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Reference looked up emails for automation

  • October 8, 2020
  • 12 replies
  • 106 views

Hi there,

I have a communications calendar that I’m trying to have automate some email sends through the Gmail automation. I have my emails on that table as a lookup field, but the automation isn’t recognizing it as an email address so it’s failing the test.

Is there a formula that will basically copy what’s being looked up and just format properly so that it’s an email address?

Thank you for your help!

Amy

Best answer by Kamille_Parks11


Hi @ScottWorld, I’m still getting an error. :frowning: Do you have any other ideas?


As I mentioned in your other post asking a very similar question, you can do this with a a single Rollup field using ARRAYJOIN()

12 replies

ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • October 8, 2020

Automations don’t currently work with lookup fields, so you will need to create a formula field that equals your lookup field. Then, use that formula field instead.


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 8, 2020

Automations don’t currently work with lookup fields, so you will need to create a formula field that equals your lookup field. Then, use that formula field instead.


Hi @ScottWorld, I tried that but it still didn’t work. How can I make the formula display in “email format” so it is recognized properly?


ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • October 8, 2020

Hi @ScottWorld, I tried that but it still didn’t work. How can I make the formula display in “email format” so it is recognized properly?


Please post some screenshots of what’s going on!


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 8, 2020

It’s not recognizing that the “formatted emails” column is actually email addresses. The test keeps failing.

So grateful for your help, @ScottWorld :slightly_smiling_face:


ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • October 8, 2020

@Amy_Herman

Ah okay, since you have multiple email addresses per record, your lookup field (and your formula field) are both resulting in an array instead of a text string (which is what the Automation is expecting to receive).

So, you will want to change your formula field to say this instead:

{Recipient Emails} & ""

That will convert your array into a text string, and then it will work! :slightly_smiling_face:

And yes, this would be so much easier if lookup fields just worked natively with automations! Wink, wink, Airtable! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 8, 2020

@Amy_Herman

Ah okay, since you have multiple email addresses per record, your lookup field (and your formula field) are both resulting in an array instead of a text string (which is what the Automation is expecting to receive).

So, you will want to change your formula field to say this instead:

{Recipient Emails} & ""

That will convert your array into a text string, and then it will work! :slightly_smiling_face:

And yes, this would be so much easier if lookup fields just worked natively with automations! Wink, wink, Airtable! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:



Hi @ScottWorld, I’m still getting an error. :frowning: Do you have any other ideas?


Kamille_Parks11
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Hi @ScottWorld, I’m still getting an error. :frowning: Do you have any other ideas?


As I mentioned in your other post asking a very similar question, you can do this with a a single Rollup field using ARRAYJOIN()


ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • October 8, 2020


Hi @ScottWorld, I’m still getting an error. :frowning: Do you have any other ideas?


@Amy_Herman You might need to re-run your trigger test. Then re-run your action test.

@Kamille_Parks Thanks for the great rollup idea!


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 9, 2020

As I mentioned in your other post asking a very similar question, you can do this with a a single Rollup field using ARRAYJOIN()


Hi @Kamille_Parks, I’m not seeing the email field since I’m not linking to it directly. I guess I have to rebuild my base in order to follow your suggestion so that I link to email directly instead of participant name. I’m trying to avoid that if possible.


Kamille_Parks11
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Hi @Kamille_Parks, I’m not seeing the email field since I’m not linking to it directly. I guess I have to rebuild my base in order to follow your suggestion so that I link to email directly instead of participant name. I’m trying to avoid that if possible.


If you have a working Lookup field, which I can tell you do based on your screenshots, you should be able to add a Rollup field using the exact same process you did for the Lookup field.


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 9, 2020

If you have a working Lookup field, which I can tell you do based on your screenshots, you should be able to add a Rollup field using the exact same process you did for the Lookup field.


Woohoo! I got the Lookup field to work. Unfortunately, I’m still getting the error I mentioned above. Here are some fresh screenshots.


  • Author
  • Known Participant
  • October 9, 2020

@Kamille_Parks I think the ARRAYJOIN() fixed it! I think you and @ScottWorld are going to keep me sane. Thank you for your help (and for repeating yourselves). I have my automation set to run tomorrow, so wish me luck!!