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Series of "Find record" and "Update Record" in one automaton doesnt work

  • March 26, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 74 views
J

Im trying to use a single automation to look for records with a bunch of basic filters, then below that in 2 individual “FIND RECORDS” steps, I am adding a filter to the triggered record by using the find records where a secondary key = the secondary key from the trigger, + a bunch of extra filters, followed by individual “update records” steps for each of the individual “find records” steps.
This works, and works perfectly well when I test each step, but for some reason its just not working LIVE and I have a theory and would like to know if my theory is correct.
my theory: If the first “find records” filter is a miss, I think the entire automaton stops there and doesnt bother moving on to the next “find records” filter step.
Is that the case?

Im doing all this becasue othewise I need lots and lots of automatons to produce a fairly basic automation updating one singel field, which airtable wants extrra $$$$ for which is unreasonable.

5 replies

kuovonne
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  • kuovonne
  • Brainy
  • March 26, 2021

Welcome to the Airtable community!

You have discovered two limitations of Airtable automations. (1) if one of the actions fails, later actions are not run. (2) you cannot use an “update” action to update multiple records from a previous “find” action.

Currently, the only way to use a “find” action with an “update” action is if the “find” action finds only one record.

An alternative is to use a scripting action, and incorporate all of the logic in the script.

J
  • Jeremy_John_Tho
  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 26, 2021

Welcome to the Airtable community!

You have discovered two limitations of Airtable automations. (1) if one of the actions fails, later actions are not run. (2) you cannot use an “update” action to update multiple records from a previous “find” action.

Currently, the only way to use a “find” action with an “update” action is if the “find” action finds only one record.

An alternative is to use a scripting action, and incorporate all of the logic in the script.


Quote:
“Currently, the only way to use a “find” action with an “update” action is if the “find” action finds only one record.”
well, yes, thats right, im telling it to find the singel (only) record where the record key (an AUTONUMBER, thanks to your awesome autonumber field) matches the one from the trigger. so this allows me to hack your process to add filters to a singel triggered record. I cant actually see a sensible reason to give up the rest of the automatons down the list, other than to make more money.

kuovonne
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  • kuovonne
  • Brainy
  • March 26, 2021

Quote:
“Currently, the only way to use a “find” action with an “update” action is if the “find” action finds only one record.”
well, yes, thats right, im telling it to find the singel (only) record where the record key (an AUTONUMBER, thanks to your awesome autonumber field) matches the one from the trigger. so this allows me to hack your process to add filters to a singel triggered record. I cant actually see a sensible reason to give up the rest of the automatons down the list, other than to make more money.


It also isn’t possible to buy more automations (other than upgrading to a higher level plan). So I do not think that the limitations are due to money.

You should be able to see the result of the “find” action in the run log for the automation. If it isn’t working even when the “find” results in exactly one record, I recommend contacting support.

ScottWorld
J
  • Jeremy_John_Tho
  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 26, 2021

It also isn’t possible to buy more automations (other than upgrading to a higher level plan). So I do not think that the limitations are due to money.

You should be able to see the result of the “find” action in the run log for the automation. If it isn’t working even when the “find” results in exactly one record, I recommend contacting support.


hehe yeh i know,. just being cheeky.
I think the only solution here is to write a crazy complicated formula with lots of different filters and outputs, and just use it as the holder of the information I want to inject in the automation.
My boss isnt going to like this. :stuck_out_tongue:
Hey thanks for your time!

Justin_Barrett
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From a discussion that I had with another user (who had a discussion with Airtable support), apparently the “Find records” action output is only designed to be used in conjunction with a “Send email” action. Technically that output isn’t officially supported by any other action type. I haven’t tested this myself, but that’s the word on the street…so to speak…

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