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Search Linked Field other than on primary key

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I have a table with a linked field to another table.

The linked field refers back to the primary key of the table I am linking back to (eg a unique project number) but that is just numbers and it doesn’t mean anything to most users when searching.

Is there any way I can have the linked field search for the name of the project rather than typing in the unique primary key to the record I want to link back to?

I have added a lookup field but this only pulls in the project name field once I have linked back using the link field by entering the corresponding unique job number,

Best answer by Hannah_Wiginton

It might help to make the Primary field a formula field.

Move your Unique Project Number to a non-primary field. In the Primary field formula, CONCATENATE the Unique Project Number and the Project Field.

You can then search by name.

It’s what I did in this use-case.

I have a Proposals table. It is linked to a Foundations table. The Primary field is a formula field that combines a Date field and the Foundation name. Now, if I’m in the Foundation table, I can search a Proposal by name.

On2Air Amplify can also help with this if you don’t want to change your field type. It has enhanced Search features and filtering.

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    Hannah_Wiginton
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    It might help to make the Primary field a formula field.

    Move your Unique Project Number to a non-primary field. In the Primary field formula, CONCATENATE the Unique Project Number and the Project Field.

    You can then search by name.

    It’s what I did in this use-case.

    I have a Proposals table. It is linked to a Foundations table. The Primary field is a formula field that combines a Date field and the Foundation name. Now, if I’m in the Foundation table, I can search a Proposal by name.

    On2Air Amplify can also help with this if you don’t want to change your field type. It has enhanced Search features and filtering.

    ---Hannah - On2Air.com - Automated Backups for Airtable
    ScottWorld
    K
    2 people like this
    • ScottWorld
      ScottWorld
    • K
      Karl_Olney
    K
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    • Karl_Olney
    • Author
    • New Participant
    • 2 replies
    • October 22, 2021

    Thanks for the quick reply and the detailed explanation. This has worked perfectly.
    I will also look to give the On2Air a try too.
    Thanks again
    Karl

    Hannah_Wiginton
    1 person likes this
    • Hannah_Wiginton
      Hannah_Wiginton
    Hannah_Wiginton
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    Karl_Olney wrote:

    Thanks for the quick reply and the detailed explanation. This has worked perfectly.
    I will also look to give the On2Air a try too.
    Thanks again
    Karl


    You bet! Hope it helps!

    ---Hannah - On2Air.com - Automated Backups for Airtable
    I
    Forum|alt.badge.img+19

    Thank you for suggestion. Wish Airtable has better plan for this.

    While the suggestion to concatenate the primary field certainly helps, it becomes a messy solution if the search field is long text or if I want to search more than one field for an expression.  I have 1000's of fields on my database and lots of dependancies of the primary field. If I make the changes, I have to move out the field and create new concatenated field, it will take me several hours to complete it because I have so many dependancies with the primary field. 

     

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      Rachel_Marshall
    ScottWorld
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    • ScottWorld
    • Brainy
    • 8794 replies
    • July 29, 2023

    There is now an external solution to this problem. You can now use Fillout, which lets you specify as many fields as you want that will be searchable in linked record fields.

    I
    Forum|alt.badge.img+19
    ScottWorld wrote:

    There is now an external solution to this problem. You can now use Fillout, which lets you specify as many fields as you want that will be searchable in linked record fields.


    This is an external form outside of Airtable so may not work exactly the way the OP wanted.

    Can you explain more? How do you see this as a solution?  

    By the way, does it mean I design the Fillout form and that allows me to search any field that is in the table and select that record? Does it pre-fill the remaining fields based on what is already filled in Airtable? I thought forms can only create or update records but not view existing records e.g. calculated values. 

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