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Creating new records via automation in Airtable whenever a table is updated


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Been trying to update a table (Table C for our example) whenever Table A and Table B get information without duplicating pre-existing records. I am hoping that I am able to do so simply through the automations in Airtable but so far im stuck since all my attempts have led to errors because my condition cannot be applied.

The my current automation process looks like this:

Step 1, Trigger: Whenever a new record is added in Table A

Step 2: Finds the data in Table C

Step 3, If Condition: Airtable record ID  does not contain Airtable record ID

create record in Table C

I would have used the same process for getting the data in Table B to Table C. The issue here is that there is an error indicating that I "cannot assign list of string to string". Is there a workaround for this? Is there something I can edit or change just so I can get this automation working without the use of a 3rd party interface?

 

 

8 replies

TheTimeSavingCo
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Hmm, how are you checking for duplicates in Table C?  Assuming you're using a unique ID such as email, you could use the condition of "Length = 0" instead, thus creating a record if no records were found. 

Could you provide access to an example base with some data so that I could help further?


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  • May 15, 2023
TheTimeSavingCo wrote:

Hmm, how are you checking for duplicates in Table C?  Assuming you're using a unique ID such as email, you could use the condition of "Length = 0" instead, thus creating a record if no records were found. 

Could you provide access to an example base with some data so that I could help further?


At the moment, there are no duplicates in Table C. It's more or less blank, there is data in Table A and B but they have duplicate records. I just tried using the condition "Length = 0" and nothing happed. There was no record transferred from Table A/B to C. I am new to Airtable which is hopefully obvious by now

How exactly do you want me to provide an example base?


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  • May 16, 2023
TheTimeSavingCo wrote:

Hmm, how are you checking for duplicates in Table C?  Assuming you're using a unique ID such as email, you could use the condition of "Length = 0" instead, thus creating a record if no records were found. 

Could you provide access to an example base with some data so that I could help further?


At this point, how would you do it? I'll just follow however you would just transfer data from one table to another without duplicating data


TheTimeSavingCo
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DreandDrew wrote:

At the moment, there are no duplicates in Table C. It's more or less blank, there is data in Table A and B but they have duplicate records. I just tried using the condition "Length = 0" and nothing happed. There was no record transferred from Table A/B to C. I am new to Airtable which is hopefully obvious by now

How exactly do you want me to provide an example base?


> How exactly do you want me to provide an example base?

You would duplicate your current base, clear out any data you don't want me to have access to, and populate it with example data that would be similar to production data, and once that's done you would provide a share link to your base

> At this point, how would you do it?

I can't say as I don't know your data structure I'm afraid.  For example, I don't know how you're checking for duplicates in Table C.  Once you provide the example base with data in it I can provide some advice though


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  • May 18, 2023
TheTimeSavingCo wrote:

> How exactly do you want me to provide an example base?

You would duplicate your current base, clear out any data you don't want me to have access to, and populate it with example data that would be similar to production data, and once that's done you would provide a share link to your base

> At this point, how would you do it?

I can't say as I don't know your data structure I'm afraid.  For example, I don't know how you're checking for duplicates in Table C.  Once you provide the example base with data in it I can provide some advice though


Here's an example of what I have so far I didnt duplicate it but rather just made a new table and added data that was relevant to what Im trying to put for Table C Table A is the client and arrival time Table B is the client but with a unique ID Table C is where the automation dumps Table A and B to one There should be more information in Table A and B but theres a lot of fields from both tables that aren't needed for Table C so that's why I've only placed this much.

Link: https://airtable.com/shrgUMLe9vALyIL9b

Hope this helps because I'm still lost on this.


TheTimeSavingCo
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DreandDrew wrote:

Here's an example of what I have so far I didnt duplicate it but rather just made a new table and added data that was relevant to what Im trying to put for Table C Table A is the client and arrival time Table B is the client but with a unique ID Table C is where the automation dumps Table A and B to one There should be more information in Table A and B but theres a lot of fields from both tables that aren't needed for Table C so that's why I've only placed this much.

Link: https://airtable.com/shrgUMLe9vALyIL9b

Hope this helps because I'm still lost on this.


Is your goal to get the person's "Number" and "Email" value from the "Contacts" table into the "Bookings" table?  If so, I would suggest looking into linked records and lookup fields, and specifically this guide by Airtable on linking existing records too


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  • May 21, 2023
TheTimeSavingCo wrote:

Is your goal to get the person's "Number" and "Email" value from the "Contacts" table into the "Bookings" table?  If so, I would suggest looking into linked records and lookup fields, and specifically this guide by Airtable on linking existing records too


Among other things, yes. It should just be once since they would be new customers but what needs to be updated all the time in the funneled data table is the date of the most recent booking and the like (Arrival time).


TheTimeSavingCo
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DreandDrew wrote:

Among other things, yes. It should just be once since they would be new customers but what needs to be updated all the time in the funneled data table is the date of the most recent booking and the like (Arrival time).


Ah, so your goal is to get the latest "Arrival Time" value into the "Contacts" table?  If so, link the records together and then add a rollup field pointed at the "Arrival Time" field with a formula of "MAX(values)"


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