Update Record in Make (Integromat) does not create linked record automatically like in Airtable

[Karl_at_Easy_La]

Hi. I am trying to use Make to automatically update record links, based on a generated primary key.  I am mainly using this because I am hitting the 50k limit of the Pro plan limit, and Make has no limitations on amount of tasks / operations.

I have a field called LinksNeedUpdate, which when the value is 1, I want it to be able to set the value of 'Link to another record', to the value of a formula field.  I have the below fields

• LinksNeedUpdate: Simple formula field, which returns 1 when the values of CleanerMonthlyInvoiceIdGenerated and CleanerMonthlyInvoiceLink  do not match.
• CleanerMonthlyInvoiceIdGenerated: This generated the ID of the invoice. This field is filled in once all critiera are met for how invoice can be issued
• CleanerMonthlyInvoiceLink [Link to another record]: This needs to be set to the value of 'CleanerMonthlyInvoiceIdGenerated'.   

The system above allows me to automatically create rows when needed.  The issue is that in AirTable, if I set the value of CleanerMonthlyInvoiceLink  to say 'CLEANSOL-01', it will create a new record in the CleanerMonthlyInvoice table, with that primary key, if it does not exist. If I use AirTable automations, the same thing happens, which is great and makes it easy to setup such automations.

I am trying to set the same automation / scenario up in Make.  I am using a 'Watch Record', together with 'Update Record'.  The problem I am facing, is that when I try to set in Make the CleanerMonthlyInvoiceLink to a value like 'CLEANSOL-01', it is giving me an error saying:  [422] Value "135506/2022-04" is not a valid record ID.

It is expecting the actual record ID, something like rec66qa6hqP0Ekefh. This is not available to me at this stage, since the record could possibly not have been created. Of course, I could create all the logic behind checking if record exists, creating it if not etc, but this would make it much more complicated.  

Is there any way how to set up Make to work similar to how Airtable natively works, that if the primary key you set to does not exist in the base-grid, it creates the record?

Regards,

Karl

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[ScottWorld · Accepted solution]

That actually isn't a Make limitation, that's an Airtable API limitation unless you turn on "typecast" in Airtable's API.

The way to turn on "typecast" in Make is to toggle on Make's "Smart Links" toggle at the bottom of the module. It is described on Make's documentation for the Airtable modules, but you can just turn it on without reading the documentation.

Also, on an unrelated note, when you are using Make to create brand new records in an Airtable table (not via the linked record field -- but by actually going into the table and creating new records), you may want to look into Make's "Upsert" module for Airtable... which gives you 2 functions within one module: It will either create a new record if it doesn't already exist, or it will update an existing record if it already exists.

I also give a few other general Make tips in this video that I've created.

[Karl_at_Easy_La]

@ScottWorld I simply didnt see the Smart Links feature - thanks for pointing that out! Worked like a charm. And watched you video, had no idea that you could move that little clock thing to put another node as a starting point, I thought it just couldn't be done! Thanks a lot for your help.