Universal variables

typo · ‎Oct 07, 2024

I'd love to be able to designate universal variables that could be referenced from any table in a base. So, for example, if I have a sales tax rate of 8%, I'd like to set that sales tax rate in one single place and then be able to reference that in formulas across the entire base. Currently, if I want to set up this type of variable, I need to 1) create a table of variables then 2) make sure every single record in the other tables is linked to the variables table 3) add a lookup field to every table that looks up this universal variable 4) create a formula which references this variable in the lookup field. For each universal variable, one should be able 1) give it a unique name that could be referenced in formulas across the entire table 2) set a data type (number, currency, percentage, etc) Then, if the sales tax rate changes, I just update the reference variable, and the changes propagate to all the formulas in the base that reference it. It's true that this could be done with manual copy paste or automations, but that's a LOT of work or automations for a very basic bit of functionality. It could easily eat into an automations cap on an AirTable plan. I imagine that it is pretty easy to script for someone who knows how to code, but that's a lot of work (or vendor cost) just to set a variable. I'd love to be able to tell AirTable: "I'm creating a universal variable called "SalesTax". It is a percentage variable." Then enter the number 8% and be done.

kuovonne · ‎Jul 30, 2024

What is the proposed idea/solution? Formula fields have recently gained the ability to be formatted as single selects and checkboxes. I propose that formula fields also have the ability to be formatted as users and rich text. How does is solve the user problems? User fields are very useful for filtering records in interfaces, especially for filtering on the "current user". However, currently, the filter only works on actual user fields, but sometimes the user should be a calculated value. For example, a record might have a different assignee, depending on the stage of the record. It would be useful to have a formula field calculate the current assignee so that the interface page can then show all of the records where the user is a current assignee. For rich text fields, I currently have a formula field that serves as a template to build paragraphs in markdown, combined with an automation that copies the formula result to a rich text field. If the formula field could be formatted directly as rich text, I would not need the helper rich text field or the automation. This would also reduce issues with determining when the automation needs to be re-triggered. How was this validated? Based on my experience with Airtable, I think these features would be useful. Who is the target audience? ...

Zollie · ‎Jul 25, 2019

The formula field reference is missing the most basic array functionality - retrieving information based on index. If implemented, there are many use cases. Here’s one: Assignments collaborators Amy, Peter, Tanya Stage number (int) 2 Current Assignment formula {Assignments}[ {Stage} ] => Peter

Roman_Scher · ‎Feb 12, 2019

It can be difficult to understand what someone’s formula is doing when the editing window is so small and the formula is huge, spanning many lines and wrapping many times, sometimes with deeply nested IF statements. It would be great to have a larger space to view and work with the entirety of the formula, especially if the formula is also prettily formatted and structured to make it more readable!

Jeffrey_Bowdoin · ‎Apr 02, 2019

It would be nice if we had a global filter that we can apply to all the views. You could have the option of having a filter per view as it is, but another feature of a global filter that affects all views. My use case is an editorial calendar with multiple sites. I still need the individual views to have different filters, but it would be nice to have a global filter to only show one website I am working on, while going to each view. This would be an easy, yet very useful feature. One that probably a lot of people wouldn’t realize how useful it is until they tried it.

Chris_Polus · ‎Jun 17, 2020

I’ve seen questions if formulas can access other tables, and it’s a no. Workaround is that you use lookup fields and calculate with those fields from within the same table. But this very quickly clutters the table with fields from other tables, only to get them into a formula. Our tables quickly grew and got really messy. I’d like to skip one step and directly access other tables in formulas: {DesignTable.TimeEstimation}+{ProgrammingTable.TimeEstimation} This would de-clutter a lot of tables for us. Since I haven’t found a feature request for this, I’d like to request it here. Thanks! Chris

SamGluck · ‎Oct 01, 2024

What is the proposed idea/solution? Currently we've got the option of formatting a formula field as a single select, I'd like to format it as a muliple choice How does is solve the user problems? I'd use this feature for labeling records with what fields still need to be filled. Lets say the Name and Email fields are empty, it would show at the top of the record red labels of what information still needs to be filled in the record, and as you enter the info, the labels disappear. Yes you can use automations with a script for this, but it doesn't work instant. it takes 10-15 seconds per run. using a formula would be instant.

Danarone · ‎Jun 06, 2023

What is the proposed idea/solution? A Project Archive Feature to make it easy to 'deactivate and hide a project when certain criteria are met. An archived project would be grayed-out, hidden completely everywhere in the base or moved into an Archive Table. It would no longer affect any rollups or calculated fields. To make it active again, the user goes to Archive settings, click 'Show Archived Projects' then changes the criteria back to active. How does is solve the user problems? Current solutions only hide the project from view. it is still active and you need to consciously filter it from view everywhere in the base. Or you need to manually copy the project to an Archive table and delete from active which is tedious. How was this validated? No validation has been performed. Who is the target audience? Project managers with multiple projects that have a lot of fields/data. Their organization is known to pause or cancel a project and re-activate it again at a later date. Or they simply want to save old projects for reference.

ScottWorld · ‎Apr 26, 2020

This post inspired me to make this product suggestion. We already have the DATETIME_FORMAT function, which lets us use a formula field to reformat the data from a date-type field into a text string of our specifications. But it would be really great to have that exact same ability to reformat a number field or a currency field into a text string of our specifications. For example, take these 2 fields: Currency Field — formatted as currency with $ sign and precision of 2 decimal points Number Field — formatted as decimal with precision of 4 decimal points If we put these 2 fields into a formula that results in anything other than a single number result, they lose all of their formatting. So instead of a desired sentence which looks something like this: “You bought 0.4500 pounds at $2,200 each.” The formula currently looks like this: “You bought 0.45 pounds at 2200 each.” We can easily add in the dollar sign, but adding in the commas and trailing zeros is harder to do in a calculation.

kuovonne · ‎May 30, 2020

Currently if a formula field will return only a date or a number, Airtable will have formatting options for that formula field. However, if the formula will return a string or might return a string, or might return anything other than a date/number, there are no formatting options. Sometimes I write a formula so that it will usually output a date or number, but will return a string if an error condition is met. For example, a formula might calculate the number of days between two dates (a number) but output a string if the end date is before the begin date. This product suggestion has multiple parts to deal with these situations: Allow formulas to output errors which are distinct from the calculated value. For example, if a formula calculates a negative number, but negative numbers are not allowed from a business logic point of view, have the formula report an error that would be recognized as an error, not just another value. This would be similar to the #ERROR message, but could include a human readable string saying what the error is from a business logic point of view. Once formulas can report errors as errors, many formulas that sometimes return strings could then be considered to always return a number or a date or an error or blank, and thus could have formatting options. Increase the formatting options for formula fields to include formatting options for all the formula types. For example, a formula could be formatted as a centered check box (not just a left aligned emoji), as a rating with stars, as a select (with the colors of a select).

Universal variables

Format formula fields results as user and rich text fields

Retrieve info based on Array Index

Make formula fields more readable

Add a Global Filter (Affects all views)

Formulas Able To Access Other Tables Directly

Formula to format as multiple select

Project Archive

Similar to the DATETIME_FORMAT function, it would be great to have a FORMAT_NUMBER_OR_CURRENCY function,

Formula field formatting options and errors output

Format Formula as Checkbox

CSV Import in Interfaces

React to Record Comments

Allow Emoji reactions to comments

Multiplying by percent column yields result that i...