Automation to copy a field?

[Ramsey_Stonebur]

I have a table that pulls some fields in as lookups.  I want to run an automation on record creation that copies the data from Field A to Field B.  I have tried to follow a few guides but even though my automations run in the testing stage they seem to fail in actual use.

Trigger -> When a record is created in "Table 1"

Actions -> Update record in "Table 1" -> Record ID "@" -> Fields -> Field B - Field A "Value"

What am I missing?  Does it have something to do with Field A being filled with lookup data from a different table?  Is it a timing thing? (like does it need X seconds to process before trying to copy?)  Thanks!

[MatthewAT]

Normally there wouldn't be a need for a delay. 

I have the exact automation running and it is a simple 2 step automation, trigger and action. Just like you described it. So in concept you did it right.
Can you share a screenshot of the automation? Without it I can't tell what you've done wrong. But I have a feeling it is the Record ID being the wrong one. Just a hunch.

[Alexey_Gusev]

I usually create automations to maintain links with similar goal: when new record created and some Field A is filled, copy it to the link field (for example, Field B). So, my trigger is "When record matches condition" (Field A is not empty, Field B is empty), and it works OK.

[MatthewAT · Accepted solution]

Maybe you need to change your trigger? If that field is empty when it is created, then the information sent over is empty, and there is nothing to send over.

[Ramsey_Stonebur]

This is what was happening. Because my main field is a function that sort of combines a few fields together (like name, date, etc), and it sort of builds off the linked record (name), when I was adding a new record, it would create the record and before I could finish adding/typing in the record, it was considered "created".  So the location wouldn't copy.  Changing the trigger to "When record is updated" and setting it to "watch" the name field made it work perfectly!  Thank you all!

[Alexey_Gusev]

Thanks for sharing solution! My automation with "condition" trigger caused some minor issues for one table in some scenarios, and re-writing it with "update" trigger solved the problem perfectly.