Bug with the "button" field?

[JonathanB]

Hello everyone. I’m stumped with an apparent “bug” with the button field I’m hoping someone can resolve. I have a button configured to open Outlook (desktop) and send the contents of a record in an email, filling the addresses, subject and body using mailto code, etc. It works fine 95% of the time but every so often you click the button, and nothing happens. You can even see in the status bar at the bottom of the browser the code already to go, but for some reason…nothing. Anyone else having this issue or can suggest how to resolve it? Thank you?

[Florian_Verdon2]

Hi @JonathanB

I guess you are using a mailto link to open your default email client.
Could you please show us the link you are using ?

From what you explain here, I don’t think there is a “clear reason” of why this would “bug” only 5% of the time but maybe we can figure it out with more details.

Florian

[JonathanB]

The code I’m using in the button is

IF({DM25. Duty emails}="","", “mailto:” & {DM25. Duty emails} & “?subject=” & “Out of Hours call #” & {DM1. Log number} & “&body=” & "SITE: " & {DM3. Site} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "DATE AND TIME OF CALL: " & {DM5. Date of call} & " " & {DM6. Time of call} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "DUTY MANAGER: " & {DM12. Duty manager} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "NAME OF CALLER: " & {DM14. Name of caller} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "CALL DETAILS: " & {DM19. Call details} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "ADVICE GIVEN: " & {DM20. Advice given} & “%0D%0A” & “%0D%0A” & "UPDATES: " & {DM21. Updates})

The field {DM25. Duty emails} is a lookup field that looks up a string of emails, separated with semi-colons. In the case where the button isn’t working, this field is non-empty, just like on the others where it does work.

[Marko_Petrovic]

I am afraid I cant be of much help with your problem, but I wanted to ask how do you configure Airtable to open external applications like desktop Outlook? Might be I missed something in Button configuration :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

[ScottWorld]

JonathanB:

The field {DM25. Duty emails} is a lookup field

A lookup field is not a string of text, it is an array. Try making it a string of text by using:

{DM25. Duty emails} & ""

[kuovonne]

JonathanB:

The field {DM25. Duty emails} is a lookup field that looks up a string of emails, separated with semi-colons.

If the problem only occurs when you have multiple recipients, try using a comma instead of semi-colons. I also suggest using a rollup field with ARRAYJOIN(values, ",") instead of a lookup field. ARRAYJOIN always returns a string.

You can also look at the other fields and see if there are any other data issues. For example, do all the date/time fields have values, or are some of them blank? If any of them are blank, the formula might produce an error.

[JonathanB]

I’m just starting the button code off with a mailto: link. Then if Outlook is set as the default email client, clicking the button should open an new Outlook email ready to send.

[JonathanB]

Thanks, but unfortunately this doesn’t solve the problem. I’m now using commas instead of semi-colons, and the records where the button hasn’t been working don’t contain any blank values.