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Mandatory fields

  • November 21, 2016
  • 61 replies
  • 181 views

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I want to set some fields mandatory so our team members do not forget to input.
For example, customer’s name should be mandatory for a project management but some members forget to input it. The image is that if a mandatory field is blank, users are requested to input the field otherwise the new record is not created.

61 replies

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.


  • Participating Frequently
  • August 4, 2017

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

Has anyone found a workaround for this?


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  • Known Participant
  • August 6, 2017

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.


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@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.


I was to point that :stuck_out_tongue:


  • Participating Frequently
  • August 16, 2017

@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.


Genius idea. Thank you.


  • New Participant
  • September 11, 2017

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


  • New Participant
  • January 14, 2018

+1 for this great request


  • New Participant
  • December 6, 2018

+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.


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  • Inspiring
  • May 29, 2019

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.


  • New Participant
  • November 20, 2019

+1, this would be great


  • Participating Frequently
  • November 21, 2019

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.


  • New Participant
  • January 14, 2020

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 :slightly_smiling_face:
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.


  • New Participant
  • May 14, 2020

A huge vote for this one!


  • Participating Frequently
  • May 21, 2020

Agree. This would be very useful functionality.


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  • Participating Frequently
  • August 1, 2020

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…


Anna11
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  • Inspiring
  • September 26, 2020

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!


Anna11
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  • Inspiring
  • October 2, 2020

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!


  • Participating Frequently
  • October 2, 2020

I join the crowd upvoting this feature.


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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.


  • New Participant
  • December 17, 2020

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


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  • New Participant
  • April 3, 2021

+1 having issues without this feature


ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • April 3, 2021

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.


Lauren_Breland
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Another upvote! This needs to be a feature!