Accessing Previous Records

[KEN_BURENGA]

Is there a way to add the contents of a field in a record from the same field of the previous record. For example, if the date in the new record is the same as the date in the previous record I want to change the formula field in the new record — i.e, If (Current Record {Date}=Previous Record {Date}, {Field 1}=“ABC”, {Field 2}=“DEF”).

[Elias_Gomez_Sai]

You can’t.

Calculating Percent Change Ask the community

Hey @Jackie, Despite Airtable’s advertising language, you can’t really treat your tables as spreadsheets. It looks like you are trying to subtract the value in {Received to Photo} from record #11 from the value in {Received to Photo} from record #12. The problem is that in a database (which is what Airtable actually is, as opposed to a spreadsheet) the records do not have that same spatial relationship to each other. In a spreadsheet, you can say, Subtract the value directly above this one fr…

[bdelanghe]

@Elias_Gomez_Sainz what @Jeremy_Oglesby is saying isn’t that it can’t. But that it’s a lot of work. @KEN_BURENGA definitely read into the linked post. Essentially what you end up doing is defining what the previous record is by adding a linked field.

[Kamille_Parks]

@KEN_BURENGA @Elias_Gomez_Sainz

I solved something an issue for another user today that involves a new record checking values of the record that immediately precedes it by comparing dates (see below). Could you describe what you want to do in a little more detail? Or feel free to copy the base from the link below and adjust it to fit your needs.

Subtracting last two created linked record Ask the community

Your request was extraordinarily difficult for me, but I believe I accomplished what you’re asking for. [Capture] There are several formula fields in the [Weigh Ins] that make it possible. Essentially, the table finds each record (a weight check for a dog)'s date and logged weight and concatenates them together. Then, it uses that concatenation to find the weight log that immediately precedes it using Rollups and LookUp Fields in addition to another Formula field. Then, in another formula f…

[Andre_Zijlstra]

I went through the comments on this topic again and it dawned on me that Airtable actually calculates between records all the time. The Summary Bar at the bottom has a lot of it. For example: the summary “range” finds the lowest of all the records and the highest of all the records in a view, and calculates the difference.

Now, if it can be done in a Summary bar, it can be done in a regular Formula.
So Airtable: just show the community some muscles and bring it on :winking_face:

Regards,
André

[Bill_French]

Andre_Zijlstra:

… if it can be done in a Summary bar, it can be done in a regular Formula

Great observation André. I [rhetorically] ask myself this every morning and my wife is tiring from my mumbling.

The issue is that the development team has not exposed the event model (which obviously exists) at the formula or API surfaces. This is one of many critical elements that are gating factors concerning the future of Airtable because it limits the ability for regular users to perform usual and customary computations.

Making matters worse, they limit API calls to 5 per second. Without event handlers, they are forced to do this, of course, or continue to add more servers and bigger pipes. The lack of an accessible event model puts added pressure on the use of the API to mimic that which is effortlessly determined through events, so they’re in a difficult spot now.

Agree - they need to pull up soon.

[Andre_Zijlstra]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for confirming. A lot of your text is new to me for I’m really not very familiar with the ins and outs of the machine room in AT.

I do hope they will make steps in this realm, for it will benefit a lot of users.

Regards,
André