One button, one click trigger - to run an entire base at the same time

[Stephen]

I’m not sure if this is an irrational question or not, but is there a way to set up some kind of button (one) that will issue a command to run an entire base/all it’s rows ‘at the same time’?

The reason I am asking this is in relation to connecting to automation software like n8n, zapier etc and reducing the number of api calls (they’re not an issue now but could be in the future).

In my usage case, I have a table that sends and receives sms via n8n and Twilio. I only want to send messages in bulk on a manual basis. At the moment, I have a Checkbox Table that when checked sends the message to the user, and if I need to send to a 1000+ people I would copy and paste down the whole Checkbox select. The issue in my mind with this is that - particularly as the row count increases with more people in the future - there will become milliseconds delays between the first select and the last select, thereby firing off automations (which activate on select) at different times. Therefore - and coming back to my main question - is there is way to fire them all off at once? On a rough/foundational level I imagine all checkboxes to be selected to confirm sms send for those 1000’s of users and then a final large button somewhere on the page that when selected acts as the trigger for the automation software to approve and fire all those 1000s of selected rows at once.

[Bill_French · Accepted solution]

Stephen:

is there is way to fire them all off at once?

I’m not sure I fully understand the requirements, but I think you’re asking –

How would you trigger a single automation process once the entire collection of data entities is determined?

If it’s API calls you are concerned with, the best way to avoid them is not make them; use internal Airtable script actions to work directly with Airtable data and call into external services such as Twilio directly.

If there are simply timing issues gated by the selection or assembly of the actionable data set, consider moving actionable data into a view and then use a single automation action that triggers at a suitable interval (like every 15 minutes) based on the data present in the view of all the actionable records.

Another approach - abstract the automation firing event away from the actionable data by creating a control record in a separate table. Let this record contain a single button that fires the automation process.

[Stephen]

How would you trigger a single automation process once the entire collection of data entities is determined? is absolutely correct.

Thanks for your suggestions (which I’ll look at in full), but admittedly your third point, “abstracting the automation firing” had crossed my mind, but I didn’t know if it was feasible, but this now gives some credence to the idea.