Shortcut To Enter New Record?

[Marco]

This may sound like a silly question but is there a shortcut to enter a new record? I have tables that are sometimes hundreds of records long and don’t want to scroll to the bottom just to click the plus sign to add a new record.

Also trying to avoid using the context menu to insert a new row. Is there no quick add button anywhere at the top or did I miss it somewhere?

[Justin_Barrett]

Shift+Enter will make a new record, though if you’re in the middle of your table, it will insert the record below the currently active one. You can quickly get to the bottom of your table list by pressing the End key on the keyboard, though, then Shift+Enter will add the new record to the end of the list.

[Marco]

Thanks for that, it’s helpful. The caveat to this is that these shortcuts won’t work when looking at a table where you’ve grouped the data. I’m almost forced to change the view to one that does not have any grouping criteria and then add a new record.

For example, I tend to use my Interactions table using a GROUP by household. If I’m adding a new interaction with a household that does not yet have any interactions, I don’t see a way of doing this without first changing my view to just show all interactions without any grouping.

[Justin_Barrett · Accepted solution]

Marco:

The caveat to this is that these shortcuts won’t work when looking at a table where you’ve grouped the data.

Those shortcuts work whether or not the records are grouped. I just tested it. Pressing End takes you to the end of the current group, and Shift+Enter adds a new record in that group.

Marco:

If I’m adding a new interaction with a household that does not yet have any interactions, I don’t see a way of doing this without first changing my view to just show all interactions without any grouping.

I do something similar with my task list, which is grouped by project. If I want to add a task to a project that isn’t currently visible in the group view, I’ll just add one (Shift+Enter) to the end of an existing group and type the details I need, including changing the project. Once the project changes, Airtable moves it out of the former group into a group for that project. I’m guessing you could do something similar in your situation. Add a new interaction record to any existing group, and change the household as you edit that new record.

[Alexandre_Desja]

Hello, it doesn’t work on my side, Shift+Enter doesn’t add a new record if the view is grouped by a field.

[Justin_Barrett]

@Alexandre_Desjardins Correct. You can only add new records to a group if the field driving the group is not a calculated field (formula, lookup, rollup, etc.)

[Alexandre_Desja]

@Justin_Barrett In fact I tested it in a new empty table without any filter or group, and the shortcut doesn’t add a new record (row). I tried it in Chrome and Safari.

[Justin_Barrett]

@Alexandre_Desjardins Have you selected a cell in a field first? You have to have a field cell selected before that shortcut will work. It won’t work with nothing selected.

[Alexandre_Desja]

@Justin_Barrett Ha! With another cell selected it works. But if I use it in a view that is grouped, it does it in a group instead of a new empty one at the end. Same problem if I have a long list, if you want to add it at the end, you have to scroll all the way to the end. Would it be possible to make the shortcut work by adding a new empty row at the end when no cell is selected?

[Justin_Barrett]

@Alexandre_Desjardins

Alexandre_Desjardins:

But if I use it in a view that is grouped, it does it in a group instead of a new empty one at the end.

So you’d like to add a new empty record in a grouped view, but not add it to a specific group? If that were to happen, Airtable would still add it to a group that just has no value selected/set for the grouped field, most likely putting that lone record and group at the top of the groups. When grouping records, all records are grouped, even if the grouping field is empty for some records. There’s no such thing as an ungrouped record when the view groups by a specific field.

Alexandre_Desjardins:

Would it be possible to make the shortcut work by adding a new empty row at the end when no cell is selected?

That’s a question you’ll have to ask Airtable support. I’m just a fellow user.