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Synced tables - find the name of the synced field when column has been renamed in original source

  • December 12, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 56 views

Karl_at_Easy_La
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Hi. This seems like something trivial, but I can't seem to find any way to do this. I had synced two tables from a base to another.  During that time, various fields were renamed in Base A (the source table).  I noticed that the fields in Base B do not seem to get renamed as well, yet the sync remains active.  

How can I know which is the fieldB name in Base B, which maps to fieldA in BaseA, without having to resort to guessing? 

Best answer by Karl_at_Easy_La

It's a deliberate choice of Airtable to not let changed field names sync through. Unfortunately, because it's one of my frustrations when using Airtable. Don't really know a simple trick for this one. It would be useful if linked fields where connected to each other in the "Relationships" tool. Now, it only shows the table a linked field is linked to. 


One very hacky way I found to deterministically find the 'old' column name in the synced table, is to put a unique value in a row, and then find the column which contains that value in the synced table. Feels like it could be way simpler, but it works. 

2 replies

Databaser
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  • Brainy
  • December 12, 2023

It's a deliberate choice of Airtable to not let changed field names sync through. Unfortunately, because it's one of my frustrations when using Airtable. Don't really know a simple trick for this one. It would be useful if linked fields where connected to each other in the "Relationships" tool. Now, it only shows the table a linked field is linked to. 


Karl_at_Easy_La
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  • Author
  • Inspiring
  • Answer
  • December 14, 2023

It's a deliberate choice of Airtable to not let changed field names sync through. Unfortunately, because it's one of my frustrations when using Airtable. Don't really know a simple trick for this one. It would be useful if linked fields where connected to each other in the "Relationships" tool. Now, it only shows the table a linked field is linked to. 


One very hacky way I found to deterministically find the 'old' column name in the synced table, is to put a unique value in a row, and then find the column which contains that value in the synced table. Feels like it could be way simpler, but it works.