Oct 21, 2021 11:45 AM
I have a table with a linked field to another table.
The linked field refers back to the primary key of the table I am linking back to (eg a unique project number) but that is just numbers and it doesn’t mean anything to most users when searching.
Is there any way I can have the linked field search for the name of the project rather than typing in the unique primary key to the record I want to link back to?
I have added a lookup field but this only pulls in the project name field once I have linked back using the link field by entering the corresponding unique job number,
Solved! Go to Solution.
Oct 21, 2021 12:59 PM
It might help to make the Primary field a formula field.
Move your Unique Project Number to a non-primary field. In the Primary field formula, CONCATENATE
the Unique Project Number and the Project Field.
You can then search by name.
It’s what I did in this use-case.
I have a Proposals table. It is linked to a Foundations table. The Primary field is a formula field that combines a Date field and the Foundation name. Now, if I’m in the Foundation table, I can search a Proposal by name.
On2Air Amplify can also help with this if you don’t want to change your field type. It has enhanced Search features and filtering.
Oct 21, 2021 12:59 PM
It might help to make the Primary field a formula field.
Move your Unique Project Number to a non-primary field. In the Primary field formula, CONCATENATE
the Unique Project Number and the Project Field.
You can then search by name.
It’s what I did in this use-case.
I have a Proposals table. It is linked to a Foundations table. The Primary field is a formula field that combines a Date field and the Foundation name. Now, if I’m in the Foundation table, I can search a Proposal by name.
On2Air Amplify can also help with this if you don’t want to change your field type. It has enhanced Search features and filtering.
Oct 22, 2021 01:55 AM
Thanks for the quick reply and the detailed explanation. This has worked perfectly.
I will also look to give the On2Air a try too.
Thanks again
Karl
Oct 22, 2021 11:43 AM
You bet! Hope it helps!
Dec 22, 2022 12:03 PM
Thank you for suggestion. Wish Airtable has better plan for this.
While the suggestion to concatenate the primary field certainly helps, it becomes a messy solution if the search field is long text or if I want to search more than one field for an expression. I have 1000's of fields on my database and lots of dependancies of the primary field. If I make the changes, I have to move out the field and create new concatenated field, it will take me several hours to complete it because I have so many dependancies with the primary field.