Link collaborator field to employee field in another table

[ScottWorld]

This isn’t yet possible in Airtable because we can currently only link tables to tables (not fields to fields), but it would be really awesome if we could link a collaborator field (that IS NOT the primary field) in a “Projects” table to a matching employee name (which IS the primary field) in an “Employees” table.

That way, we could get all the extra features & benefits of a collaborator field, while simultaneously getting all the features & benefits of a linked field. 🙂

The workaround for now is pretty simple: We just have an extra field inside the Projects table which is the link to the employee table. (Only problem is that we now have 2 fields in Projects which have the exact same information in them.)

[Jean_Roubas]

Hi,
Thanks for bringing that topic up.
The other issue that I face with your workaround is that this extra field can be manually changed, contrary to a “created by” field that displays collaborators. If you have any suggestion to work around that too, I’d be keen on reading it !
Best

[ScottWorld]

If you’re looking to create a field that editors can’t change, just create a formula field.

[Jean_Roubas]

Unfortunately a formula field cannot link two tables

[ScottWorld]

Unfortunately, unlike other database systems, Airtable doesn’t link tables based on field values. Airtable only links tables based on records. A linked field itself must always be editable, or else you can’t link records. Airtable doesn’t link based on field values.