Long Text (Rich Text) - not working well with automators

[Stephen]

Hi everyone

I’m using n8n.io to facilitate the process of sending email via AWS SES. The small issue though is that the various nodes used in n8n to send email (both generic email node and AWS SES node) don’t seem to play 100% well with the body of the text I link to it, which sits in a lookup column in my airtable table (looking up from a Long, Rich Text enabled column from an another associated table). Basically, my results of sending such text from n8n suggest the AirTable Long Text (Rich or not) via a Lookup is neither sending across plain text or html text, and instead something in-between. Thus is there anyway to convert the Long Text to pure html?

Thank you

Stephen

[kuovonne]

There are multiple issues here:

• Lookup fields sometimes return arrays and sometimes return simple data types. Try changing the lookup field to a rollup field.
• Rich text in calculated fields are stripped of most formatting.
• Rich text fields are neither plain text nor html. They are Airtable’s flavor of markdown.

You can convert a rich text field to html using a markdown to html converter.

[Stephen]

Thanks @kuovonne. I’ve changed it to a Rollup (linking to the Long Text field) but am unsure as to what formula I should use. Do you have any suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated :slightly_smiling_face:

The Long Text I am linking can be seen below where I specifically need the bolded URL to be active/live links:

Hello,

You have a new paid market research opportunity available on your account.
We are seeking parents of newborns, babies and young children to take part in remote focus groups (60min in duration). This will be a short, informal discussion on the topic of parenthood, covering all things relating to taking care of young children / babies such as food, sleeping routines, environmental concerns, etc.

All parents are welcome - as we’re trying to speak with individuals from a variety of different backgrounds and life experiences.

Sessions are are planned to take place on the following dates/times:

• Thursday, 12th of August - 11:00am - 12:00pm

• Thursday, 12th of August - 2:00pm - 3:00pm

• Friday, 13th of August - 11:00am - 12:00pm

Those who take part will receive an incentive of £60 via bank transfer.

How to apply:

You can apply by following the link below and completing the screener-survey which will assess your suitability:

https://maskedmasked.com/index.php/maskedmasked?lang=en

A note on privacy

You received this email because you are a registered user on maskedmasked. You can stop receiving such emails and delete your maskedmasked account, including all pertaining data, by signing in and going to your settings page (https://maskedmasked.com/user/me/edit) Once there, just click, ““I would like to permanently delete my account from maskedmasked””. Alternatively, please contact us by replying to this email.

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Thank you for reading this.

Kind regards,
Paul
Market Research Executive

[kuovonne]

When changing a text based lookup into a rollup, I usually use ARRAYJOIN(values). On the other hand, this will not solve your problem. As I mentioned in my previous post, calculated fields (lookups, rollups, formulas) strip rich text fields of their formatting. Thus, the act of bringing the rich text field over to the other table removes the bolding and the link. Also, there is no formula that will convert markdown to html.

Here are some options.

• store your message in a plain text field, in html format, and rollup the html field.
• add code that will convert markdown to html somewhere in your workflow