Zapier Advanced Search if field “CONTAINS”

[Jeremy_Chevalli]

I need to know how to tell Zapier to return an Airtable record where {Email Address} CONTAINS a specific string. I have already read the article everyone seems to be linking to in other threads, which has not proven useful in educating me on advanced search parameters.

Formula I’m currently using returns only cells which match exactly the string, but again, I need to find cells that CONTAIN that string, even if they have more characters at the end, like a tab or space.

{Email Address}="<TriggerValue>{{42085547__So exciting! What is your email address?}}<TriggerValue>"

Would I simply change the = to something else?

Do I need a command such as CONTAINS= but then how would I know that other than asking the community? Is there a place where I can find a whole list of advanced search parameters like this?

[openside]

You can use the formula functions (see here: https://support.airtable.com/hc/en-us/articles/203255215-Formula-Field-Reference#text)

So the FIND or SEARCH functions would be what you want

[Jeremy_Chevalli]

Thanks for the response! Zapier didn’t like them, but I’ve found a workaround. Much appreciate your help regardless.

[jowan_qupty]

Can you please share your workaround Jeremy?
I’m attempting to do the exact same thing but am stuck and not sure how to proceed.

[Arlo_Haskell]

Try this: Formula help for an IF(logical, value1, value2)

[jowan_qupty]

@Arlo_Haskell, thanks for the link. However, my problem is not with the Airtable formula, but with the Zapier advanced search.
I am attempting to search the {Phone Number} field to see if it CONTAINS my trigger value “from”.

Here’s a sample of my zapier advanced search formula that’s not working:
(FIND("{{43369726__from}}<TriggerValue",{Phone Number}))>0

This should theoretically give me a “1” for the record that matches, and therefore “find” that one record in question that matches/partially matches my trigger value, however Zapier keeps telling me it can’t find the record.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :pray:

[Arlo_Haskell]

I’m assuming {Phone Number} is a phone number type field. This is just a guess, but maybe that field type is the issue. Have you tried converting phone numbers into a text value via a new formula field and searching that field instead?

[jowan_qupty]

I’ve figured out the problem (however, haven’t found a solution).
It is because my {Phone Number} field was a lookup from another table. Even converting it into a text value via a new formula field doesn’t work.
Creating another field within Airtable with the Find formula works just fine, giving me 1 or 0, however I guess the Zapier advanced search doesn’t work on lookup fields ??

[Jeremy_Chevalli]

Hey, sorry I didn’t see this sooner. My workaround was to manually ensure email addresses are entered correctly. Not much help at scale. Let me know if you find anything else!

[alex]

Hey @jowan_qupty, I’m experiencing this exact same issue, was wondering if you or @Jeremy_Chevallier found a solution for this? Essentially, this doesn’t work because it appears to be an “exact match”:

Have you found an “advanced search” type that would allow for this type of “if contains” type of search?

Essentially, I lookup client information based on their email domain. In some edge-cases though, clients have 2 or even 3 email domains making things super difficult. Unless you are able to somehow so a search based on “contains”?

@openside maybe could you do this with On2Air: Actions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!