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Mar 08, 2018 10:22 PM
I am attempting to build a workflow that updates the status of a project. When a new project is sent to the client, it’s done via a form that adds an entry to Airtable, updates the STATUS cell to “in progress”, and then uses Zapier to send an email to the client.
I’m having difficulty finding an easy way for the client to update the project status to “complete” WITHOUT sending them to a dedicated Airtable form. I’m wondering if either of these two options are possible:
Any ideas?
Mar 09, 2018 05:42 AM
Hey Nick,
The short answer is YES! It requires a 3 step Zap. Since you’re familiar with Zapier, I’m skipping some of the regular steps and focusing on the ones specific to this setup.
Setup Zapier webhook
Using Zapier, create a webhook
Select the Catch Hook option
This will generate a URL that Zapier will recognize and respond to.
In the Edit Options section, enter something like this: { "record_id": "1", "status": "Complete"}
This is just sample of what it could be, but the first field (“record_id” in this case) must be a unique field in your table that can be used to look up records.
Find Record in Airtable Base
Update Record in Airtable base
Essentially what’s happening is when you navigate to the Webhook URL Zapier has generated for you, it will trigger this flow. However, instead of just using the url (https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/stuff/morestuff/), you are adding in querystring parameters to pass along information. The url you want to use instead will be something like:
https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/stuff/morestuff/?record_id=1&status=Complete
Now, based on what we’ve entered setting up the Zap, it will search for the record with record_id = 1, and when it finds it, it will update the Status column to Complete.
So, going back to your original question, when you generate your email to send to a client you can include this url Zapier has given you, along with the parameters. The only thing that needs to change from one project to the next is the record_id.
I’d recommend creating a formula field in Airtable that forms this url for each project automatically. Essentially…
“https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/stuff/morestuff/?record_id=” + {Record ID} + “&status=Complete”
Since you know how to generate the email, I haven’t gone into detail here, but you would just include the reference to your formula field wherever you want it to be inserted into the email.
Please let me know if you have any questions! I hope this helps.
-Danny
Mar 13, 2018 02:29 PM
This worked great, thanks!
Mar 12, 2020 04:36 PM
We made a tool that does exactly that. It generates a unique URL for each record. When clicked, it’ll instantly update a specific record in Airtable.
May 19, 2020 07:16 AM
Old thread, but figured I see if I could get an answer. :slightly_smiling_face:
This is great. Though when the person clicks the link, they end up on just the text webhook page. Did you just leave it as that? Or did you find a workaround to have the user end up at a different page somehow?
Aug 04, 2021 10:23 AM
This extension is perfect!
Can this extension be used twice in one dashboard? I’d like to generate one link to change status to “in progress” and a separate link to change status of a record to “done”.