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I’m working on an AirTable system that someone else started for me, and learning as I go.


I’ve got 3 Tables. A = Staff, B = Assets, C = Access.


On Table B I’ve got a Link Field to table A, so I can add a Staff Member’s name in a new record, and then add an asset against their name. I’ve also got a link field in Table A, linked to Table B, and it shows me a list of all the assets assigned to that member of staff. This was already made when I took over and works perfectly. As soon as I add a new asset and assign it to a member of staff, the asset is added to the list of assets in the Staff table.


I’m trying to create the same effect in in Table C. There’s already a link field where I select the staff member name, and then I assign them access rights to certain software. I’ve created another link field in Table A, expecting it to self populate with all the different software that the employee has access to. But it just sits there empty, waiting for me to manually select the software. And I’m allowed to select any software I want, even if that member of staff doesn’t have access. This duplicates work, and allows for errors.


I’ve checked all the settings of the new link field I’ve created. I’ve even gone as far as to duplicate the one I know is working, but the duplicated field then doesn’t work either.


I feel like I’m missing something really obvious somewhere. A tick box or something. Can anyone point me in the right direction?


Update: I’ve discovered that whenever I add the new Linked field in Table A, it creates a new hidden Linked field in Table C. When I delete this field, the linked field becomes a normal text field. So it seems the linked field might be linking to this new field instead of linking to the original Name field. I don’t know why that would be though.

Hey Edd, so in the Access table, I take it you’ve got two fields:



  1. A text field with software name

  2. A linked field to the Staff table


And, if a staff member has access to a specific piece of software, you’re linking that staff member’s record to the respective software record?


Sorry if I’m misunderstanding something here as well; if you could provide some screenshots of your setup that’d be super helpful!

Hey Edd, so in the Access table, I take it you’ve got two fields:



  1. A text field with software name

  2. A linked field to the Staff table


And, if a staff member has access to a specific piece of software, you’re linking that staff member’s record to the respective software record?


Sorry if I’m misunderstanding something here as well; if you could provide some screenshots of your setup that’d be super helpful!


Thanks for the response Adam.

You’d definitely got the right end of the stick, I think I’ve cracked it though eventually. I was being an absolute idiot. Because it had already been made by someone else, I hadn’t noticed there was another field in the Access table that did get it’s information from the Staff table. I just hadn’t seen it.

I was working with other fields that had also been created by the previous incumbent but that were linked to the wrong place. So I deleted these fields and tried to recreate the links to the right place, not realising the link was already there in plain sight.

I eventually got there by taking a closer look at the hidden fields.

Then obviously I could use that field to create lookup fields, and everything is behaving itself now.

I can give a new member of staff access to a piece of software on the Assets table, then all software they have access to is listed on their own record in the Staff table, and I also have a separate induction checklist table, and they software can be listed on their too. Works like a charm.

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