Launched: conditional relational fields (lookup, rollup, and count)

[Katherine_Duh]

You can now add custom filter conditions to lookup, rollup, and count fields to limit which records are included in the results. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create a valid lookup, rollup, or count field (if you don’t already have one in your table, you’ll need to create a valid linked record field first).
2. In the field customization menu, turn on the “Only include records which match certain conditions” toggle.
3. Specify the relevant filters for your use case.

This also means that if you have been using helper formula fields as a workaround to achieve this same functionality, you can transition off those fields for a cleaner, clearer base! 🌅

Learn more about this new feature with the conditional counts, lookups, and rollups support article.

[ScottWorld]

Kamille_Parks:

In 2020 we’ve seen a very noticeable uptick in Airtable staff’s presence in the forums, and much more frequent feature releases. Things like the scripting contests give us a chance to flaunt our stuff, and give AT a chance to learn how power-users test and use the new tools, presumably to help focus new improvements down the line.

Yes, I do agree that 2020 has seen gigantic improvements so far! They’ve been rolling out big new features at a steady pace! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: I’m so excited to see what the future holds for Airtable.

That’s also great to hear that you’ve seen an uptick in Airtable’s presence in the forums — that’s precisely what I was asking for. :slightly_smiling_face: That was essentially my entire point.

I totally love Airtable, and I’m in it for the long haul. :slightly_smiling_face: My interest is in seeing the platform grow & DOMINATE in this category of low-code/no-code cloud-based database platforms!

My only concern was that many of us here have so much in-the-field knowledge about how the product can improve in the best ways possible to really NAIL our clients’ needs. So, if we had more dialogues between Airtable staff & us (maybe even a few focus groups with us), we could help prevent losing Airtable customers like that one customer who I referenced above. Knowing that a new feature is coming down the line, or that Airtable has prioritized a new feature for the future — can help us plan for the future, attract new customers, and retain Airtable customers. Even receiving simple confirmations from them like, “Yes, we hear you — we agree that this is a really important feature” or “We’ve thought about that internally, and it’s not a high priority for us right now because of XYZ” would go a long way.

I am extremely enthusiastic & upbeat & positive about Airtable (and I am an extremely positive person in general). My only concern was more communication & engagement, please. And it sounds like they’re moving in that direction, which is absolutely fantastic! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

Oh, and better documentation. :winking_face: Lol.

But overall: Airtable for the win! :blush: :trophy: :1st_place_medal:

[Jean_Francois_B]

I don’t remember the name of the person I was in touch with but I used this directly in the Base:

[Vince_Alvarez]

Maybe this has been answered before, but I’m wondering if these new features will help with an issue I’ve been trying to solve. If I have a Client Orders table I use to generate invoices, can I use the new features of the Count field to increment invoice numbers for particular clients. So that I can autogenerate order numbers such as: Client A Order 1001, Client A Order 1002, Client B Order 1001, Client C Order 1001, Client B Order 1002? It seems like it should be simple, but keep running into self-referential field problems.

[Justin_Barrett]

The new features listed here probably won’t help with what you want. However, this setup that I outlined a while back probably will:

Automatic Sequential Numbering of Non-Sequential Items (READ JUN 9 2021 FOLLOW-UP) Show and tell

Summary This setup allows Airtable to automatically number collections of items that may not be in sequential order. Item length can be either fixed or variable, with only minor changes needed to the core system to accommodate the latter. Example To borrow from the thread that inspired this endeavor, say you’re building product codes that have a variant sub-code, and want that sub-code to automatically increment each time an item of a given product code is added in a new record. However, it n…

[Greg_F]

This is super super helpful!! Great job Airtable!

[Simon_B]

Ah, I see this is rather recent feature to Airtable.
this only allows me to draw from records foreign table on foreign table’s condition.
But I want to draw records from foreign table on current table’s condition.
Is it possible to do that?
so for example
I have organization table and individual table. and the individuals are linked to the organization.
Both have their own address, but many of the individual follows organization’s address in my case.
So what I’m trying to do is, I want to make conditions of “leave the individuals address empty” and when the individual’s address is empty, “lookup from the organization’s address”.
Right now, I cannot get what I want, the condition of when “field” is empty only applies to foreign table, not the current table.

it would be great if Airtable listens to me, or anybody who knows how to solve this problem leave their opinion to me.
Thanks!

[Jonathan_Lutz]

This can be handled with a lookup field on the individual table that points to the company address along with a formula field on the same table that checks the address field of the same table to see if it exists. If it does then have it output the address. Otherwise have it use the lookup value (the company address). Hope that helps!

[Allen_Moldovan]

Ciao Katherine,

Can we please have some DYNAMIC options, similar to how automations are configured. The dynamic sub text would read something along the lines of “Use variables from other fields within destination table”

This Addition what facilitate applications similar to the case outlined in the below forum post!

Conditional Linking - Ask the community - Airtable Community Forum

@ScottWorld what do you think?

[ScottWorld]

Yes, this is one of the most important missing features of Airtable. They’ve already added it to Automations, but they haven’t added it to the rest of the product.

There are an endless amount of scenarios that would benefit from this addition. It would literally elevate Airtable from a “simple database app” to a more robust database app.

The Airtable Team doesn’t read our messages in this forum, so PLEASE be sure to send an email to support@airtable.com with your screenshot above, and let them know how important this feature is to you!

Anyone who wants this feature should email support@airtable.com about this.

[Justin_Barrett]

@Simon_B What @Jonathan_Lutz mentions can also be done directly in a rollup field, which gives you the benefits of a lookup and a formula in a single field. The aggregation formula can do a lot more than just the simple examples shown when setting it up. You can put full formulas in there, with the only difference being the addition of the “values” variable to refer to the rolled-up data (and, sadly, no syntax hints). Something like this should work:

IF(Address, Address, values & "")

That will output the individual’s address if they have one; otherwise it will display the rolled-up address from their linked company.