize Developer Skill Tags for Talent Analytics
An HR analytics team processes developer profiles where each person record has a Skills column containing pipe-separated skill codes. Split and Fold Columns expands each skill into its own row, enabling the team to count how many developers have each skill, filter by specific skills for project staffing, and join against a skills taxonomy reference table.
Expand Multi-Service Appointment Codes for Billing Analysis
A healthcare billing team processes appointment records where each row has a Services column containing comma-separated procedure codes for appointments covering multiple services. Split and Fold Columns normalizes each service code to its own row, letting the billing system process each service independently for insurance claim generation and revenue attribution.
See Split and Fold Columns in action
Input data (left) is transformed using the configuration below. The output table (right) is ready for dashboards or downstream steps.
Tags, (comma)Input Data
| Customer ID | Name | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | John | Red,Blue,Green |
| 102 | Alice | Yellow,Orange |
| 103 | Mark | Black |
| 104 | Emma | White,Gray,Silver |
Output Data
| Customer ID | Name | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | John | Red |
| 101 | John | Blue |
| 101 | John | Green |
| 102 | Alice | Yellow |
| 102 | Alice | Orange |
| 103 | Mark | Black |
| 104 | Emma | White |
| 104 | Emma | Gray |
| 104 | Emma | Silver |
Configuration
Key fields to configure in the Infoveave workflow builder. Full reference available in the documentation.
Column To Split
Select the column that contains the delimited multi-value strings. This column is the one that will be split and the split values will replace the original packed cell values in the output rows.
Separator
Specify the delimiter used to separate values within the column — a comma, pipe, semicolon, space, or any other character. Each occurrence of the separator causes a split. If no separator is provided, each individual character in the cell is treated as a separate value — useful for splitting character codes or fixed-format strings.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about Split and Fold Columns in Infoveave.
Also in Pivot & Transpose — and what runs before & after
Transformations in the same family as Split and Fold Columns, often chained together in the same Infoveave workflow.
Part of Infoveave Data Automation
80+ transformations. Zero manual steps.
Split and Fold Columns is one of over 80 transformation activities available inside Infoveave workflows. Chain transformations together — no code, no exports, no waiting for IT.
Ready to see Infoveave in action?
