I second this request, as our databases get more complex and widely used, we need to have some data entry validation criteria for certain fields to make sure the records are complete and consistent over time.

Another vote for mandatory field capability. Incomplete data is less than useful…

Has anyone found a workaround for this?

@Stephanie_Perrin - A workaround: perhaps ask for new additions via a web form. This way you can select any item you need as “required”. New items can’t be submitted via the form without those fields being completed.

+1 for this request - it would be great to have this feature.

I was to point that

Genius idea. Thank you.

I support the request for having mandatory fields where needed.

While this is not in place, could we have boolean operators in the filters? For example (date field) is “within a month from now OR empty”, so that we can catch cases where the field was not entered.

Thanks

+1 for this great request

+1 for this also. This would help solve the limited integration between AirTable and Jira. We want to use AirTable exclusively for project management but for individual tasks in AirTable we want to create a Jira ticket and then keep both the Jira Ticket and Task in AirTable in sync. When one is updated, update the other. The integration can handle that except the creation of a Jira ticket based on a certain field. So if we could make a certain field mandatory before the record is created then we can just use the basic “New Record in View” option with Zapier

I think it will be a tremendous upgrade! We need it.

As a[n admittedly limited] workaround, I often build alerts and alarms into bases using either conditional record coloring or emoji coding. (Recently, I’ve also begun adding a special <Errors and Alerts> view and a corresponding Page Designer Block to provide full-text descriptions of any non-conforming records as sort of a context-sensitive ‘help’.) You can find an example of such a workaround here.

+1, this would be great

The way that I do this is by having a field called “Next Action” which determines who should do what next based on what fields are currently populated - I have a huge nested IF statement that I manage for this - works pretty well.

Care to share

This is beyond required. As bases get more complex, they become messy. Policing becomes the main function of a product manager, not efficient use of time. Please add this functionality, and in the interim, members, pls post workarounds. Greatly appreciated.

A huge vote for this one!

Agree. This would be very useful functionality.

Any news regarding this feature request?

It seems to me like it’s a very important one, I understand the processing constraints it would bring out though…

Another vote for this feature! It is way too easy for someone to erroneously create a record - all it takes is a slip of the mouse. I just sent a list of cleanup items to our data entry person this morning, all of which could have been prevented by having required fields. Please, please make this available!

If it is helpful to anyone - my workaround at this time is to create a separate view that filters if the fields that I would like to be required are empty. So, for example, if I want Column A and B to be “required”, in this view my filter is “Column A is empty OR Column B is empty”. This view can then be used as a QA/QC check to quickly see where our “required” fields have not been filled out. Obviously, this is less convenient than being able to make these fields required at the time the record is created, but it’s better than nothing!

I join the crowd upvoting this feature.

Upvote! This is a really needed feature for a CMS. Without some fields a site would never be built so I have to indicate which fields are required.

Major upvote - would be extremely helpful for data quality especially for larger bases with many contributors.

+1 having issues without this feature

Yes, mandatory fields and other field validation options would be very welcome in Airtable.

Below is a screenshot from Apple’s FileMaker database program. Each field has all of these validation options to choose from, plus you can custom-create your own field validations as well!

Please be sure to email support@airtable.com with your suggestions & feature requests, because they don’t pay much attention to our forum posts here.

Another upvote! This needs to be a feature!