Formula to combine two linked record fields and retain the record links

[Daniel_Smith]

I am trying to combine two fields in a base. Both of these fields are Linked Records. Is there a way to combine the two fields and retain the records. Currently I am getting text if I use CONCENTATE or ‘&’

Here is a demo base with the example https://airtable.com/shr1OM2ygBXu8ygke

Thanks for the help!

[Justin_Barrett]

I’m afraid not. Formulas only work on text, numbers, dates, and (with some limitations) arrays. There’s no way currently to operate on record links other than to extract the text from the primary key, as you’ve seen.

[Daniel_Smith]

Great thanks for the reply. I am thinking now that it might be best to have one table called stakeholders with ‘Internal’ or ‘External’ as a single select. I can create a view for each. That way I can reference Internal or External or both.

Another option I considered was one table that joined the two together but there would be a lot of extra formulas etc. I have added this to the demo base.

[Justin_Barrett]

Daniel_Smith:

I am thinking now that it might be best to have one table called stakeholders with ‘Internal’ or ‘External’ as a single select. I can create a view for each. That way I can reference Internal or External or both.

That sounds like a much better option than using separate tables. :thumbs_up:

[TotallyTabular]

You actually CAN do this just by converting the join column into a Linked records field again. Airtable will automatically turn “Fred, Susan, Carrier, Barry, Larry” into five linked records.

Caveat is that both the Internal Stakeholders and External Stakeholders have to link to the same table, since the final join column will ask you to select only one table once you convert it to a linked records columns.

[Joachim_Brindea]

Thanks @TotallyTabular !
This is definitely a solution but is there any way to automate this?

[TotallyTabular]

I’m not sure, sorry. You might be able to whip something up either with the API or Automations, but I have not investigated either one for this use case.