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Beginner Question Regarding Single Select Field Character Limits / Linked Record

  • March 16, 2021
  • 10 replies
  • 73 views

Hello, I’m a new user and looking to set up a quick questionnaire. I discovered pretty quickly that there are character limits on the Single Select Field option which is causing parts of the options to be cut off.

I saw references to using Linked Records to get around the character limits, but I’m struggling to see how exactly to do that. Is there a tutorial that I can follow to see how this is done?

Thank you in advance!

Best answer by kuovonne

So is there a way to use the Linked Record Field, where the values can be displayed as clickable options to a question? Similar to the screen shot below:

Or will the end result have to look like this:

Which creates a different look in the Form view (below)


Not the way you want. Airtable forms are fairly limited.

10 replies

kuovonne
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  • Brainy
  • March 16, 2021

Welcome to the Airtable community!

In my experience, single select options can have fairly long values, unless you are trying to display them in a form. How long is the single select option that you want to use?

Can you share a screen shot of where your single select field options are being cut off?

Using a linked record field instead of single select requires setting up a second table where each value is a row in the new table. You can read more about linked record fields on the support website here.


  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 16, 2021

Welcome to the Airtable community!

In my experience, single select options can have fairly long values, unless you are trying to display them in a form. How long is the single select option that you want to use?

Can you share a screen shot of where your single select field options are being cut off?

Using a linked record field instead of single select requires setting up a second table where each value is a row in the new table. You can read more about linked record fields on the support website here.


Thank you kuovonne!

I am trying to display a form, this is the view in the form:

Some of the options are quite long, so there is a decent amount of text being cut off.


kuovonne
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  • Brainy
  • March 16, 2021

Yes, Airtable has character limits when you are trying to display select values in a form.
In these situations, I usually shorter values for the single select values, and then explain each of the options in more detail in the help text for the question.


  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 16, 2021

Yes, Airtable has character limits when you are trying to display select values in a form.
In these situations, I usually shorter values for the single select values, and then explain each of the options in more detail in the help text for the question.


Is there a way to get help text in each of the options on a Single Select form? I only see the one field that text can be entered in.


kuovonne
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  • Brainy
  • March 17, 2021

Is there a way to get help text in each of the options on a Single Select form? I only see the one field that text can be entered in.


No, there is only one help text for the entire question.


ScottWorld
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  • Genius
  • March 17, 2021

You can workaround these limitations by turning to Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable.

Fillout will always display the full length of your single select options, although it might be best to switch your options to linked record fields instead — which will give you even MORE advantages in Fillout.

Fillout is 100% free, and it offers hundreds of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records using a form, display Airtable lookup fields & Airtable rollup fields & Airtable attachments & formulas on forms, control access to a form via SSO or email domains, perform math or other live calculations on your forms, accept payments on forms, collect signatures on a form, create multi-page forms with conditional paths, create new linked records on a form, connect a single form to dozens of external apps simultaneously, add CAPTCHAs to your form, and much more.

I show how to use a few of the advanced features of Fillout on these 2 Airtable podcast episodes:

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld


  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 17, 2021

No, there is only one help text for the entire question.


So is there a way to use the Linked Record Field, where the values can be displayed as clickable options to a question? Similar to the screen shot below:

Or will the end result have to look like this:

Which creates a different look in the Form view (below)


  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 17, 2021

@Lou_Civitello If you need more advanced form capabilities than what Airtable offers, I would highly recommend using JotForm, which is one of the most advanced form-building tools on the market.

JotForm also has native integration with Airtable:


Hi Scott, I appreciate the response, but jotform seems like it might be way more than what my team needs at the moment. I’m definitely going to bookmark the link you sent for future reference.


kuovonne
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  • Brainy
  • Answer
  • March 17, 2021

So is there a way to use the Linked Record Field, where the values can be displayed as clickable options to a question? Similar to the screen shot below:

Or will the end result have to look like this:

Which creates a different look in the Form view (below)


Not the way you want. Airtable forms are fairly limited.


  • Author
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 17, 2021

Thank you all for the input!