Combining multiple linked record fields into one field

[Noah]

Hi all,

This may be a quick fix that I’m missing but figured I’d ask the community for guidance here:
I have a base with 8 tables.
On 1 master table, I have a primary field (auto-numbered) and 7 additional fields pulling in information from linked records across the other tables.

Each record on this master table is only linked to 2-3 other tables, so the majority of the Linked column fields are blank - making it a pain to see all of the linked information quickly when expanding the record (I have to scroll passed a bunch of empty fields).

I’m wondering if there is an easy way (using either a formula or rollup field) to create an additional column on this master table that searches the other 7 fields and if there is a linked record, pulls it in to this field.
In a perfect world, the information being pulled in wouldn’t just be the text of the linked record but rather the actual link itself - essentially just combining all linked items across the different fields on the record into this one field.

Is this possible?

Appreciate the help!

Noah

[Zollie · Accepted solution]

You can definitely use formulas to summarize linked record fields via text. But getting clickable linked records won’t be easily possible. Taking your title literally, I made a related product suggestion a while back.

In a perfect world, the information being pulled in wouldn’t just be the text of the linked record but rather the actual link itself

A list of hyperlinks to the records might be possible, but not ideal since links are ugly and hard to click correctly. If you want to go down that road, a record URL looks like this:

https://airtable.com/BASE_ID/TABLE_ID/RECORD_ID

And you can access a record’s ID by creating a field like this:

Record ID (formula)
formula: RECORD_ID()
sdfg98s7df9g8
dgkj347dfbhjk3

So you may be able to (1) use the Record ID in a second field to generate ‘record links’ and (2) use lookup fields to get the linked records’ ‘record link’ fields.

[Noah]

Thanks Zollie - appreciate the insight.
I figured this might be the case but was worth a go-around!

I’ve upvoted your idea and will follow it; hopefully we’ll see an update rolled out soon enough.