Do you want to manually run a script on a record, but without opening a script app by clicking a button? True, a checkbox can act as an automation trigger, but if you have several automations that you want to manually trigger this way, you’ll end up cluttering your table with checkbox fields. This method lets you manually trigger one of several automations with a single field. I’ve done this in a couple of different use cases, and it works fairly cleanly.
- Make a single-select field named something like
{Action}
- Add a choice in this single-select for the action you want to perform; e.g. “Generate Invoice”
- Make a new automation using the “When record matches conditions” trigger, setting the condition to be:
When "Action" is "Generate Invoice"
- Add a script action that does what you want, passing the record ID and anything else you need from the triggering record
- Finish the automation with an “Update record” action to clear the
{Action} field after the script runs
Add more single-select entries and related automations for any other actions you want to perform. Each action becomes a two-click process instead of the one-click process you have with a button, but the sidebar stays closed, and a single field can act as a trigger for multiple automations. It also prevents accidental triggers that could happen with a checkbox-triggered automation. Obviously this won’t work if your script requires user input, but it’s great for times when you just want to trigger a script to run in the background.
