Create duplicate records with interface form

[Airtabler1]

Hi AirTable community! I have a problem that I can't, for the life of me, find a solution to.

I have an Event table that includes a linked column for Personnel attending the event. I also have a separate table where I have profiles for each person for each event ("Travel needs"). So, if Event A has Person 1, Person 2, and Person 3 attending, then the Travel needs table would have 3 profiles in it: Event A:Person 1, Event A:Person 2, and Event A:Person 3.

I am trying to create an automation where, if I add a person in the linked Personnel column of an event, it automatically creates a Travel needs profile for that person for that event. The problem is, if I add Person 1, then it generates Travel need record: Event A:Person 1. But then I wait a moment, and add Person 2, and it generates: Event A: Person 1 (again), Event, A:Person 2. It creates new records for every single Person linked to the Event, not just the new ones.

I've tried using Find Records in my automation, but I can't seem to get them to work. I feel like this must be doable though! Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!

[Marvel]

You're on the right track! To avoid duplicate records, you need to check if a Travel Needs profile already exists before creating a new one.

Try this:

1. Use "Find Records" to check if a Travel Needs profile for that event and person already exists.
2. Only create a new record if no matching record is found.

This should reduce duplicates!

Need help setting this up fully? Let me know, and I’ll guide you through the rest!

[Airtabler1]

Hi Marvel, thank you for this. The problem I'm running into when I try to build a Find Records step like that is that I can add the condition for the Event contains Event Title, but I can't seem to make the condition for Attendee contains Personnel (the name of the cell for all the attendees linked to that event record). I wonder if this is because it's a linked field that allows linking of multiple records, but there's no way around that for what we need.

[Marvel]

You're right—the issue comes from the linked field allowing multiple records. Airtable’s Find Records doesn’t directly check if a specific person exists inside a multi-link field. But here’s a workaround:

1. Use "Find Records" to get all Travel Needs records for that event.
2. Use a conditional action: Convert the found records into text and check if the new person’s name exists inside it.
3. Only create a new record if the name is not already there.

If this still feels tricky, let me know, and I’ll guide you through it step by step!

[Airtabler1]

A step by step guide would be incredible, thank you! Specifically for:

Use a conditional action: Convert the found records into text and check if the new person’s name exists inside it.

Can this all be done within the automation? Or will it require actually creating a new field in the table?

[Marvel]

You're welcome! this can all be done within the automation without needing a new field! You can use a conditional action to check if the new person’s name exists inside the list of found records.

 Let me know how you’d like to proceed with the step-by-step guide

[Airtabler1]

Right, I'm stuck on which action it would be?