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Hello

I have two tables Customers and Orders. They both have a CustID to link the order to the customer that placed it.

I need to import a CSV file to Orders and this includes the CustID

I can import as a regular field but can't figure out how to import it and have the Link to the customer table

Thanks in advance for any help
Mike

Yeah, the very strange thing about Airtable is that its own native CSV import functionality doesn’t let you import data into linked record fields. It feels like a major bug to me, which you can report to support@airtable.com. 

However, you can install the CSV Import Extension, and that WILL actually allow you to import data into linked record fields.

Also, if you need to do automated CSV imports on a regular basis (instead of manually importing your CSV files every time), you can do that with Make’s automations and integrations.

I demonstrate how to automatically import & export CSV files using Make on this Airtable podcast episode.

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

Yeah, the very strange thing about Airtable is that its own native CSV import functionality doesn’t let you import data into linked record fields. It feels like a major bug to me, which you can report to support@airtable.com. 

However, you can install the CSV Import Extension, and that WILL actually allow you to import data into linked record fields.

Also, if you need to do automated CSV imports on a regular basis, you can do that with Make’s automations and integrations. I demonstrate how to do this on this Airtable podcast episode.


Thanks again Scott.  That is a massive oversight! 

My customer has an industry specific CRM with no API and only CSV export. We want to hold data for Make to report and send messages to customers who haven't bought for a while etc.

I'm Make certified and will also take a look at your podcast

Really appreciate your efforts and time to help

Hi Mike,

You’re welcome!

And that’s awesome that you’re Make certified as well! 😎🙌

My technique that I demonstrate on the podcast is that you can have them export the CSV file and drop it into a cloud drive folder, and then the data will automatically get imported into Airtable.

I’m running into this. I even tried using the row ID for the linked item. I cannot use extension on the free plan, this shouldn't be something that needs to be upgraded for as the main reason I'm even considering Airtable is for its relational nature, if i can’t import data and maintain that relation then that seems like a major oversight that kind of defeats using Airtable vs using a standard relational database and making my own interface.

Try importing the row IDs into a text field, then copy paste their values into the linked field; that’ll link everything up for you automatically.  You’ll just need to make sure the primary field of the linked table is row ID (or whatever unique ID you're using to connect the two tables together)

 

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