# Look up field values from another system (ODBC)

Type a vendor number and watch the rest of the fields fill themselves from your accounting database — connect the source over ODBC, build the lookup on the document type, and control when it fires.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 45 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/look-up-field-values-from-another-system

**At the end of this guide, entering a key value on a document — a vendor number, an employee ID — pulls the matching record from your external database and fills the other fields automatically, at capture, in the Coding Queue, and on filed documents.**

Three layers, top down: a **Windows ODBC DSN** on the server (your database's doorway), an **External Data Source** in Content Central (the doorway registered), and a **Field Lookup** on the document type (what to fetch and when).

## Step 1: The DSN comes first

On the Content Central server, create a **System DSN** in the Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator pointing at the external database (use the 64-bit administrator to match the server). Content Central connects *through* the DSN — there's no connection-string field to paste into.

## Step 2: Register the data source

1. Go to **Administration** > **External Data Sources** and click **Add Data Source**.

2. Fill it in: a **Name**, the **ODBC DSN** (a dropdown when system DSNs are detected — a text box telling you *"No system DSNs detected"* means step 1 isn't done on this server), and the database **Username**/**Password** if the DSN needs them.

*[Screenshot: Name, DSN, optional credentials. Use Bracketed Connection String stays off unless your database driver documents needing it.]*

3. Click **Create**, then use the row's **Test Connection** action.

**What you should see:** the Test Result column reads **Success**. **Failed** at this stage is always the DSN, the credentials, or database reachability — fix it here before building anything on top.

## Step 3: Build the lookup on the document type

1. Go to **Administration** > **Catalogs & Document Types**, pick the catalog and document type, and open the **Field-Lookup Integration** tile.

2. On **Manage Field Lookups**, click **Add Lookup**.

*[Screenshot: Lookups belong to a document type; each row is one fetch-and-fill rule.]*

3. In the details editor:
   - **Data Source Type**: **ODBC**, then pick your **Data Source** and the **Data Table** to read.
   - **Field(s) to Populate**: each row says *populate this Content Central field with that external column*. Add a row per field you want filled.
   - **Lookup Items** — the matching rule: *where the external* **value** *matches* (usually) *a value from field* — your key field, like Vendor Number. Operators run from **equals** through **contains** to **is similar to**; multiple items combine with **AND**/**OR**.

4. Set **Maximum Results** — at `1`, an ambiguous match fills nothing; above `1`, the user gets a **Select Lookup Result** choice list when several records match.

5. Choose when it fires with the two **Overwrite existing field data** switches (inside and outside the UI) — or **Make available for workflow actions only** to keep it out of manual editing entirely. **Save**, then **Save** again on the list page.

## Step 4: Prove it end to end

Open a document of that type (or capture one), enter a key value the external database knows, and press **Enter** in the key field — or click the **Lookup** button in the Properties panel.

**Success check:** the mapped fields fill with the external record's values. Multiple matches pop the **Select Lookup Result** picker — that's the Maximum Results setting doing its job, not an error.

> **NOTE:** The Lookup button appears only where it can work: the document type has an enabled lookup, the panel shows a key field, and you have update rights. Capture pages get it too, and QCard capture can run lookups automatically with **Perform lookup at capture time**.

## When lookups misbehave later

The pattern to remember: **Test Connection failing** is infrastructure (DSN, password, network); **lookups returning nothing** with a good connection is matching (operator, key value formats, the AND/OR logic); **wrong fields filling** is the populate mapping. Diagnose in that order and you'll rarely be wrong twice.

## What's next

- [Connect another system to Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/connect-another-system-to-content-central)
- [Workflow rules, triggers, and actions](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/workflow-rules-triggers-and-actions)