How to associate automatically barcode with another field

[Olivia_Ake]

I’ve been searching for a solution and it seems like a simple issue but I cannot get it resolved. I am desperately seeking some help!

When I scan a UPC barcode, the 12 digits appear in my barcode field. I want my table to automatically populate in another field the product that is associated with that barcode. We use barcodes internally for inventory management so none of them are registered. So, essentially, I just want AirTable to know that X series of 12 digits is X product.

I tried using automations as my solution but that doesn’t work because I can only have 50 automations in my Pro plan and I need this to work on thousands of products.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thank you!

[Vivid-Squid]

Hi @Olivia_Ake
Welcome to the community!
I do not think that you need 50 automations, one should suffice.

Do you have a corresponding table of products and the matching code?

[Olivia_Ake]

Thank you @Vivid-Squid! I really appreciate your response.

Yes, I do have that.

[Vivid-Squid]

You should be able to set up an automation

Trigger: When record is updated on the field that get the code from the app
Action: Find a record, in your product table where product code is scanned code
Action: Update a record, add the record product name from step 2 into the place you want it

At least I think this should work. I think find only gathers up to 50 records, but if your products to codes are 1:1 you should be ok.

[ScottWorld · Accepted solution]

If the table of products has the barcode as the primary field, just automate pasting the barcode from the barcode field into a linked record field, and then lookup the other fields that you want to see.

Even better, you can scan directly into the linked record field if you use Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable.

I’ve even given some advanced barcode scanning tips in this thread: https://community.airtable.com/t5/automations/automation-to-update-a-field-based-on-a-barcode-scanne...

Fillout offers dozens of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records from a form, the ability to display Airtable lookup fields & Airtable rollup fields & Airtable attachments & formulas on forms, creating linked records on a form, creating multi-page forms, accepting payments on forms, and much more. So you could even display the record information that you’re scanning right on the form itself!

 p.s. If your company has a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld 

[Olivia_Ake]

Thank you, @ScottWorld. That solved my problem. Thank you for taking the time to help me.

@Vivid-Squid Thank you for your help too. I was having a bit of a hard time with the finding the record step but that’s probably on me.