A series of small usefull changes

I can speak to a few of these. I have seen Airtable’s published roadmap but I can’t seem to find it now. But here are why some of these may not be in consideration:

1 - Tables do use a unique key, which is not the same as the primary field. It is hidden by default, but creating a formula field with “record_id()” will reveal it. All external applications use this as the true record key and you can use it too.

5 - Though not available in the standard automation blocks, this is easily done with a scripting automation step.

A few extra notes:

• An additional note regarding deleting records: Interfaces allow you to add a “delete” button onscreen — no automations required.

• As mentioned above, Airtable doesn’t require a unique value in the primary field because the unique Record ID is chosen behind-the-scenes by Airtable.
  
  If you really need to enforce unique values for any fields, then you would need to do your data entry for those fields through Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable because it lets you prevent duplicate form submissions based on any text fields that you specify.

• For any other Airtable feature requests that you might have, be sure to submit them on the product feedback form.

Hope this helps!

If you have a budget and you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this or anything else that is Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

Hey ​@Wim VH !

Great questions - these are all well-known pain points in the Airtable community. Unfortunately, Airtable doesn't publicly share their roadmap, so I can't confirm what's planned. However, here are the current realities and best workarounds:

1. Unique Key Constraint on Primary Field

Not natively enforced. Workarounds:

• Use an automation with a "Find records" action that searches for duplicates before creating new records
• Script extension that validates uniqueness before submission
• Conditional form logic (via Fillout or JotForm) that checks for duplicates before allowing submission
• API-based entry with pre-validation

2. Right-Aligning Numbers in List Interface

Not possible in grid view. Workarounds:

• Use Interfaces instead - the table element allows proper number alignment
• Format numbers with leading spaces in formulas (hacky but works): REPT(" ", 10 - LEN({Amount} & "")) & {Amount}
• Accept the left-alignment limitation in grid view

3. Self-Linked Rollup Consolidation

Correct - this requires separate rollup fields per level. Workaround:

• Create rollup fields for each level (Level 1, Level 2, etc.)
• Use a formula field to combine: IF({Rollup L1}, {Rollup L1}, 0) + IF({Rollup L2}, {Rollup L2}, 0) + IF({Rollup L3}, {Rollup L3}, 0)
• Alternative: Use a scripting automation to calculate recursive totals and write to a number field

4. Gantt Hour-Level Dependencies

Day-level only currently. Workarounds:

• Use Timeline view with datetime fields instead of date fields - still limited to day-level dependencies
• Build custom Interface with conditional logic based on datetime calculations
• Use external tools (Monday.com, Smartsheet) if hour-level dependencies are critical
• Script-based validation that checks hour-level conflicts

5. Native Delete Trigger

Not available - this is a significant limitation. Workarounds:

• Add a "Deleted" checkbox field and filter views to exclude checked records, then use an automation to trigger on checkbox update
• Use a last-modified-time field and a scheduled automation that checks for missing records (unreliable)
• Sync records to a second table and use scripting to detect deletions via comparison
• Use the Airtable API with webhooks to track deletions externally

Bottom Line:

For production systems requiring these features, you may need to combine Airtable with external automation tools (Zapier, Make) or custom API implementations.

Flow Digital - Airtable Gold Services Partner — We're happy to help!

Hey ​@Wim VH,

re: product roadmap. I don’t think that was ever public. At least I am certain that it has not been public for the past couple of years.

Absolutely not what you are looking for, but you might be interested in checking out their latest releases (what’s new page).

As mentioned by Scott above, you will absolutely want to submit your request as product ideas (using this form).

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation 
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