Any way to open custom app from Automations?

[Anbarasan_Swami]

Hi, I have two linked record columns. Our users use a custom app to link records to these columns.,I don’t want the users to link records directly from the columns but instead use the app. since we cannot restrict permissions to a column, is there a way to open the app when someone makes changes to a column? I am thinking an Automation when the record is updated and open the app from Autmation?

Thanks in advance

[kuovonne · Accepted solution]

Automations do not have the ability to directly interact with the user interface. At best, they can change data in a record, which could change the records in a view. Thus, an automation cannot open a custom app.

If you want to restrict permissions to the column/field in the user interface, you could have the custom app use the rest API to set the field value, instead of the normal methods. It is a much more involved process, and you would loose who actually made the change in the record history.

[Anbarasan_Swami]

Thank you @kuovonne. using Rest API worked perfectly. But I see who made changes to the record history still.

[kuovonne]

Anbarasan_Swaminatha:

But I see who made changes to the record history still.

Can you please clarify? The record history will show who made the changes as best as Airtable can determine. However, when you make changes to using the API, the changes will appear to by the API key, not the user who was running the custom app. That is the information that I am saying that you will loose.

[Anbarasan_Swami]

Thank you. yes, makes sense now.