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Re: Ordering columns in linked records (beyond the view used in initial link)

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Kris
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

Hello Airtable family,

I’m struggling to figure out a solution on this one and hoping that someone might have a viable approach I can try.

Background Info:
We are using Airtable as a small business CRM, and the services/products sold are in an ‘orders’ table, which links to a ‘customers’ table. Each order links to a customer, and each customer can have several orders linked.

The Mission:
When someone calls our shop, it is common that we need to look at their customer record and see information about their orders on the fly. We want to be able to find the customer quickly in the customer table, expand the record, and see particular information about the orders.

The Challenge:
Our base is, well, rather complex utilizing nearly 100 columns/data points on each order. Filled with formulas, lookups, calculations and even static fields generated from automation scripts. When we input a new order, we use a view that curates these fields to only the ones needed for input. This is also the stage when an order is linked to a customer record.

The result is that when looking at linked order records from the customer table, it displays columns from the ‘input’ view. Instead, we need it to show a few other fields of our choice. I have tried different ways of linking the records, but the order of information within those linked records always comes down to ‘which view was used when creating that link.’

So I’m looking for a creative solution if a simple one doesn’t exist. I already use several automation scripts, if someone has an idea how to use scripting to map the columns as desired, or maybe change some ‘view’ metadata for linked records. Unfortauntely my own search for solutions has somewhat hit a dead end.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or potential solutions. Any questions, just ask!

Cheers,
Kris

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
ScottWorld
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

I believe that when you view a linked record, it shows you the fields from the “top-most view” (or the “first view”) in the linked table.

If your “input view” is currently the very first view, try reordering the views so that a different view becomes the first view. See if that solves the problem.

I’m not actually testing this as I type this, so I’m just guessing that this is the solution.

Also, you might benefit from Airtable’s Search app, which is a very quick way to search through multiple tables & fields at once.

See Solution in Thread

3 Replies 3
ScottWorld
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

I believe that when you view a linked record, it shows you the fields from the “top-most view” (or the “first view”) in the linked table.

If your “input view” is currently the very first view, try reordering the views so that a different view becomes the first view. See if that solves the problem.

I’m not actually testing this as I type this, so I’m just guessing that this is the solution.

Also, you might benefit from Airtable’s Search app, which is a very quick way to search through multiple tables & fields at once.

I love you Scott ❤️

Haha thank you for that simple breath of fresh air. Worked like a charm. I completely missed that and thought it was tied to the view used for linking – but just happened I was also using the top in the table.

Great workaround, thank you. Cheers!

Haha, that is awesome! You’re welcome! :slightly_smiling_face:

If you don’t mind, could you please mark my comment above as the solution to your question? This will help other people who have a similar question in the future. :slightly_smiling_face: