We are currently using dedupe to identify duplicates in our records.
Since our records is growing, we need to do it in automated way everytime there's a new record coming in.
Here's the scenario:
When a new property address will be added, there should be an automation that will automatically check the current records that we had, and it will tag this new property address if it's a duplicate or not.
We just want to have an accurate solution if there's a new entry coming in, it will automatically mark or tag as duplicate.
You can just imagine a Google Spreadsheet, if there's a duplicate it will suddenly highlight the column with duplicates.
Do you think it's possible?
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There are many different ways to prevent or check for duplicate records in your system.
- The quickest & easiest way to do this is to simply use Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable, which prevents duplicates from ever being added into your Airtable base in the first place! Check out their support article here: Prevent duplicate submissions in Airtable.
- Another way of doing this is what you suggested on your post: Whenever a new record is submitted into your system from a form, you could have an automation that searches for a matching record in your system, and then flags the brand new record if other matching records were found.
- You can manually run Airtable’s DeDupe extension to search for and merge duplicates.
- There is also another trick using linked record fields that can let you know if you currently have duplicates in your existing records that are already in your system. I demonstrate this DeDupe trick on this Airtable podcast episode.
- And, if you want to have an automation that regularly deletes or merges your duplicated records for you automatically, I would highly recommend using Make’s automations and integrations for Airtable to do this.
If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread: https://air.tableforums.com/t/make-com-basic-navigation-tips/277 For example, here is how you would instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable.
I also give live demonstrations of how to use Make in many of my Airtable podcast appearances here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqssva4liHRwHhQIpTXekG8WObEoyC2F1
Hope this helps!
If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this or anything else that is Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld
Hi Imee! Yeap, you could set up an automation that'll trigger whenever a new record gets created, and it'll look in your table for any records with the same address. If it finds any records with the same address it'll tag the triggering record as a duplicate, and your automation would look something like this:
Hi Imee! Yeap, you could set up an automation that'll trigger whenever a new record gets created, and it'll look in your table for any records with the same address. If it finds any records with the same address it'll tag the triggering record as a duplicate, and your automation would look something like this:
Hello, @TheTimeSavingCo thank you for this, but when I tried setting it up based on your linked base.
It would tag all of the recorded entries as duplicates even if it's not.
Here's a short recording for you to show.
Thank you.
Hello, @TheTimeSavingCo thank you for this, but when I tried setting it up based on your linked base.
It would tag all of the recorded entries as duplicates even if it's not.
Here's a short recording for you to show.
Thank you.
Ah you're right, so sorry, it's missing a condition where it checks whether the record ID is the same. I've updated the automation in the linked table and it should work now:
When creating a new Record the field is empty so the workflow will not work! You need to change trigger to “When record gets updated” and set view and correct field. With this it will work 100% every time.
In my personal opinion, the easiest way to handle this is to prevent the duplicates from ever getting into Airtable in the first place. 
That’s why I always recommend that people take a look at Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable, which prevents duplicates from ever getting added into Airtable.
Check out their support article here: Prevent duplicate submissions in Airtable.
Hope this helps!
If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this or anything else that is Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld
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