Getting photos to populate from a URL

[JD]

Hoping someone can help me.  I'm sorry if this is not in the correct section.  I'm new to this and not sure of what to call most things.   I'm a crafter and i'm trying to use Airtable to keep an inventory of my craft supplies.  I have imported data from a different system, and have titled the column that contains the URLs for the photos  as "Image" and defined it as URL.  However, i can't get the images to populate.  I wrote an email to airtable asking for help, and although i keep replying to emails saying they're busy, with i want to wait, it's been well over a month and i still don't have a response.  I have tried looking up on the internet in various places, and have found issues the same as mine.  However, the fixes they show apparently are from a different version of airtable than is currently available, as many of the screens they show have different options from what I see, and i have not been able to equate the old to the new to make it work.  When i double-click on a URL, it opens the photo, but i can't get the photo to show up in the cell.   Here are 2 examples of URLs:  https://images.colormylife.com/storage/images/10741/A5A742F8-F798-40DE-B425-8F65659361F8.jpg 

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-qpp12ug7d0/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/6554/18127/bc3b336f-759... 

Could someone please either tell me how to do what i need to do, or point me to a tutorial that uses the current version of airtable?

Much appreciated,
Julie

[ScottWorld]

Hi Julie,

Only attachment fields can show images, so you would need to create an attachment field and paste the URL there.

if you want to have the attachment field automatically download the file from the URL in the URL field, you would need to create an Airtable automation that updates the attachment field with the value from the URL field. (Also, for more powerful attachment automations, you can use an external tool called Make.)

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Try using this "Convert URLs to attachments" script by Airtable.  It'll ask you for a field that contains your URLs, a field to place the attachments, and then upload the files from those URLs into your attachments field

To use it, go to your base, click "Extensions" at the top right, click "Add an extension", then "Scripts" at the top bar.  You should then see this script and you can install it and run it

[JD]

I don't want the actual files to upload.  I don't have storage data.  I just want the images to appear in the cell via the url.  I've seen this done in video's, I just can't figure out how they did it.

[JD]

I don't want the actual files to upload.  I don't have storage data.  I just want the images to appear in the cell via the url.  I've seen this done in video's, I just can't figure out how they did it.

[ScottWorld]

You’re thinking of Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. That is not possible in Airtable, unless you use the URL Preview extension which only displays one Google Drive link at a time. 

[JD]

Not true.  I re-watched a video on You-tube just now to see how that person did it.  She is entering her data into a new base individually one-at-a-time.  So she creates the "photo" field, and defines it as an attachment field.  Then she goes out to the website and clicks "copy image address" over the photo, comes back and clicks "add attachment" in the cell, in the window clicks "URL", and pastes it in.  Hitting enter, it takes a few seconds, but the image pops into the cell just like I want it to.  HOWEVER, the problem is, I already have 467 items in my other database (the one I've imported), and don't want to have to go to each item and manually go thru the afforementioned process for each one.  It will take me years.  I'm trying to figure out how I can take the URLs that have come over in the data from the previous database, and make the photos pop in there.

Like wise, I can manually copy the URL that has been imported, click in the photo field, click "add attachment", paste the URL and hit enter, and it will populate.  However, this has to be done one at a time for every item.  I was hoping i could do it, and then pull down like in excel, but it just fills with the same image.  I need something like a macro that would save my key strokes and perform the same thing in each row as I pull down. 

Does that make sense??

Julie

[ScottWorld · Accepted solution]

Right, that's what I already told you in my very first response at the top of this thread.

What I said above: "You would need to create an attachment field and paste the URL there."

However, you are still continuing to miss the greater point here: Your files will STILL be uploaded into Airtable. Even though you type in a URL, you are STILL uploading that file into an Airtable attachment field.

As I said above, you are confusing Airtable with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

Also, to answer your additional question, you have to do each attachment one at a time, unless you use any of the other 3 solutions which have already been outlined above for you: (1) create an automation with Airtable, (2) create an automation with Make, or (3) manually running a script.

[JD]

I didn't mean to click solved on that, but of course there doesn't appear to be a way to undo it. 

Anyway, thank you for clearly stating the greater point, which I didn't pick up on.  I did not realize that the photos are actually uploaded.  That is unfortunate and seems to defeat the purpose of using the URL.  For the new items i add, I'll just paste the images myself.  If you have to paste something in there, why paste the URL and not just the image itself?

Regardless of that, what I have been trying to ask since the very beginning is your #1 item..."Create an automation with airtable.  My apologies for perhaps not using the proper vernacular to describe what i wanted.  I have watched tutorials on youtube for making the one i need, but they must be using a different version of airtable, because i don't have the same options/screens that they are using.  Do you know of one that uses the current version, so that the screens/buttons/options are where they are shown to be in the photos?

Thanks,
Julie

[Victoria_Ward1]

Thanks Adam!