Help

This Product Ideas board is currently undergoing updates, but please continue to submit your ideas.

Have a way to search automations and automation scripts for records/fields/text

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
JeffJohnVol
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect
Status: New Ideas
What is the proposed idea/solution?

A way to search a base to find references to a record, a field, or a piece of text that may exist in any of the scripts. Or perhaps have an info block on each table that would reference any automation that is triggered from it, or is referenced in an automation's javascript code.

How does is solve the user problems?

I am starting to get really good at automations and scripts, but sometimes I can't remember where I may have done a specific operation. Other than taking all of my scripts, pasting into text documents to search, there doesn't appear to be a way to search the platform.  Having this would make development easier and allow users to avoid duplication.

How was this validated?

...It would be a new feature, pretty easy to verify.

Who is the target audience?

...Developers, auditors, anyone troubleshooting.

2 Comments
ScottWorld
18 - Pluto
18 - Pluto

That would be a nice feature to have, and I know that many people have requested that in the past.

In the meantime, one possible solution for you would be to outsource all of your automations to Makeโ€™s advanced automations for Airtable, which offers the ability to do a โ€œfull text searchโ€ of your previously-run automationsโ€ฆ and theyโ€™re even working on an incredible new feature called Make Grid that lets you simply click on an object and it shows you everywhere else throughout all of your automations where that object is referenced. I donโ€™t know when that feature will be released to the public, but you can get on the beta waitlist at that link above. 

If youโ€™ve never used Make before, Iโ€™ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

For example, here is one of the many different ways that you could instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable.

Hope this helps! If youโ€™d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant โ€” ScottWorld 

JeffJohnVol
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

Thanks @ScottWorld  . Yeah, I really need to dig in and start using make.com.  Thanks for listing the resources, hopefully I'll be able to gain a foothold in that platform. Even though I'm doing some cool things with airtable scripts, I feel like make would take me to the next level. For example, I hope to eventually have an integration with paypal to check an account's paypal subscriber id and update airtable to the last payment they made (amount and date) so I can produce a recon process. I know I'd have to use make or zapier for that.  The search capability you mention is just one more reason I need to make the transition.