I’m confused at why this is so difficult to figure out.
I want a record created automatically once a month in a table via automation with start and due dates filled out.
You can’t add formulas to automation fields so that’s a no go.
My workaround is that I’ve created a ‘creation date’ field that is filled in by the automation’s ‘expected trigger time’. That create date field is then used to fill in a start date and due date formula field using the DATEADD function with some math.
My problem with this method is that I’m not able to change dates independent of each other if I need some flexibility and the only way to adjust dates is by adjusting the ‘creation date’ date field.
Having due dates populate based on the date the automation was fired off seems simple enough but I can’t really figure out the best way to do this.
Any input would be great!
Page 1 / 1
Welcome in @Jeremy_Van_Caulart!
I had a bit of fun solutioning this one, however, it is totally possible that there’s some context that I’m missing from your post.
Please let me know if there’s something I did not understand correctly or anything you would like me to tweak.
The first thing I did was create two date fields.
The Start Date & the End Date.
These will function as your start and due date fields.
The next thing I did was create three new fields:
Expected Creation (Date Field)
Initial Start Date (Formula Field)
Initial End Date (Formula Field)
Next, I built my first automation.
This is the automation for the once-monthly record creation that is at the core of your use case.
The mappings are simple. Just a fill-in for the project name (though you could opt to just leave this blank if you need to define the new project’s name).
You’ll notice that I followed your method of mapping the expected trigger time to the new Expected Creation field that I created.
Once the record is created, and the Expected Creation date field is no longer empty, the two formula fields will populate.
Again, let me know if I completely missing something, or if you need any additional help!
Edit:
I realized that I forgot to explain why you need two automations (at least I think you do).
Airtable can be a bit weird about its timing when it comes to automation action timings, as well as how quickly formula fields reflect changes to dependent field values.
While ideally we would attach the update record action from the second automation, onto the end of the first automation, it wouldn’t be reliable for us to use, as the update record only completes its intended job once the two date formula fields are populated.
(Another set of things that can be unpredictable in timing.)
Since Airtable does not have a Delay automation action, in order to support strong data integrity, it’s much safer for us to use a second automation that only fires once the required fields are populated and ready to continue the flow we need them to.
Ben_Young1 how did you manage to use the update record automation to update the Start/End date based on a formula? I’m not able to use the formula dates to update the Start/End date due to it being a calculated field