Duplcating part of a recored using an automation or form or button?

[Robert_Croydon]

Is the a way that a non collaborator can take some (but not all) fields from an existing record and create a new record from it that then can be edited, using some sort of form, button or automation?. Ie Can I have a name, address, email address duplicated but not the various date/$ amount and various notes fields?

We have a table that includes customer name and address and payments made and often we have to pay the same person more than once but with different amounts and for different reasons. I realise if we had known this from the start we could have created a seperate customer table but we are to far down the road to go back and change that.

Thanks in advance

[Databaser]

Hi @Robert_Croydon

Robert_Croydon:

I realise if we had known this from the start we could have created a seperate customer table but we are to far down the road to go back and change that.

I would take the time to reconsider this :winking_face: It isn’t that difficult to create new linked tables based on your already existing data.

[Robert_Croydon]

Is there an easy guide somewhere on splitting a table into 2 parts and doing this?

[kuovonne]

Robert_Croydon:

Is the a way that a non collaborator can take some (but not all) fields from an existing record and create a new record from it that then can be edited, using some sort of form, button or automation?

You can have a shared view with a button that opens an Airtable form prefilled with the name, address, and email of the original record. The non-collaborator can then fill in the date, amount, and other fields in the form.

The you can use the “Prefilled Forms Url” part of the Ready-Made Formulas app to build the URL.

Allowing non-collaborators to edit the record after it is created is a bit more complex, but possible.

On the other hand, I also recommend looking into creating a separate [Customer] table and using a linked record field. Make a copy of your base to play around with until you are sure you know what you are doing.

1. In that copy, decide which field uniquely identifies a customer. Often it is the email address.
2. Convert the email field to a linked record field in a new table. Airtable will create the table and populate it with the emails.
3. Create lookup fields in the new table to bring the name, address, etc. over to the [Customers] table.
4. Convert the lookup fields to single line text fields so they are no longer calculated.
5. Go back to the original table and convert the name and address fields into lookup fields (or delete them.)

Note that creating a customers table can have other implications on your workflows, especially on how your data is entered. Make sure you understand the ramifications of the new data structure before making the changes in your production base.