Need Direction - How to have many users interact with small amount of data

[Doug_Gregan]

I need direction for this goal…

I have a large list of names that I want a smaller number of users to interact with, primarily, selecting some names from the large list.

The smaller user group are not collaborators; I could never afford that and they don’t really change any data, they make selections.

The large list could be in the thousands, the smaller User Group in the hundreds. People are usually selecting between 1 and 30 names.

I need to be able to embed this name selection process into a website and mobile environment. I’ve tried Google Sheets, but hit a brick wall. I am afraid I’m going to need to develop a formal app and have no idea how to do that. So…

Does anyone have any ideas? Thank you, in advance, for any input.

[Jen_Rudd]

Interfaces just launched yesterday, you may be able to share an interface to interact with the records they need to. Otherwise a form with automations would work, depending on how you set it up. Field one is the linked record they are going to edit, field two is the person selection, once form is submitted, the automation updates the actual table that needs to be updated with the selection from the form.

[Doug_Gregan]

A good portion of this made sense, some of the second half did not. I’ll look into interfaces and see its limitations. I sincerely appreciate you making time to comment and might come back to you for more clarity later. Thank you!!!

[Jen_Rudd]

Of course! Happy to walk you through the form process if interfaces aren’t the right solution.

[Doug_Gregan]

One of my biggest issues is what to do about so many people needing to interact with the data. Airtable sees each of those people as collaborators who need an account. These are Volunteers and only interact with this small portion of the data. I don’t get the impression interfaces can be shared, so I don’t know what direction to go with that… ?

[Jen_Rudd]

Yes, it looks like you are inviting them to the base. I can look at a form process, give me a bit.

[Doug_Gregan]

That would be amazing

[Doug_Gregan]

Hi Jen. I have to confess, I don’t know where to start with a form to accomplish what I need to do. In my understanding and experience, the Form interface only allows me to interact with one record at a time. In this model I need to view and interact with multiple records. (See my graphic for what I basically need to do.)

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Maybe an example… Anything is better than where I’m at!

[Jen_Rudd]

Hi @Doug_Gregan sorry, I started to work on it and got sidetracked with some other projects. I started to use automations to take the new form entry and update the liked table (table 1) but was running into an issue pulling the record id’s on linked records in automation. I usually use zapier or integromat for this, but am trying to get away from third party apps in general and I’m sure you want to keep a flat stack for this simple process.

Could use a script for the matching, otherwise integromat is the lowest cost solution. I’ll see if I have an update record script in my possession today when I’m at my desk.

[Jen_Rudd]

Hi @Doug_Gregan still working on it, running into some issues with the logic. Wish it was a simple answer :slightly_smiling_face: