Phone Number Format "CLICK TO CALL" option on Web App

[RnJ]

It would be nice if Airtable added a “click to call” formatting for phone numbers. That way if you use Skype/Teams or another service you can simply click the phone number you want to call. The mobile app allows it, so not sure why we can’t have on web app.

[Justin_Barrett]

Per the conversation earlier in this thread, you can add the “tel://” prefix in a formula field to make it clickable in the browser version:

"tel://" & VALUE({Phone Number})

[Bridget_Griggs]

Thank you, Justin. I will try that. I saw that but I wasn’t sure if there were updates since then.

[Sven_Klein]

Alright, this is no bad. But how can i make the formula field not to delete the first “0” in numbers? We are calling customers in France, Switzerland and Germany and the format should be either:

0041791112233 or +41791112233 (if we get the phone numbers in this format 0041xxxxxxx) the zeros are deleted.

0041791112233 tel://41791112233 -> which does not work.

Any help?

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Sven_Klein! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: In your situation, you should drop the VALUE() wrapper around the phone number field reference.

"tel://" & {Phone Number}

For ten-digit phone numbers, referencing the field alone will return a string that includes punctuation in & around the digits:

(111) 222-3333

VALUE() strips away the punctuation, returning the numerical value of the numbers within the string. Because a true number (i.e. not a phone number) wouldn’t have leading zeroes, they’re removed by VALUE() automatically.

FWIW, if your base has a mix of ten-digit numbers and longer overseas numbers, this formula will work for both:

"tel://" & IF(FIND("(", {Phone Number}), VALUE({Phone Number}), {Phone Number})

[Sven_Klein]

Justin_Barrett:

"tel://" & IF(FIND("(", {Phone Number}), VALUE({Phone Number}), {Phone Number})

Hi @Justin_Barrett, thank you very much for your quick response. This is highly appreciated. I think, we can you set up Airtable for our team :slightly_smiling_face:

[Faustine_Pastor]

I exported all our contacts from Google as a CSV and uploaded it to Airtable. I’d like for users to be able to call contacts directly through the app by turning the phone numbers into links that prompt the phone to dial–not calling through the app.

If I make a column to the left or right of the numbers with the following formula, tel://(referencing a phone number next to it) can it work?

I can’t seem to make it work or any of the formulas I’ve seen in this specific forum.

Thanks!

[Justin_Barrett]

Faustine_Pastor:

If I make a column to the left or right of the numbers with the following formula, tel://(referencing a phone number next to it) can it work?

That depends on the data in the phone number field. If you could provide specific examples of the phone numbers, we can offer more specific guidance on how to set this up.

[David_Walker]

Here’s the two-step solution I settled on for click-to-call, in case it helps anybody. It works on a database of predominantly Australia numbers plus some international ones.

1. Keep the phone numbers in a “single line text” field type.
2. Apply the following formula to create a new “formula” field:

“tel://”&REGEX_REPLACE(ContactPhoneMobile,’[^0-9+]’,"")

Step 1 stops Airtable from reformatting the number in a way which creates problems outside the US.
Step 2’s formula strips the string of all but digits and plus signs and adds a “tel://” at the front to create a clickable link.

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @David_Walker! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: Thanks for sharing your solution! Many of our earlier solutions could also be optimized by using the REGEX_REPLACE() function, which didn’t exist when those solutions were shared.