Automation Update Record Step not working for multiple linked records

[Bruce_Halliburt]

Hi there!

I’m having a problem linking records via an Automation.

I have use-case in which there is a “Jobs” table and a “Receipt Submissions” table. Within Airtable, you can link multiple Receipt Sumbissions to a Job. Staff have their own online (“shared”) view of the Jobs table with a filter to show the jobs they are personally assigned to - each row of the table being a separate Job. Staff can click on a link on each record to submit a receipt for expenses they have incurred while doing the job via a form off the Receipts Submissions table. This link passes the Record ID of the Job via the form’s URL to the Receipt Submission form, which prepopulates the Job Record ID. My automation has a step which updates the newly created Receipt Submission record by setting the value of “Jobs” with the passed through Job Record ID. This works perfectly if only one receipt is submitted for a job. If another receipt is submitted, the job is correclty linked, but the link is removed from the previous submnission! Is there a way to “add” rather than “replace” the link in an automation step?

[Databaser]

Hi @Bruce_Halliburton

As far as I know, automations only replace sadly enough. An option to add or replace would be very useful.

[kuovonne]

When you update a value of a field, it overwrites the existing values. To append values one usually needs to include the original values in your update. However, since it sounds like you are using a form, the automation doesn’t have easy access to the existing values.

Instead I recommend a simpler fix. Make the link from the receipt side. Since this is an internal form, prefill the linked field in the form instead of messing with the record ID. Then you don’t need an Altima toon to do the linking at all. This should work as long as the primary field of each record is unique. My prefilled forms app can help with the formula for this.

If you really want to go the record id route instead of having the linked record field directly in the form, have the automation make the link from the receipt since, as each receipt should have only one job.