Note necessarily the answer you are hoping for, but as an interim work-around, you can do this:
- Define your tables as described in your original post.
- Define a linked records field tying the
[Daily Expenses] table to the [Months] table.
- Enter monthly expenses as normal, but ignore the linked record for now.
- One you have entered the expense data, select the
{MonthNo} cell in row 1.
- Scroll to the last row in the base. While holding down the shift key select the
{MonthNo} cell in the bottom row. The message '## cells selected' should appear in the lower left of the screen.
- Press
Ctrl-C to copy the cells. The alert '## cells copied' should pop up in the lower left of the screen.
- Scroll to the top of the base and select the
{Months} cell (that is, the linked record cell) in row 1.
- Press
Ctrl-V to paste the {MonthNo} values into the {Months} column. The alert 'Pasting...' should pop up in the lower left of the screen. Airtable will create links between the expense and months tables.
Yes, it is still a manual process — but it is not a manual data entry process, so the possibility for error is minimized.
From your description, it does not appear you make use of the linked record during data entry — that is, you do not seem to drill through from the [Daily Expenses] record to the [Months] record to enter data there; obviously, if you did, this approach would not work for you.
While I have not tested this, I assume this copy/paste routine could be performed on a record-by-record basis using Zapier. (In fact, as the copy and paste both take place on the triggering record, it could be run from a free Zapier account — subject to the tasks-per-month and time interval limitations of such accounts. If you are interested in pursuing such automation, the Zapier Guide contained in the [Documentation] table of my Wardrobe Manager base offers a step-by-step guide to defining such a Zap.
