How to automatically populate a link to a record field

[Antonio_Caruso]

Hi everyone,

is it possible to set an automation to populate a link to a record field?

In brief, my base is made up of many tables (one general and others specific), all sharing the same ID for the same entity. I would like to set an automation to a link a specific attribute from the general table to one of the specific (given a matching ID). Entities may be present in all the tables and share the same ID number. 

For example:

If the general and specific table have entities with ID 1, 2 and 3, I would like to automatically link the record with ID 1 from general to the ID 1 in the specific and so on...

Is it possible? could you share the steps?

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Assuming that the primary field in each table is the "ID" field, you'd need an "Update Record" action and its action would be to update the triggering record's linked field to the other table, and you would paste in the ID it needs to link to

If the primary field is not the "ID" field, you would need to add a "Find Record" action to look for a record that had the same "ID" value, and use the result from that "Find Record" action to update the record in the same way mentioned above

[Antonio_Caruso]

Thanks for the reply.

yes, the primary field is the ID.

is there any way for the automation to get the ID automatically? let's say I have 50 records (and thus 50 different IDs) in both general and specific tables,  for each of them in the specific table it should update the link to a record field with the corresponding ID in the general table. 

[TheTimeSavingCo]

For existing data I'd recommend just pasting the data into the linked field actually

1. In a view where all of your records are displayed and the linked field is displayed, click the field header for your primary field
  - This selects the entire column
2. Copy
3. Click the field header for the linked field
4. Paste

This should automatically link everything

[Antonio_Caruso]

It is not a bad idea.

However, the list of records between the two tables may differ (the general table has all the records, while the specific one might not). I guess I could filter by the ones present in the interested table and still copy/paste them. It is a shame, Airtable does not allow for a If conditions that matches the primary fields in different tables.

Anyhow thank you for your help, I guess I can manage this way

[TheTimeSavingCo]

When faced with an ID that doesn't exist in the linked table Airtable just creates a new one, so if I were you I'd just paste everything in, go to the second table and delete all the newly created records actually; seems simplest