Help

Re: Looking up Field is not populating data from a linked table

3468 6
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
LondonBalling
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I added a Table2 where i want to pull data from Table1

In Table2 i added a Column called “link to Table1” and i made it “Link field type to Table1”

Then i started to adding Columns in Table2 that i made “Look up type”

Example:
in Table1
Column1 (Name): John

in Table2
Column1: Link to Table1
Column2 (Name) Look up “Name” from “Table1”:

But when i fill a record on Table1, Table2 ignores all and nothing is happening, any idea?

14 Replies 14

When linking in Airtable, you need to link a record in Table 1 to a record in Table 2, not just the tables themselves. Have you done that?

I will attach two pictures so you can see where is my mistake

My idea is to have every project data in a Record at Table1 (Clients), and share Table2 (My works) to an employee. Where he will read Clients info population like Adress, Name and he will able to set “State” that can be “In Progress” or “Finished” so in my “Client” table i will read whats is going on with that project.

1

2.png

If {Servicio} is the primary field in the table [My Works], you have to enter the corresponding service into the {Link to My Works} field in the [Clients] table.

Therefore, in your [Clients] table you should type Paint not in the {Servicio} field but in the {Link to My Works} field.

Your primary field in [Clients] should probably be the client’s name, not the service they ordered. Also, since you have a [Servicio]table, it sounds like the {Servicio} field in the [My Works] table should be a Link to Another Record field pointing at the [Servicios] table. If that’s the case, keep in mind that Link fields can’t be the primary field, so you’ll have to make a new field to accomplish that and maybe make the primary field a formula or autonumber.

I was doing the same thing as LondonBalling was. I took it as, first you must link the two tables so they can talk to each other and then, you can create lookup fields in those tables to pull individuals cell data from the other table. I feel it’s not intuitive the way you’ve described it (and the way that Airtable actually works) @Kamille_Parks.

I know there must be a reason; do you have anymore insight as to why it’s done this way and not the way we assumed it?

I think my description is confusing because I find the database structure in the given screenshots confusing. I specified that you link records, not tables, because you have to tell AirTable which record(s) are relevant from a particular table. A Lookup field will display nothing until your Link to Another Record field is populated.

In @LondonBalling’s [My Works] table, the primary field is {Servicio}. There is also a {Link to Clients} field, which will echo the {Servicio} field from the [Clients] table. This means that London would have two different fields reporting what service is preformed. The base is not actually using Lookups and Links where it probably should.

I remade the base here to show how it most likely should be set up, assuming I’ve properly understood what London was trying to build.

0d41b7239ab01c5f5e8f76a7f7d714f76ba86a36.png

Airtable: Organize anything you can imagine

Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything. Sign up for free.

I’ve been trying to figure out how best to make a “Master” table which only receives linked information from other tables and displays it.
In a normal spreadsheet, one could link the cells to duplicate in one sheet, and it would show up in the “Master” in this example, but with Airtable it’s a different process linking the whole table via the first column and I’m not sure if it makes sense to use it for the needs of the above example. A spreadsheet may be more appropriate?
Curious of your thoughts @Kamille_Parks, if you have a moment?

I don’t really know what you’re trying to accomplish. Can you post a screenshot of whatever spreadsheet you’re trying to recreate in Airtable, or describe a real-world example?

Within the attached image, I have the Event Overview table, and it is only supposed to pull information from other tables (Event Basic Info, Venue Info etc.) to display it. It has no function besides displaying aggregated information. There are other links between the other tables as well. I think I’m getting most confused by the linking to the first column design within airtable and don’t know how to accomplish the things just stated within that structure. Does that help describe my problem, @Kamille_Parks ?Screen Shot 2019-05-29 at 07.39.25.png

If you want to pull info from other tables, then you’re using the wrong type of field. Link fields don’t pull information from other tables. They let you create links to specific records from other tables. It’s a manual process of choosing which records to link.

You’re not linking to the first column. You’re linking to the entire record. Because Airtable needs to show you something so you know which record is linked, it uses the contents of the primary field (the first column) as that link label, which may be why you think that the link is pointing to the primary field.

Once you have some linked records, then you can pull in data from other fields in those records using a Lookup field type. Here’s an example. I’ve got a [Clients] table that looks like this:

03%20PM

I then make a [Jobs] table, and want to link to a specific client for each job, so I make a {Client} field that’s a link to records in the [Clients] table:

14%20PM

In this field, I’ll choose the record for John Smith for my first job:

29%20PM

Again, this is a link to John’s record, not just a single field. Because it’s a link to a record, I can use a Lookup field to pull in any field from that linked record. If I want to see John’s email address, I’ll set up a Lookup field like this:

19%20PM

What this does is look at the record linked in the {Client} field, then pull the data from that linked record’s {Email} field into this one:

50%20PM

If John’s email ever changes, I modify it in his record in the [Clients] table, and that change is automatically reflected anywhere that {Email} field’s data is pulled, like my lookup:

26%20PM

53%20PM

Does that help to clarify the process?

This was immensely helpful @Justin_Barrett! I appreciate you taking the time to put this together. I’ll let you know if I have any questions.

Danielle_Goh
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Why isn’t my URL showing up in the lookup field? In other words, the hyperlink is not showing up in the lookup field.

Welcome to the community, @Danielle_Goh! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: Sorry for the delayed reply. Could you describe your setup in more detail? Table and field names, field types, etc. would be a huge help.

Thanks, Justin for the warm welcome!

I have a shadow table that’s linked to WordPress and I update the shadow table through the lookup function automatically. In the overview section, I have a hyperlink in a paragraph of text but in the shadow table, the hyperlink does not appear.

What do you mean when you say that you “update the shadow table through the lookup function”? There is no lookup function in Airtable; there’s a lookup field type, but that relies on links being made to other records, and that may point to the source of your problem. If you’re not making links between records, the lookup field won’t have any data to look up.