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Airtable to Google Sheets through Zapier

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Raymon_Geis
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Hi,

I’ve been trying to fix an issue for some time. Essentially, I’m trying to link Airtable to Google Sheets. I want a new record in a specific view in Airtable to be copied into a Google sheet. I am using Zapier to do this, and so far it has been successful, except for one problem. The record that is pulled by Zapier seems to be the most recent one to have been added to the table as a whole, not the view, which makes it complicated when records created at different times are added randomly.

For example, let’s take two records: record #1 is created on 3/14/18, and record #2 on 3/15/18. If I move record #2 to the view first, Zapier detects it and copies it to the Google sheet. If I then move record #1 to the view, Zapier will not detect it as a new record, since it was added before record #2 (at least, that’s my understanding), and the Zap will not be triggered. I’ve tried sorting the view so that it sorts it based on when the record was added to the view, not the table as a whole, but that does not seem to fix it.

Have you come across this problem? Have I missed a step somewhere? I’ve only been using Airtable and Zapier for a month, so I’m still getting used to the deeper functionality.

Thanks in advance!
Best,
Ray

5 Replies 5
Olga_Rusnak
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

Hi @Raymon_Geis

You can use a bit different approach:

  1. Pull your data from Airtable to Google Sheets on let’s say an hourly basis (so every hour update it in Google Sheets) - and call this sheet - Raw data.
  2. Build all formulas and graphs based on the information from the Raw data in a new sheet.
  3. Review your formulas / sheets when required keeping the Raw data in a perfect sync with Airtable.

You can do it using Coupler.io Google Sheets add-on, “replace” import mode, and set up an automatic data refresh for 1 hour.

This is a good alternative to Zapier, but you have to be careful about [Google’s] script and bandwidth quota. Their marketing encourages you to create lots of apps to integrate data, but each new integration absorbs a little more quota, so caution. Otherwise, #yetAnotherGlue option. :winking_face:

@Bill.French you are right, Google does have different types of quotas. Our team (yes, I represent Coupler.io) has already thought about that and is working on decreasing the dependency from Google. Not every glue that is available in the market can resolve all issues customers are facing. So, there is still room for Coupler.io with its primary focus on small business needs.

Well, that’s probably not an ideal approach since the value of your solution is fundamentally based in the tight and seamless integration with Google Sheets.

In my view, you are better off designing for the future where Airtable (and other systems) utilize event handlers and webhooks to serve as the glue.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Coupler is able to integrate data from many systems (not just Airtable) into Google sheets, right? If so, it should have a unified architecture that intelligently “listens” for events and completely avoids the script quota issues.

@Bill.French yes, you are right, at the moment our add-on supports integration with Airtable, Xero, Jira, Pipedrive, Hubspot, Quickbooks (soon to be released) and we will increase the number of supported data sources in the future. I can’t go deep into the implementation details, but what I can say is that at this moment we’re concentrating on the solution that imports data on a defined schedule, not on the event-based approach.