Automation appends a multi-select string with new data, but merges some of the entries

[NateRMN]

Hi Airtable ninjas,

So I'm trying to build out an application form for new workshops that my customers can submit to apply. When I get their application, I approve their application and register them for the workshop. This triggers my automation, where I want to APPEND the new workshop data to the existing workshops that the customer attended (this happens on my Customers table).

I've set up my automation to trigger with the Application status being marked as "accepted", then I used the Find Records action to find the related record in my Customers table. Lastly, I used Update Record action to update my Customers table, specifically the Workshop Registrations field, where I want all historic workshop registrations of a particular customer. As you can see below, I first selected the field from Find records that contained the existing workshops of a record, then, I added another field that brought in the new workshop selected by the customer in the form:

The problem is, the LAST entry of existing workshops and the FIRST entry of the new workshops somehow concatenate into one, like this:

This is a big problem for me, as this also creates a new workshop entry with the merged entity, making a mess in my Airtable.

Any ideas how to fix this? I've tried adding spaces between the two fields in the automation, but it didn't help. 

Thanks!

[DisraeliGears01 · Accepted solution]

I've had similar issues with a automation. Airtable can be really finicky about formatting for this, and what works for me is to start with the pre-existing list then "," and then the find record output. So for you this would be "Workshops , List of Workshops" 

[NateRMN]

Thanks a lot @DisraeliGears01 this solved it! For other users that might have the same problem, don't put any spaces next to the comma, just the comma between the fields and it worked for me. 

Really appreciate this! 🙌