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Re: How to migrate table(s) to base(s) without loosing linked record relationships

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PatrickSmith
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I have a Teams plan and recently discovered that you can only have 50 Automations per base (I don't know if this is a plan limitation or not, just providing details). NOT a limitation that I've ever seen displayed anywhere on plan details or comparison pages.

So it's a bit frustrating after investing a lot of time and effort into building out my base (including nearly 5k VERY detailed records), with lots of additional work in the pipeline to expand the base's capabilities, only to find out now that, as is, it will never be able to do what I need it to do. Development has come to a screeching halt because I literally cannot create an additional Automation...

To resolve this, (I'm thinking) it will require a completely different approach to my base design. Instead of keeping everything under one base, I'll need to split tables off into their own bases. I guess I'll have to MANUALLY 😠 re-create all the Automations related to that table into the new base as well. My main concern is making sure there is no data degradation. I don't want field TYPES to change. Obviously don't want the data to change. My main concern is making sure linked records remain in tact. Otherwise that could mean re-linking 5k records across half a dozen different fields....

To give a little more detail on the base structure for context, I have tables for Assets, Employees, Departments, Roles, Locations, Softwares, Makes, Models, Products, Requests, Orders, Projects, Tasks, etc.. I'm sure you can naturally understand how they could be linked together in a business.

I'm thinking the process would look something like this:

  1. Make a new base
  2. Sync table from original base to a new base
  3. Somehow update the linked records on the original base to point to the records on the new base, rather than the records in the table from the same (original) base
  4. MANUALLY 😠 re-create all the Automations related to that table into the new base
  5. Delete the migrated table from the original base
  6. Repeat as needed

However, I'm not sure how step 3 would be possible. I'm assuming it is and I just don't know how, or otherwise there's probably a better way to do this? I really don't want to have to re-link everything 😫

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I also understand I could probably try to consolidate some of my Automations, and develop my scripting skills to eliminate the need for some of the Automations. I've also learned how to utilize buttons in interface designer to modify records, which could eliminate the need for some Automations. However, I'm thinking this will require more effort and time and will only serve as a temporary measure, as I will surely hit the 50 Automations limit again soon enough and I'll be right back in the same boat.

5 Replies 5

According to this link it has nothing to do with the plan, just a hard limit per base...and turning some off doesn't help.

https://support.airtable.com/docs/getting-started-with-airtable-automations#:~:text=Current%20limits....

As @BillH mentioned above, all plans — including Enterprise Plans — have the extremely low limit of 50 automations per base. Be sure to voice your concern about this to support@airtable.com.

Your best bet would be to approach this from 2 angles:

1. Try to merge together as many of your automations as you can by using conditional steps in your automations.

2. Rebuild as many automations as you can with Make's Airtable Automations, where there are no limits.

Ok wow! No Automation limit AND It provides ChatGPT functionality!?! Yes please! 🙂

 

I will most certainly look into this! Thank you very much!

@PatrickSmith 

Ha, you're welcome! In fact, I demonstrated how to use Make's ChatGPT functionality on this episode of the BuiltOnAir podcast.

And, I've given lots of other Make demonstrations on several other podcast episodes as well. Check out my YouTube playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqssva4liHRwHhQIpTXekG8WObEoyC2F1

There is a small learning curve with Make, which is also why I created this basic navigation video to help. In that thread, I also provide the links to a few other Make training resources there as well. For example, to instantly trigger your Make scenarios from Airtable, check out this thread.

In that same thread, I also provide the link to Make’s free partner training program, which offers approximately 15 hours of free training videos.

p.s. If your company has a budget 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

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Vikas_Vimal2
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

I can recommend 3 potential solutions in order of complexity:
1: optimise the automations and use conditionals and groups etc.

2: Use Make.com to create as complex automations as you like. Trigger them via button in Airtable records or set them to a Last Modified field or some other trigger.

3: You may try using scripts that can handle complex tasks. Try using this ChatGPT custom bot (needs a subscription to ChatGPT) to get started with building scripts.