Linked Fields with comas are creating several fields

[Alivia_Smith]

I have a linked field value in a base that’s populated by an automation - basically it’s copy pasting from a google sheet and important industry values, and I need to map these to our internal values. So I have a value that comes in like “Energy, Chemical, and Utilities”.
My linked field is set up so as to not allow lining to multiple fields, and yet when this value comes through instead of being linked to one field my value is suddenly being linked to 3 new fields - Energy - Chemical - and Utilities.

I need a simple fix here!
I know I can use a substitue formula + a copy paste automation, but that seems like a A LOT for what should be the behaviour I set up for, no linking to multiple fields!

If you can suggest a script that I can check out, or an automation, I would rather not have several too many fields to solve this.

Thanks!

[Justin_Barrett]

Alivia_Smith:

My linked field is set up so as to not allow lining to multiple fields, and yet when this value comes through instead of being linked to one field my value is suddenly being linked to 3 new fields

That “Allow linking to multiple records” (not fields) feature only affects links created by a human user. It does not prevent multiple links from being made through other means, including misinterpreting pasted data containing commas as separate items instead of a single item.

My guess is that you’re using an “Update record” action to add the link. Changing that to a script action would allow you to work around this issue without the need for extra fields. Linking in scripts is done by targeting the record ID, not the contents of the record’s primary field as is done when making links manually.

I’m afraid that I don’t have the bandwidth to take on a new programming client at this time, but posting to the #developers:work-offered category should get you some folks who could help (if you’re not up for writing the JavaScript code yourself).