I am running a market place and use Airtable as the data source.
Currently I input the data manually. Among the fields is Location with Single Select option. This is because I don’t have to type out the locations every time except when there is a new city.
I have been working on an automation using make.com.
The data is fetched from websites and goes through a number of modules and then through a JSON Parser where the data is structured before being passed on to Airtable.
The challenge is that it seems Airtable refuses to accept locations that are not already in its database (previously input manually), so it returns a “s422] Field "Location" cannot accept the provided value.” Error.
I changed it to Single Line Text but still the same issue.
Is there a way to resolve this?
Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
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After changing to Single Line Text , the issue most likely keeps happening because Make.com still works with the old database schema.
So hit “refresh” in your Module’s settings:
And then try again; it should work.
The issue with Single Select is that Make.com does not support the Typecast parameter, although with a direct API call this is possible. Also, n8n’s Airtable node does support it.
I'd love to explore more use-cases of Airtable and automation specific to your business, if you're interested feel free to book a free call at any time that works for you
Make does support the typecast parameter, but Make calls it “Smart Links”.
Scroll down to the bottom of your module in Make, and enable the “Smart Links” option, and then you can put in any value that you would like… including brand new value.
I don’t have the Record ID, but the individual fields as the screenshot shows.
I did refresh and it works, for now. For some reason, it is picking up only one (of the five) listings provided by the previous module -- the JSON Parser -- and this particular location seems to be fine. Trying to figure out why it is picking up only one, and will check the rest.
Thanks a lot.
@Mike_AutomaticN
Thanks. I will check out N8N.
@ScottWorld
Thanks. I did wonder about the Smart Links but left it ‘off’ I changed it now.
It is working now but want to check why Airtable is picking up only one of the five listings provided by the JSON Parser.
Thanks again.
Yes! The issue happens because your "Location" field is set to Single Select, which only allows pre-defined options. When your automation sends a new city that’s not in the list, Airtable rejects it.
Here’s how to fix it:
Use "Single Line Text" – You mentioned trying this, but ensure the field type is properly changed and saved. This should allow any text input.
Pre-add Possible Locations – If keeping "Single Select," update the field’s options in advance with all possible locations.
Use an Automation Step – Before sending data to Airtable, add a step in Make.com to check if the location exists. If not, update Airtable’s field options dynamically via API.
If this feels tricky, I can guide you through it. Let me know how you’d like to proceed!
@SenRath
The answer that @Marvel_digitals posted above is totally incorrect. Do not follow the information in that post.
In your Make screenshot above, you are specifically telling it to put just the first value of the array into the Airtable field.
The broken square brackets gives you the chance to type a number in between the square brackets, representing which value of the array you want to send to Airtable. If you leave it blank, it will assume the number 1.
If you want to send the whole array to Airtable, you need to choose the name of the array with the brackets that DON’T have the space in between them. That indicates that you want the entire array.
@ScottWorld, apologies for the belated reply. Got sucked into some automation stuff and just getting to see the replies.
But yes, I was feeding the wrong array. Once I got that done, it worked beautifully. I also realized that while it is fine to get Make.com to authenticate my Airtable account, I also had to give the create and other rights from Airtable itself.
