Search Formula in Zapier to update multiple records?

[Naman_Hampton]

Following the two tutorials on setting up Zapier, I’ve successfully gotten a Zapier Zap working to update a “Progress” field within the primary “Contacts” table whenever a new row appears in the “Interactions” table. Those new rows appear whenever a user fills out an Interactions Form.

Most of the time, this works just fine. The problem is, users often fill out the Interaction form to apply updates to multiple Contacts at the same time (using linked field). When this happens, the Zap trips an error message (even if the Progress field wasn’t updated). After a bunch of error messages, Zapier shuts down the Zap, and then the Zap doesn’t even work for one-at-a-time updates, until I log in and turn the Zap back on again.

Is there a way I can use a Search Formula for “Step 2: Find Record in Airtable” so it finds multiple records to update in Step 3?

The Interactions table field I’m currently using in Step 2 to match with records in the Contacts table is a an Airtable Lookup field of the email address from the Contacts table. When the Interaction form is submitted for more than one linked record at a time, that lookup field says something like "person1@gmail.com,person2@gmail.com,person3@gmail.com"

Taking a stab in the dark, I tried this for a Search Formula:

OR(Step1: Email)

But that didn’t work.

Any ideas or tips on how can I write this search fomula?

Alternatively, any idea on how I can tell Zapier to ignore those error messages and NOT shut down my Zap when it fails to find multiple people?

[AlliAlosa]

Not sure if there’s a more elegant solution, but if you have an extra Zap to spare, you could use two to accomplish this.

Add a new table that’s linked to the table which includes your form view. Let’s say the linked field is called {Update Trigger}. Set up the Zap to trigger when someone fills out the form, like you already have.

Instead of searching for the record(s) in the next step, choose Update Record and update the same record which triggered the Zap. If you don’t know how to do this, when it asks for the Record you want to update, scroll all the way to the bottom of the drop-down and choose “Use a Custom Value (advanced)”. Next, in the field “Custom Value for Record ID”, choose the Record ID from Step 1.

Insert the comma-separated value of the {Email} field into the linked record field, {Update Trigger}. This won’t work if it’s not comma-separated :slightly_smiling_face:

When this Zap runs, it will leave you with three new records on the new table, each with the primary field being the email address you’re searching for. Finally, create a second Zap with your original workflow to trigger off each new record in the new table. The new Zap can now trigger for each address individually.