Updating Table From Another Table

[Lost-Merovingia]

I have a table, with has reservations for a small hotel, I have another table with Gift Certificate reference numbers. When a gift certificate reference number is used, I’d like it to search through the records in the Gift Cert. table and change the status to redeemed.

Basically, I want to link these two tables, but I’m not sure how to go about it. I think it’s a junction table … i think I know what a junction table is … in theory, but I’m not sure how to make it.

[Kamille_Parks]

If your Reservations table has a field where the gift certificate reference number is inputted, and if the gift certificate reference number is the primary field for the Gift Certificate table, then just convert that field in the Reservations table to a Link to Another Record field. Now your records are linked.

To mark certificates as “redeemed”, you could add a formula field to the Gift Certificate table that is link this:

IF(
{Name of link field to Reservations},
"redeemed",
"not redeemed"
)

[Lost-Merovingia]

That would make sense, but my reservations are fed through another system into Airtable. So I was hoping to make an automation that did the work for me. I get so confused, I start out making this awesome automation, but I get distracted by all the possibilities and options, and then I forgot what I was doing.

[Kamille_Parks]

Lost-Merovingian:

That would make sense, but my reservations are fed through another system into Airtable.

Is your setup incompatible with Link fields? If it is compatible then you don’t need an automation at all, just convert the field and make a formula as described above. If it is incompatible with Link fields just have the automation trigger when {Original field your system is filling in} is not empty and does not match the {Link field} and use a Update Record step to fill in the Link field with the value of the Original field.

[Lost-Merovingia]

Kamille_Parks:

Update Record step to fill in the Link field with the value of the Original field.

Yes - this is what I’m trying to do. But I think I’m more than a little confused … so I was trying to just enter the # of the gift certificate, so I drilled down into the dynamic variables… but it wouldn’t let me ‘INSERT’.

[Kamille_Parks]

That is not an Update Record step its a Find Records step. The process I recommended does not involve finding records, what are you finding records for?

[Lost-Merovingia]

Oh … crap. I’m sorry. I’ve made a complete mess of things. I’m going to start over.

I’m going to look through the base designs and templates to see if there is something in there that’ll work for me. I took on too much too soon I think.