Here's a small change that saves you from a frustrating problem you might not even know you had.

When an automation updated a multi-select field on a contact - one of those fields where they can tick more than one box - it used to replace everything already stored there. So if a contact had already selected "Email Marketing" and your workflow added "SMS Marketing", the first one got wiped out. You'd lose data you didn't mean to touch.

Now there's a proper fix.

What landed

The Update Contact Field action has a new Add action type. Choose it, and the value you pick gets added to whatever the contact already has selected. Nothing gets overwritten.

It only works with multi-select fields, so when you choose Add, the field picker shows you just your multi-dropdown and multiple-checkbox fields. No hunting through fields that won't apply.

How to use it

1. Add the Update Contact Field action to your workflow.
2. Set the action type to Add, then choose a multi-select field.
3. Pick the value or values you want to add to the contact's existing selections.

In the screenshot below, you'll see the Add action type selected alongside a multi-select field, ready to append rather than replace.

A quick example

Say a contact ticks "Email Marketing" on one of your forms, and that saves to a multiple-checkbox field called Services Interested In. Later in the same workflow, you can now add "SMS Marketing" to that field, and "Email Marketing" stays exactly where it was. Both are there.

The three options, side by side

• Update field data - replaces the current value or values.
• Add to field data - adds to what's already there, keeping the rest.
• Clear field data - empties the field completely.

If you've got workflows that touch multi-select fields, it's worth opening them up and switching those actions to Add where it makes sense. A tiny change, but it means your contact data keeps building instead of getting rewritten each time.