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Re: Automation to update one table based on value in a different table

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DebSteenhagen
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I have two tables - one that contains lists of content items that our Editorial team manages. It links to another table that contains the contracts (SOWs) for the writer to complete the content item. I want to create an automation where when the Editorial Status in the Content-In-Process table changes to reflect that the content has been submitted, the Status field in the Writer SOWs table changes to Work Completed. It’s not working correctly - I know it has something to do with the fact that the trigger is returning a record in Content-in-Process, while the action has it updating a record in Writer SOWs, but I’m not sure what I’m missing. Here is my trigger:
image
And here is what I have for the action:
image
I think I’m missing something that tells it which record to update in Writer SOWs based on which record is returned in the trigger on Content-in-Process, but I’m not sure how to do that.

6 Replies 6
Kenneth_Raghuna
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

I believe you will need to add a “Find Records” action to select the record in the “Writer SOWs” table that is linked the to record that triggered the automation. Then you will use the record ID from the “Find Records” step in your Update Record action.

Thank you! I’m not sure how to configure the Find Records action to select the record identified in the previous step though?

Kenneth_Raghuna
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

Table:
Writer SOWs

Find Records Based on:
Condition

Conditions:
Where Name of Linked Field contains record from Step 1 (the trigger step)

Note: I believe this will only function as intended if you only have have 1 CiP linked to 1 Writer SOW at a time. If Airtable finds more than 1 record in the “Find Record” action, the Update Action will fail.

Thank you! It’s the Condition that is tripping me up. It doesn’t seem to be giving me the option to choose the ‘record from Step 1’.

I think I got around the situation in your note by using ‘When a record is updated’ as my trigger, and then adding in a conditional action that will cause the action to run only if the Editorial Status is one of several options.

Here are the current settings:
image

Scroll to the right, there should be a gear/settings icon. Make you select “Dynamic” instead of “Static.”

You’ll also want to make sure to change “has any of” to “contains.”

Thank you! I made sure both of those things are correct. The Find Records step is working, but the Update Record step is still returning “The Record Does Not Exist”. Here’s what it’s set as now…

The Find Records Step:
image

The Update Record Step:
image