Integrating Multiple Sync Tables into One Updated Table

[Kyle_McKinnon]

Hi. I’m really enjoying the sync feature that was recently released.

I currently have tables from multiple brands’ bases synced to my team’s base. Each sync table has the same 9 fields for uniformity. My ultimate goal is to consolidate the records from each of these sync tables into one table, so that I can assign date-specific tasks to my team. The easy part was getting this data into my table. I used the automation “When a record enters a view -> Create Record.”
The hurdle I’m facing is that the synced tables I’m pulling from are getting updated with new publish dates, newly created notes, etc.
Is there a way for the records in my table to automatically update when records in a synced table get updated? One thing I tried was another automation: “When a record is updated -> update record,” but I couldn’t figure out what to enter into the mandatory Record ID field.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m a newbie to scripting and coding and such, but I am open to any and every suggestion. I will soon have as many as 15 synced tables to pull from, so I could definitely use the help.

Thanks,
Kyle

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Kyle_McKinnon! I haven’t tested this process myself, but I’m pretty sure it will work.

One thing that you can do with synced tables is add new fields to the synced version that aren’t in the original. I suggest adding one to store the record ID of the new record that you create with your first automation (“When a record enters a view -> Create Record.”). After creating that new record, add an “Update record” step that stores that new record’s ID in the new field you added to the synced table. Now when a record from that synced table is updated, and the second automation catches that update, you’ll have the ID of the record to update with the changes.

[kuovonne]

As an alternative to @Justin_Barrett’s method, you could have a record id field in the original source table that is included in the sync. Then in the combined table, have a field that lists that original source record id. When the records are updated, the automation script could search for a record with the same matching record id and update it or create it as necessary.

One benefit of this method is that you only have to deal with one record ID that you are sure will exist (the original record id). If you store the id of the record in the combined table and that record is deleted, the new field in the synced table could have an outdated record id that is no longer valid.

[Kyle_McKinnon]

Hi Justin and Kuovonne. Thank you very much for your helpful suggestions. Both of your points make sense to me. However, I’ve hit a roadblock in that I can’t seem to get anything to work in my automation when I enter the mandatory Record ID field. I’m inputting something wrong and I’m getting a “The record doesn’t exist” reply when I test it. Here’s a screenshot of when I tried using the “update record” action as an add-on to my “create record” automation.

I’ve also tried the way I mentioned in the original post, using the following automation: “When a record is updated -> update record,” and it gives the same response. I’m not sure what my next step is, as I’ve looked up documentation about using the “update record” action and can’t find much.

[Justin_Barrett]

@Kyle_McKinnon

I’m inputting something wrong and I’m getting a “The record doesn’t exist” reply when I test it.

My guess is that you didn’t test the “Create record” step before testing this “Update record” step. If you don’t test a step, it can’t pass data to any later step that requires it.

That said, testing each and every step isn’t required before turning on an automation. It can be beneficial because it helps you to find potential problem spots, but it’s not absolutely necessary. If you trust the logic of how you designed each step and the flow of data between the steps, you can turn it on and test the whole thing live.

[Kyle_McKinnon]

Thanks for the reply, Justin.

The “Create Record” step has been working so far (see attached).

[Kyle_McKinnon]

It looks like this is working now.

Trigger: When a Record enters a view: works
Action: Create record: works
Action: Update Record: now works

My error was that in the update record action, I was targeting Table A when I needed to Target Table B.
Also, the Record ID needed to be the record ID from step 1: the trigger (Table A). This is obvious now to me now, just took some trial and error to get there.

I will further explore this with the suggestions that Justin and Kuovonne made. Thanks for your help, y’all! I appreciate it!

[EM_Signs]

Hi All,

Thanks @Kyle_McKinnon
I am trying to do something similar. I must be missing something the obvious.

I am trying to get new records from my Synced Tables (Chris, Sam, Nick, Lucas, Etc) into the main table EM WIP. Which appears to be working in creating, however I would like it to also update in the EM WIP when any of those users update their own bases which im synced with…