Last modified time [SOLVED]

[Katherine_Duh]

UPDATE 2: last modified time is now available to everyone! You can learn more about it here.

UPDATE: The last modified time beta is now closed as we get ready for a general release. Thanks to all of the testers who made this beta a success.

ORIGINAL POST:

Hi folks! We’re very excited to announce that we’re beta testing a last modified time field type, as well as a LAST_MODIFIED_TIME formula function. Many thanks to the users who’ve posted specific, detailed feedback about their needs and use cases with regard to this feature, like @Arlo_Haskell, @Deborah_Buck, and @Jordan_Friedman. We read everything that is posted here in the forums and your feedback is incredibly valuable for us when we’re planning the product roadmap and developing new features!

If you’re a Pro plan user and you’re interested in testing out the last modified time field type and/or the LAST_MODIFIED_TIME formula function—and giving us your feedback—please sign up using this form. (Note: this is a different form from our standard beta signup form, and it requires you to fill out a couple of additional questions.)

As you are all aware, this is a highly anticipated feature, and there are many users who would like to get beta access. However, for technical reasons and to ensure an optimal user experience, rollout for this beta will be conducted in small, limited batches. (In practical terms, that means that it might take a while for you to get access.)

[Tal_Saron]

+1 Definitely a vital field to have for tracking purposes!

[Kelly_Appenzell]

I am building a CRM for my nonprofit in Airtable and the MODIFIED_TIME() is SO NECESSARY. It is currently the only missing piece!!! Please please make this happen.

[Alex_Evers]

+1 Would love to see this in the near future.

[Saurabh_Gupta]

I have been wondering if the below could be a way out until Airtable builds this much requested “last-updated” feature in the application :

1. Create a new Text column called “Hash Value” and a Function column called “IsSynced”

2. The function column will compute the hash value (which is basically a concatenation of all the other columns of the table) and compare it against the “Hash Value” column. If they are not equal, it will return “False”, else “True”

3. There will be a separate “cron job” running on an external server that will use the API and check for only records which are not synced (i.e. whose IsSynced column value is false).
   It will then “process” those records, meaning whatever the business logic is required to handle “updated” records. If required, it can also update a “Last Modified” date-time column with the time stamp when the job is run (which means that if the cron job is run every minute, then the “last modified” value will be out of sync by maximum a minute. Finally it will compute the new hash value (which is basically a concatenation of all the other columns of the table) and update it in the “Hash Value” column (which will automatically result in the IsSynced column being set to True, until the next update on the row happens which would cause the IsSynced to again become false and get picked up by the above cron job again.

The advantage of the above process, is that marking of “updated” records will be directly done through airtable function column, thereby avoiding the need to download the entire table and cross referencing the values externally.
Only those records which are identified as “updated” will be dealt with externally using the API, which should solve most of the cases which require an “update” trigger that is currently missing.

I am a rather new user to Airtable and still learning around, so would be glad to hear feedback on if the above makes sense (or not)

Thanks!

[Enrico_Noriega]

Any update here? I’m reading through the older comments in this thread and it seems it has been 1.5 years now since this feature was first requested. They don’t seem to be interested :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

And can you guys make the formula editor window bigger??

[Katherine_Duh]

The last modified time beta is here! Please see the top post in this thread for further details.

[W_Vann_Hall]

I was wondering when that would appear — I noticed it pop up as a datetime function a while back, but not one that could ordinarily be accessed. :winking_face: Kudos to Emmett and the team!

[Dan_Richardson1]

I had the owner of our workspace apply for the Beta. What is the expected turn around on getting a response and having access granted for our base? I don’t want to have to keep asking him to check his email for a response.

We are trying to use airtable as a scrum tool, but we are debilitated by this particular feature, along with not being able to subscribe to certain field changes.

[Goce_Ristov]

What I find lacking over and over again is time when a field(not record) was last updated.

Example: I have a field status. I need to know when the status was changed from In Progress to Completed. That way I can group all Completed tasks by month and calculate pay for this month.

I think it is not too much to ask and it is a very basic and must-have feature for a project manager softwaer.

[Elias_Gomez_Sai]

You could add a Datetime field for the completion, and automate it easily with Zapier.

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