One of my fields is a link to another table. I’d like end-users who are using the Form to add data to be able to create new records in the linked table but from the primary table data entry form.
Add new linked record when entering data in a form
+1 been waiting a year for this. Does dev have any response, working on it? Estimated time?
Agreed - this is a critical feature for my workflow.
How many +1s are needed before someone from Airtable responds to let us know if this is a feature they will look into? The silence is deafening.
+1 on this as well - trying to find a way for new users to add their info into a form; if the functionality were the same as on the main base, it would be perfect - for now, we’re at an awkward crossroads.
+35I agree that this is a key missing feature in Airtable’s forms.
My guess is that Airtable didn’t include this feature because people could then do all of their data entry within forms (which are free) instead of within Airtable (where most people are paying for a Pro subscription).
There are workarounds to this problem, although they’re not perfect — you could use JotForm or TypeForm to create static forms (although they wouldn’t be able to pull in any data from your Airtable database, so you’d have to completely build your forms from scratch over there), and then you could use Zapier to take the submitted data and send it to the appropriate tables in Airtable.
+35I think that this Airtable extension might do what you’re looking for?
Hide Linked Records From An Airtable Form
This is what it says on their website:
The extension will link the record if it matches a given value (email, name, phone, etc.) that’s submitted with the form. If a record with the same value does not exist, it will create a new record for it.
There is also a demo video on their site as well.
I haven’t played with this myself yet, but I am in search of the exact same solution as you are. This might be the solution here!
+16Simply use 2x Airtable forms:
- form A, in table A which links to existing records in table B
- form B, in table B which adds new record to table B
In form A paste a link in the field description: “Hey! If you didn’t find the record you were looking for, click here [form B] to go add it. Then come back and use this form again :thumbs_up: ”
Example:
form A https://airtable.com/shrJJdfjGQueL1KsN
form B https://airtable.com/shrWD4qdnJriS9GyK
+35Simply use 2x Airtable forms:
- form A, in table A which links to existing records in table B
- form B, in table B which adds new record to table B
In form A paste a link in the field description: “Hey! If you didn’t find the record you were looking for, click here [form B] to go add it. Then come back and use this form again :thumbs_up: ”
Example:
form A https://airtable.com/shrJJdfjGQueL1KsN
form B https://airtable.com/shrWD4qdnJriS9GyK
Ooh, that’s clever! Works great for solutions like this, where seeing a list of all the linked records is actually a VERY IMPORTANT PART of the form (as opposed to, say, a list of customers where you’d want to keep all the customer names private). This is a brilliant & easy solution!
+18I agree that this is a key missing feature in Airtable’s forms.
My guess is that Airtable didn’t include this feature because people could then do all of their data entry within forms (which are free) instead of within Airtable (where most people are paying for a Pro subscription).
There are workarounds to this problem, although they’re not perfect — you could use JotForm or TypeForm to create static forms (although they wouldn’t be able to pull in any data from your Airtable database, so you’d have to completely build your forms from scratch over there), and then you could use Zapier to take the submitted data and send it to the appropriate tables in Airtable.
My guess is that Airtable didn’t include this feature because people could then do all of their data entry within forms (which are free) instead of within Airtable (where most people are paying for a Pro subscription).
If that’s the case, they could implement it as a paid feature. Make it so that only forms on a paid subscription allow for new linked records.
+15We’ve built another extension that allows form users to add new linked records before reaching Airtable from.
I just took out a subscription, and glad now it was only for one month. Even MS Access did this back in the mid 90’s.
@Airtable, all you need to do is make the “add” button link to a form on the child table, and return to the parent form on submit with the new record in place.
People have been asking for this for 4 years and without it, may as well go back to spreadsheets.
+3thanks for the info. Sounds overly complex and I’d rather Airtable add this
natively…
Agreed, it doesn’t make sense to have to perform two external integration just to do a simple task like this
+3I’ve just read this thread through and would like to share a blog post I wrote in November about using Cognito Forms and Zapier to populate multiple sub records (from repeating fields in Cognito) in a database (Airtable is used as an example):
http://software.kirknessassociates.com/blog_files/9c91c7ada28c024f95a26f1ac8a8d620-25.html
I hope this is useful…
It’s not useful for me personally as I don’t want to pay for Congnito and Zapier for something that should be in Airtable…
Also a heavy plus one.
Odd that only one Airtable representative has popped in to say anything… despite a clear and succinct callout of the problem and solution nearly two years ago Add new linked record when entering data in a form
+2+1 for me too – have a hard time believing this is still an issue 4 hours after the first post in this thread!
+15We’ve added a new feature to our extension that allows you to add line items in the form and automatically link them to the record being created.
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