Search Linked Field other than on primary key

[Karl_Olney]

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,

[Hannah_Wiginton · Accepted solution]

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.

On2Air | Accomplish Anything with Airtable – 16 Jun 21

On2Air: Amplify | On2Air

On2Air: Amplify is record editor and viewer. Create custom records by displaying or hiding fields, view documents or attachments in full-screen, and edit current records or create new records directly from the dashboard. On2Air: Amplify is an...

[Karl_Olney]

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

[Hannah_Wiginton]

You bet! Hope it helps!

[itoldusoandso]

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.