Please add the ability to add formulas & reference other columns to the Rich Text Format type columns. Would be great if can have a default text option as well 🙂
I’m pretty sure closing feature gaps like this may now be possible with the Script Block.
For example, implementing a default rich text feature would simply scan all empty records and drop in the default text. Since Airtable’s rich text field is really just a Markdown implementation, scripting Markdown text is simple work. Run the block occasionally to update the empty rows.
The Script Block is a paid feature, Rich Text Fields are not. As such, Airtable should add rich text to formula fields, or formulas to rich text fields, in all plans without forcing users to learn Javascript.
Indeed. This is a product management issue as much as a technical challenge. Historically, Airtable has missed some of these key feature alignment requirements and why I often ask - where is product management’s voice and why aren’t they all over these conversations?
Right again. No one should be forced to learn javascript and certainly not the flavour or with the constraints that accompany Script Blocks [beta].
To be clear, I didn’t suggest that anyone should be forced to do anything. Rather, I made the comment that this may now be possible with Script Blocks. In fact, I characterised this approach as a possibility by using the word “possible”. :winking_face:
But I must also point out, that the vast community of users are actually forced to craft insanely complex formulas and data model choices to overcome many deficiencies of the product. Learning a little javascript may actually be far less insane than building 32 IF/THEN dependencies to split a string.
I don’t often defend many of the choices that Airtable has made, but I must defend the idea that integrated scripting is a vastly more sane approach to overcoming many of the seeming cul-de-sacs inherent in Airtable. Philosophically, I get it - people who came to Airtable for its code-free claims are suddenly thrust into code to overcome these shortcomings? The irony does not escape me.
No Surprises
For many of the companies that I build solutions for, there’s a common thread of sensibility that is pervasive –
No user should ever be surprised with unexpected constraints.
In a tool like Airtable there is a pervasive understanding that pretty much all data fields are subject to formulaic manipulation; no exceptions.
Surprise! Rich text is not subject to formulaic manipulation.
