We need more automations

The easiest way to solve this is to review your current automations to analyze which can be merged together. I would suggest to merge automations based on their trigger: if two automations use the same trigger then they probably can be merged together.

I have had to optimize automation space and usage many times for my clients, if you’d like we can do a quick meet and I can take a quick look and suggest optimizations. Feel free to schedule a meet here: https://calendar.app.google/BDT6pyk35Xk1F9jB8

You can also try asking for additional automations to Airtable support.

​@Good_Ink

I totally agree. 50 automations isn’t enough. Be sure to email support@airtable.com to ask them to please increase the number of automations that they give to Airtable customers.

In the meantime, you can workaround this limitation by creating additional automations with Make’s advanced automations for Airtable.

But here’s the big question — how do you trigger your automations in Make if you’ve already run out of automations in Airtable?

You can do it by creating buttons (or URL fields) in Airtable that trigger an external URL, because each one of your Make automations would start with a custom webhook that gives you a URL for that particular automation.

I show how to use Make’s custom webhooks in this Airtable podcast episode.

And if you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

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

Hey ​@Good_Ink,

I fully agree, and I submitted a feature request on that matter some time ago. Now feature requests have changed, and should be submitted via this form. -you might want to fill out the form!

I also wrote a post sharing some tips on how to optimize automations, that you might want to take a look at.

Also, you might want to look into Make, Zapier, or n8n if you are not currently using any of them.

Feel free to reach out if needed.

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation

Thanks for linking to the form, that’s helpful.

I’ve taken a lot of time optimizing our automations and consolidating and we’ve truly run out. There are maybe a handful that could be further optimized but at the cost of functionality. It would be great if 100 automations were the limit.

I’m not as concerned about number of automation runs, more the ability to add more automations and the current Airtable plan structure doesn’t account for that. We would even pay for more automations if we could but that’s not feasible last time I checked with AT Support.

Yeah, just use my workaround above in the meantime.

- ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant

If you don’t have to port over any existing automations, you can just create a new base and sync in the table(s) you’re working off of—boom, 50 more automations to work with… though, admittedly, with some limitations. If your automations are creating or editing records, you’ll need access to two-way sync and adjust permissions accordingly. Will also warn that the automation builder shows the following notice when you’re configuring an automation that edits synced data: “Additional actions can't be added, since synced fields can only be updated in the last action of an automation.” It also won’t let you configure “Create record” automations on the synced table, so if you’ve got any of those they should be left in the original base.

But let’s say you want to leave all the Edit Records/Create Record automations in the original base and move any existing automations that send Slack messages to the ‘mirror’ base, freeing up automation slots on the original base. If you want to minimize the amount of double work you’d have to do, something like this should work:

• Duplicate the base minus records + comments.
• Into the duplicate base, sync the data the automations are acting on into a new table (or tables). Make sure two-way sync is enabled, if applicable.
• Because you duplicated the original base, automations should have been ported over, all turned OFF by default. Reconfigure the automations you plan to keep in this duplicate base so that they correspond to the new table you just synced in.
  • You’ll likely have to reassign dynamic values, but at least the steps should all be there, plus any message/email templates minus tokens.
• Test your automations to make sure they’re still working properly.
• Turn OFF the corresponding automations in the original base.
• Turn your automations ON in the duplicate base.
• Attempt to delete the empty table(s) that came over when you duplicated the original base—if you reconfigured everything correctly, you shouldn’t get the “this will impact such-and-such dependencies” pop-up. If you do, reconfigure whatever you missed.
• Ta-da! Should be good to go.

If your automations send messages or emails that include a link to a record in a base or interface, and you want to be sure to link them to the origin base instead of the duplicate one:

• Add a Record ID field to the original data and make sure it’s included in the sync out.
• Grab the view or interface app link you actually want to direct users to.
• Copy that URL into your message/email template + add the Record ID field as a token wherever you need the link to be. Examples of what it should look like below.
  • For within a view in a base:
    • https://airtable.com/app#########/tbl#########/viw#########/rec#########(Record ID token here)
  • For within an interface:
    • https://airtable.com/app#########/pag########/rec(Record ID Token here)?home=pag########

I’d also be curious if there’s any way Templates can help plug the gaps, if your automations are “Edit Record” heavy. Might not be ideal since there’s still a human element involved (i.e. having to apply the template), but wanted to throw it out there. In a similar vein, the Create child linked records and Create records for multiple templates scripts (available via the Extension menu) might be worth looking into.

… That all said, I agree that the ability to add automations beyond 50 feels overdue.