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UseCase: Is This Possible With Airtable (And Only Airtable - no extensions, if possible)

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Richard_Price
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Hey Folks - I’m a new AirTable user using a not-terribly-complex base that someone else built. I love it and want to create something for my real estate business. At a glance, it would seem pretty straightforward, but after playing with it for a bit, I’m not so sure.

I’d sure appreciate it if someone could tell me if this is possible or if I’m barking up the wrong tree. Here’s the simplified use case:

The business is a real estate brokerage. There are agents, agents have multiple transactions, and transactions have multiple documents. Agents need to submit and update transactions.

I have built three tables:

Agents - Agent ID, Agent Name
Transactions - Transaction ID, Agent Name (linked to Agents)
Documents - Documents ID, Transaction Id (linked to Transactions), Document 1, Document 2 (the documents fields are attachments)

Via a form, Agents should be able to submit a transaction. That submission should create the Transaction record and the linked Documents record. As the transaction progresses, the agent will need to update the linked Documents record via a form to attach Document 1 and then Document 2. They may need to update the record to replace Document 1 or Document 2 if either document is modified during the transaction.

If this is generally possible, there are other considerations. For example, we have four types of transactions: purchase, sale, purchase & sale, and referral. Each transaction type has both required and optional documents. The form should be dynamic so that only the fields pertaining to that transaction type are displayed, and the required documents must be submitted.

Make sense?

Is AirTable the right solution for this use case? I’d like to do it without extensions, if possible. I do have Parsey and Zapier accounts, so I can use those if absolutely necessary, but I would rather the end result stand alone in Airtable.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, comments, or ideas - I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

2 Replies 2
Richard_Price
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Bump. Maybe I posted this in the wrong place?

This is not possible with only Airtable.

Well, I should clarify… it might be possible, but the amount of headaches that you & your agents would need to go through is likely not worth it. If you’re trying to make it a user-friendly experience for them, you would need other tools, or you would need to turn them into collaborators on your Airtable base.