Automation: Allow users to add new options to a predefined list via a form
A question arose recently that’s come up a few times in the past: is it possible to give form users the ability to either pick an item from a predefined list or add their own “other” option, and have manually-added options actually appear in the list for later form users? For most of Airtable’s existence so far, this wasn’t possible (at least not without delving into the API, and even then I’m not completely sure that was doable). However, it can be done using Airtable’s automation feature. Here are two methods you can use:
Method 1: Single Select Field
Most of the time this question comes up, the user is probably thinking of using a single select field. While this will work, it comes with a couple caveats that actually make the second method preferable IMO. That said, some of the details that I share here will also be used in the second method, so I still recommend reading through this one.
First, define your single select options as you wish, with an option
