Re-Linking data or two way sync?

[matt_stewart]

I understand two-way sync won’t work currently, maybe never. But is there a way that I can re-link data?

For example…

Base A is a Product Catalog for Sales, and shares project data to Base B
Base B is a Product Catalog for Designers, and shares product updates back to Base A

the product updates appear in Base A, but they are not linked to their original Products. IS there a way to VLookup or automate the re-linking?

The idea is that Base A adds items that Sales needs.
Base B collects the limited info that is needed for Design to work on projects, and shares limited design updates back to Base A.

I currently have this all done in a single Base that gets messy, and gives access to too many eyes on information that is not needed. Since there is no way to block views to tables based on user groups, the idea of Sync has me interested in seeing how to setup this via separate bases.

[Jarvis]

I’m thinking of doing something similar. While I haven’t tried it yet, I’m going to do this first:

• in Base A, I have a column called “Status A” - a single-select field - which I want others to be able to edit. So what I’ll do is…

• In Base A, I’ll make a new column with an autonumber (to generate unique IDs). I’ll make sure this column is visible and synced with Base B

• In Base B, I’ll make a single-select field called “Status B”. I’ll set up an automation that whatever is in “Status A” column, should get copied over to “Status B”

• I’ll set up a “Last modified B” column, which will record whenever “Status B” gets changed. Will also make another one for “Status A” column. Then I’ll set a condition in the above automation so that it only triggers if “last modified A” is before “Last modified B”. This part is going to be tricky and I’ll need to test this first to be honest, still haven’t fully mapped it out in my mind

• I’ll resync the view in Base B back to Base A, and set up an automation that will copy over the value from “Status B” back to “Status A” in Base A.

This is still all hypothetical, and I haven’t actually tried it yet, so I’m pretty sure there are loopholes here. I’ll get back with an update when I can

[Tuur]

Jarvis:

Then I’ll set a condition in the above automation so that it only triggers if “last modified A” is before “Last modified B”.

You can always do it with a formula. Maybe you’ll need to expose the “last modified A” in the source though (haven’t tested this function on a destination yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that scenario doesn’t work).

[Tuur]

Just did a quick test, and you’ll indeed have to expose last modified in the source table. On the destination side it will show the last sync time by default.

[SJP]

You can automate the relinking. Send a share view from Base B to Base A. This will create a table B within Base A. Create a new linked record field in this table B - this will link back to the first table of your Base A. Set an automation to populate this linked record field any time it is empty. All your records should have the same primary field, and you the automation should fill this primary field into the linked record field. This should match them all up.
I was able to achieve essentially two way sync between bases by using the automations to accomplish a similar use case as yours. It sucks there is no option for two way, hopefully they get around to it at some point.

[matt_stewart]

how are you getting the linked field to populate? im not seeing a way to do this in the automation, or do I need it to run a script on any blank ones and write the code for?

[Harry_Singh]

In automations set the linked record value to the record of the same name in the original table. The primary field (first column) should be a unique value that is the same everywhere, so if you add a linked field to another table, the other table’s record must have same value in the primary field.

I built an example workspace relinking data back and two way sync of fields between two bases. You can add yourself and see how it works: https://airtable.com/invite/l?inviteId=invYwbTYNmlgV1Yfa&inviteToken=62f607ef2cf89da9382fa6ca8297bb6...

[Joel_Andrews1]

[JonathanB]

Hoping that Airtable bring out two-way sync eventually. Was just looking at unito.io which provides this service, so seems there is some considerable demand for it. There are some workarounds to do it with one way sync and automations, but they’re not that easy to get to work.

[matthew_b]

Hey @JonathanB @matt_stewart @SJP !

Just wanted to share that yesterday we released a two-way sync between Airtable bases using Whalesync: Airtable x Airtable (Two-Way Sync!)

Think it might solve the issue described above!