How to get ONE record from "Find records" step?

[Kamil_Lelonek]

Is there a way to fetch just one record or take the first/last one from the returned list?

In table A I have a record with an email.
In table B, I also have records with their emails.

I need to update A record with B attributes but they come from different sources and are not associated - they just have the same emails.

[ScottWorld]

Unfortunately, there is no native built-in way to do that with automations, so you would need to find a different way of doing it.

You could write a custom JavaScript, or you could use an automation tool like Integromat which lets you limit your searches to 1 found record, and also lets you filter your search results, sort your search results, aggregate your search results, iterate through your search results, and more.

There might even be a better way of structuring your entire base so that you don’t need to use automations to do it at all.

[Kamil_Lelonek]

Uh… I have two data sources that put the data in different tables. The only way to associate them then is via email.

By a custom JS code you mean a scripting step?

[ScottWorld]

Yes, a scripting step.

[Kamille_Parks]

Kamil_Lelonek:

I need to update A record with B attributes

Are you doing this with linked records? Is there any chance of making the email field the primary field of Table B?

[Kamil_Lelonek]

Are you doing this with linked records?

Unfortunately not, they come from different sources.

Is there any chance of making the email field the primary field of Table B?

Yes, I think so.

[Kamille_Parks]

The origin of the records should not affect whether or not you can link them together.

If the primary field of Table B is the email then you can do one of two things:

1. Convert Table A’s email field into a Link to Another Record field pointing to Table B.
2. Keep Table A’s email field the same and add a new field for the Link to Another Record pointing to Table B.

Option 1 means you won’t need any automations at all, Option 2 means you could use a simple Update Record step in an automation to copy a Table A record’s {Email} value into the {Link to Table B} field (no script required).

Once you’ve done either 1 or 2, then add add Lookup fields to Table A to bring in Table B’s values.

[Kamil_Lelonek]

Email in table A is actually already a lookup from another table.

In Option 2 the issue is that a record in table B appears later than the record in table A. It means I cannot automate the update of table A since there is no corresponding record in table B yet.

[sistemas_urbita]

I managed to get the ONE record in automation by adding a repeating group. It will iterate over the results and perform some actions, but because I guarantee the found records list contains only one result (I searched by record ID), it will perform the action exclusively on said record.

[Nora_Brown]

While Airtable Automation's Update Record action doesn't seem to mind if you put a list of length 1 in, for example a number field, instead of just the number, it is pretty easy to add a script step to just return a single value from the Find Records step. After you add a Script Step, add an input value that will be made available to the script:

Use whatever name you want and then select either the list of record ids or the list of specific field values. Then, in your script:

let scriptConfig = input.config(); // can only be called once
let firstRecord = scriptConfig.foundRecords.length > 0 ? scriptConfig.foundRecords[0] : null;
output.set('firstFoundRecord', firstRecord);

You can then use the output in your next step (an Update Record step for example).