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Re: Referencing multiple unique records in a linked record field

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BlueOwl
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

I’m currently trying to create a database of insurance companies and the benefits they offer. Each benefit can be offered by several vendors, but I want to be able to have the linked “Benefits” record for a specific vendor expand to show the details specific to that Vendor. Initially, I had a column called Benefits that was a multi-select, and I selected the relevant benefits for each insurance company. When I realized I can create columns that reference other columns, I converted my multi-select column to a linked record column, and had it reference a list of benefits that I created in another table. However what I didn’t account for is that while the Benefits buttons are now clickable for each insurance company, they will all reference the same singular record.

Ex: Insurance Company A, B and C all have deductibles, so each will have the “Deductibles” option under the Benefits column in their row. However Company A has a $500 deductible, Company B has a $1000 deductible and Company C has a $1500 deductible. I want a user to be able to click on one of the buttons and see the benefit detail for that specific company.

Is there a way to design a base that will allow this? I essentially need to allow for different linked records for each vendor, but I can only figure out how to set up record linking instructions at the column level. I tried creating a table for each company where the name of the benefit is listed in one column with a description of the benefit listed in the second column, but I still don’t know how to “point to” each of these separate tables when linking records.

Thanks for any help that can be provided - I feel like I’m circling the answer and just can’t figure it out!

2 Replies 2

Welcome to the community, @BlueOwl!

You need to create a many-to-many relationship, which requires 3 tables.

Airtable’s instructions on this are located at the link below.

p.s. If you have a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you design your base, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consulting — ScottWorld

I can see why you’d want to do linked records if you had lots of data you needed to associate with each benefit and wanted to confirm whether that was the case here

Personally when I was making an insurance comparing base I ended up with 1 or 2 columns per benefit, and so with reference to your deductible example I ended up with a single column called “Deductible” that I filled with the deductible amount, and another column called “Deductible Notes” that I used for whatever specific details each plan had for the deductible itself

That made it easier for me to also compare all the deductible amounts at a glance without needing to click into the linked records, does that make sense?