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Re: A way to take data from other tables without manually selecting records

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Kyle_C
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Hello. I was working on a project when I came to a roadblock. I have been using record linking fields, lookup fields, and rollup fields to work with data between tables but that requires you to manually select which record connects to which. Example:
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I was wondering if there was a way to get around that because there is a table that will likely have thousands of records so it would be nearly impossible for a single person to manage. This solution would preferably allow for the use of formulas as well but any solution would do. Thank you in advance for any advice!

6 Replies 6

Hey Kyle, what issues did you face using an automation to handle this?

I had to manually enter which record connected to which between tables when using a record linking field and I am looking for a way to automate that process.

An alternative to linking records / lookups / rollups is you could use an automation to create new records with those same values in a new table.
Step by step example here: How to a new record in another related table automatically - #5 by Jacque_Boltik

Drawback: One issue you may run into though is if for your specific use case you need a single record ID for the values. If you just need the data for viewing this is great. If for some reason you need it to update bi-directionally across different tables with user inputs from the table where the records were duplicated, as well as the originating table, this approach can become a bit convoluted.

Hm, I can’t tell whether you’ve tried using automations to deal with this already or not. If you haven’t, here’s a link to the documentation Automations Overview | Airtable Support

If you have, let me know what issues you faced when trying to do that and I’ll try to help

I never thought of that! Thank you so much I’ll be sure to try it as soon as possible.

Thank you for the help I’ll be sure to try it soon. It seems like it’ll work!