Override a Lookup Field

[Skyler_Proctor]

Ok so I got one that really threw me.

I have a lookup field on Tab 1, referencing Tab 3, I need that info in Tab 2, but rolled up, so I created a rollup field in Tab 2 that rolls up the lookup field in Tab1 (Tabs 2 & 3 aren’t linked). The contents look like ABC, DEF in Tab 3, and the lookup field in Tab 1, but the rollup field in Tab 2 produces “ABC, DEF”. Where the heck did the quotes come from? Using ARRAYUNIQUE. Get this, I go back to the original record, ABC, DEF and change it to ABC-DEF and bam, no quotes any more!! I’m really confused, if anyone could make a suggestion would be much appreciated.

[AlliAlosa]

Hi there!

Generally speaking, this is because Airtable doesn’t like commas, at least not in the primary field. :slightly_smiling_face:

Airtable inherently sees commas as a separator between record names, so if it sees one in a primary field, it wraps any field value which references it in quotes to prevent it from being read as two separate records.

Say you have a linked record field. If you were to take a value like “ABC, DEF” and paste it into that linked record field, it would create two records on the linked table: “ABC”, and “DEF”.

It is good practice to avoid commas in the primary field; though depending on your use case, it might not matter at all.

Hope this helps!