One of my fields is a link to another table. I’d like end-users who are using the Form to add data to be able to create new records in the linked table but from the primary table data entry form.
I agree that this is a key missing feature in Airtable’s forms.
My guess is that Airtable didn’t include this feature because people could then do all of their data entry within forms (which are free) instead of within Airtable (where most people are paying for a Pro subscription).
There are workarounds to this problem, although they’re not perfect — you could use JotForm or TypeForm to create static forms (although they wouldn’t be able to pull in any data from your Airtable database, so you’d have to completely build your forms from scratch over there), and then you could use Zapier to take the submitted data and send it to the appropriate tables in Airtable.
The extension will link the record if it matches a given value (email, name, phone, etc.) that’s submitted with the form. If a record with the same value does not exist, it will create a new record for it.
There is also a demo video on their site as well.
I haven’t played with this myself yet, but I am in search of the exact same solution as you are. This might be the solution here!
form A, in table A which links to existing records in table B
form B, in table B which adds new record to table B
In form A paste a link in the field description: “Hey! If you didn’t find the record you were looking for, click here [form B] to go add it. Then come back and use this form again :thumbs_up: ”
Ooh, that’s clever! Works great for solutions like this, where seeing a list of all the linked records is actually a VERY IMPORTANT PART of the form (as opposed to, say, a list of customers where you’d want to keep all the customer names private). This is a brilliant & easy solution!
My guess is that Airtable didn’t include this feature because people could then do all of their data entry within forms (which are free) instead of within Airtable (where most people are paying for a Pro subscription).
If that’s the case, they could implement it as a paid feature. Make it so that only forms on a paid subscription allow for new linked records.
