Trigger automation based on a date/Time Field

[Brite_Admin]

• I have a date/Time field
• I have a duration field
• I have a “Reminder time” field that calculates the Date field minus the duration

What I can’t figure out is how to set the automation to trigger based on the Reminder time. being NOW

.I prefer not creating a view that filters because I have too many views already so I am hoping I can do it based on “When records match condition” but NOW is not a parameter in the triggers.

[Dimitris_Goudis]

Hi @Brite_Admin ,

unfortunately now as a function run automatically when you refresh the browser, so you can’t do it based on this function. :frowning:

An alternative is to trigger on specific time or a standard frequency, or even think a way which will not be based on now function…

Thanks

[kuovonne]

Use a formula field with DATETIME_DIFF that calculates the difference between NOW() and your reminder time.

Keep in mind that NOW() is not updated continuously. It can take a few minutes to update if the base is open. It can take an hour or longer if the base is closed. This also means that NOW() is almost always in the past, and you can get negative values when you use it with DATETIME_DIFF, and you will likely never get exactly zero.

[Brite_Admin]

So if NOW is not reliable for my purpose, does anyone have a way to trigger an automation based on the time in a field?

My use case is I set up an appointment for a certain date & time, I have a duration field that I enter how many minutes before the appointment I want to be reminded, I want to trigger Twilio to send me a text at the reminder time. It really can’t be dependent on whether AirTable is open and can maybe be off by a minute or so but not 5-10 minutes.

Any thoughts?

[Joe_Hanauer]

Did you ever find a solution to this?