Automations Overwriting eachother

[Anthony_Cassel]

I have 2 automations that takes ~2500 new records. The first one clears the link field and links them to their matching records in another table. The second takes all of the ones that failed in the first automation(these failures are due to the imported list having items that dont match up cleanly and need to check another field) and ADDs them to the link field.

These work >95% of the time. My issue occurs because so many automations run at the same time and some of these records need to link to the same record in the second table. This causes them to overwrite each other. I would like to find a way to slow this automation down and have it run in chunks or even 1by1 since it doesn't take too long per record. 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to trickle this automation or break it up into chunks?

[Saravanan_009]

To slow down your Airtable automations and avoid the issue of records overwriting each other, you can consider the following approaches:

Batch Processing: Instead of processing all 2500 records at once, divide them into smaller batches. You can create a formula field that assigns a batch number to each record and then set your automation to trigger based on these batch numbers sequentially.

Conditional Trigger: Introduce a checkbox or status field that indicates when a record has been processed. Use this field to ensure that only a certain number of records are processed at a time. Once the first batch is processed, you can trigger the next batch.

Delay Between Runs: While Airtable doesn’t have a built-in delay feature, you could use an external automation tool like Zapier or Integromat (Make) to introduce a delay between runs. This will allow each automation to complete before the next one starts.

Sequential Automations: You can create a series of automations that run sequentially, each handling a subset of records. Use a status field to mark records as "Processing" and "Completed," triggering the next automation only after the previous one finishes.

[Sistema_Aotearo]

You could find a way to incorporate the "Repeating" logic in your automation. This way, within one automation run, it'll run in sequence without the same automation clashing with itself.

I'd then make the first automation end with the trigger for the second automation. That way the second won't clash with the first either.

How you specifically do this will require some screen shots of what you're currently doing 🙂

[Anthony_Cassel]

Thanks for the response! Are any of these solutions reasonable within Airtable alone? or would they all require external support?

[Saravanan_009]

The batch processing and conditional trigger solutions can be implemented entirely within Airtable without the need for external support. However, if you require more granular control over timing, such as introducing delays between automation runs, you might need to use an external tool like Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat).

So, the first two solutions are reasonable within Airtable alone, while the third option would require external support.