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Automation to Find Next Empty Cell in Column

Alex_N
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Is there a way to run an automation where I can find the next empty cell in a column?

I am trying to run an automation where the next empty cell in a column is found and then copy some value from another table over to that empty cell. For example, I have a table with usernames and passwords and another table with names and empty columns for usernames and passwords which will be copied over from the other table.

I know there is a FInd Records action where I can look for empty cells, but that action returns all empty cells and not only the first empty cell.

I think I can get this to work by creating a third linking table where I can automate creating new rows with values from both tables but I am sure there is a simpler way to just find the first instance of an empty cell on a column.

Name Username Password
Peter User1 Password1
Joe User2 Password2
Mary User3 Password3
Paul
Albert
Bob

3 replies

kuovonne
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  • kuovonne
  • Brainy
  • 6002 replies
  • March 12, 2021

Welcome to the Airtable community!

This can be done with a scripting automation.

Here is some other food for thought:

  • Airtable is not a great place to store passwords. Anyone with access to the base can see all of the passwords. But perhaps these are passwords where low security is okay?

  • Since the passwords exist in a different table, consider using a linked record field and look-up fields instead of copying the text strings. Leveraging linked records is one of the powers of Airtable.

  • A script can identify the first record in a view that has an empty field. However, the order of rows can change. Because Airtable is really a database (versus a spreadsheet), records don’t have a fixed position and are not aware of their positions.

Alex_N
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  • Alex_N
  • Author
  • Inspiring
  • 9 replies
  • March 14, 2021

Hi Kuovonne,

Thanks for the warm welcome and for your comment.

The passwords are just an example but it helps explain what I am trying to achieve. I will definitely be linking these tables together though.

Thanks for suggesting a script to do this. Now that I know that this cannot be done simply with just Airtable automations, I will read more into Airtable scripts.

G
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HI, does anyone have an example on solving this? I'm looking for a similar solution where i have about 1000 rows which have account number column filled and via a submitted form, i want to pre-assign user data into the 1st row where a column is empty. 

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