Using automation to link records

[changirene]

One if the biggest pain points I run into every day with Airtable, is trying to link records automatically.  
A {formula field} that needs to feed into {linked field}.  If only there is an easy way to do this, any suggestions? 

My current solution is running an automation, but it doesn't work sometimes. If someone can tell me why this automation (images attached) isn't working i'd be so grateful. 

PROBLEM:

SOLUTION:

Attached images

[Jpatton]

1. I think I'd need to see what the `MMMM-YY [SALES]` formula is. The only cause for the error you're experiencing that I can think of is that the formula is returning a null value. If this is the case, then your automation could be getting triggered by such a value.
   • Since you don't have any `MMMM-YY [SALES] link` records that are null, the automation would have nothing to link. When `MMMM-YY [SALES]` eventually returns an actual MMMM-YY value, it wouldn't trigger another run of the automation because the field technically wouldn't have been empty at the time the MMMM-YY value was returned; the field would have gone from null to MMMM-YY — not empty to MMMM-YY — meaning the automation would not get triggered by MMMM-YY.
2. I'd recommend changing your trigger to "When a record is updated." The advantage of this trigger is that if the value returned by `MMMM-YY [SALES]` ever changed, the linked `MMMM-YY [SALES] link` record could be updated accordingly. This also means that if `MMMM-YY [SALES]` goes from returning a date to nothing, the `MMMM-YY [SALES] link` field would get automatically cleared. If you leave the trigger set to "When a record matches conditions," a change to the value returned by `MMMM-YY [SALES]` would not result in the linked `MMMM-YY [SALES] link` record getting replaced with the correct one.
   
   • If you decide to give this trigger change a try, you might want to try doing so only after you've determined whether `MMMM-YY [SALES]` is returning a null value. This is because the proposed trigger could obscure this behavior.

[Alexey_Gusev]

It should be very easy. I guess, your formula fed from some computed field like 'Creation Time' so you can't do the 'delete value, press CTRL+Z' trick to re-run automation for the particular record.
so, add temporary checkbox column, add it in condition. Filter table by link field=empty and enable checkboxes. You can copy '1' and paste it right into the whole field, but don't do that more than 50 records at a time, such bulk automation run will cause problems.
If any record refuse to link, check run history and dig to the cause of problem.

when solved, don't forget to remove checkbox field from condition and from the table.