Link to a linked field

[Aaron_Owen]

I would like to link to a linked field on a table so that on the third table, the list presented is a subset of the records in the context of the second table. That probably makes no sense so I’ll try to sketch it out:

Table A
A Record1
A Record2
A Record3
A Record4
A Record5
A Record6
A Record7

Table B
B Record1
linked to:
A Record2
A Record5
A Record6
A Record7
B Record2
linked to:
A Record3
A Record5

Table C
C Record1
linked to:
B Record1

What I would like to create on table C is a column that links to Table A in the context of Table B. So that if I want a link to Table A in the context of Table B, I’m only shown the corresponding records from Table A as selection choices, rather than ALL records from Table A.

In the example above, linking C Record1 to B Record1, the link to linked field on table C would only list A Record2, A Record5, A Record6, A Record7 instead of the entire contents of Table A.

Is this possible today or is this only available as a feature request?

[Elias_Gomez_Sai]

I don’t get want you want, could you make a real life example? Or even your real case :grinning_face_with_sweat:

You want to limit the Table A records available in the Table C field to just the records Linked in Table B? I think that is not possible, nor make sense to me.

[Aaron_Owen]

That’s correct. I’ll lay it out with my real example:

This is a base that manages a company’s internal equipment checkout.

I have a table of equipment, a table of bookings, and a table of issues that pertains to a piece of equipment in a specific booking (and a people table that’s not involved with this scenario).

Let’s say there are 2500 records in the equipment table (every single little piece of gear in the shop’s inventory). Let’s say that a booking is comprised of 25 pieces of equipment. When I go to record an issue that occurred during a specific booking, related to a specific piece of equipment, I want to be able to constrain the list of equipment available to link to in the issue table to only the pieces of equipment used in the related booking.

We want it done this way so that each issue remains attached to the piece of equipment and so we can look and see a history of all issues related to a piece of gear.

[Elias_Gomez_Sai]

I would have a “Line Items” table, to have Booking and Equipment together, and would add the Issues there, so you’ll know exactly in which booking the problem was, not just the Equipment (you could also add other information, like a photo of the equipment status for that particular booking). I would add the Issues from this aux. table, or even from the Bookings table. It’s very quick.

I’ve made a video:

[Aaron_Owen]

Yeah, I get the use of a join table… The reason this is a feature request is because Airtable has several other features that eliminate the need for a join table. Seems like being able to link to a linked field could eliminate another case for a join table.

And it doesn’t seem that this method allows you to see all the issues related to equipment as a history because issues aren’t directly related to equipment, they are related to a booked item.

[Elias_Gomez_Sai]

Aaron_Owen:

Airtable has several other features that eliminate the need for a join table

Which ones you mena? I’m curious.

Aaron_Owen:

see all the issues related to equipment as a history

Ideas:

• You can check them in the Issues table Grouping by Equipment
• And also in in Equipment table with a Lookup to the Issues

Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/9GNZEHQ