Attachments in automation-generated emails causing error: "An attachment url is disallowed&&

[Tania_O_Connor]

I've seen some posts regarding this same issue, but no recent workable solutions so I'm posting again. This automation hasn't run for a few weeks (since June 😎 and no changes were made but it's no longer working. The step failing is sending an email. I get a message: "An attachment url is disallowed". The entire automation goes like this:

1. When X form is submitted (including Z attachment)

2. Find record (where record ID matches record ID)

3. Send an email to Y email address with Z attachment (from X form submission). File format is pdf if that matters

Steps 1 and 2 run just fine...it's step 3 that throws the "An attachment URL is disallowed" message.

Nothing has changed to the automation or the file format.

What I do notice is a change in the URL of the attachment.

This is the URL (incomplete) of an attachment when it was working on June 8. The root of the URL was cdn.filestackcontent.com

This is the URL of the attachment uploaded in the failed attempt. The URL room is airtable-attachment-uploads-production.s3.amazonaws.com

Any insight into the source of the problem/the solution would be great.

I came across this community post along the way but it doesn't seem to answer the question here.

Thanks!

Tania

[ScottWorld]

You didn’t provide any screenshots of how your automation is setup in regards to attachments, so I can’t tell you whether your automation is properly setup or not.

However, assuming that your automation is setup properly, did you run a test of the automation on an existing record that already exists in your database to see if it works? (Not a test by submitting a form, but a test on an existing record that already exists.)

If it works, then your automation is probably firing too quickly after the form is submitted, because Airtable needs a significant amount of time to finish uploading attachments.

If this is the problem, I would just use Make to handle your automation, because you can use their Sleep Tool to pause your automation for up to 5 minutes before continuing.

There can be a bit of a learning curve with Make, which is why I created this basic navigation video for Make, along with providing the link to Make’s free training courses. There are also many Make experts hanging out there who can answer other Make questions. 

p.s. I am an expert Airtable consultant with tons of expertise in working with attachments, so If you have a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you create this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consulting — ScottWorld.

[Tania_O_Connor]

ScottWorld,

The thing is, I haven't changed a thing and this automation has been working for over a year now. There have been no changes and all of a sudden it doesn't work. I've seen your comments in other threads about Make, but this is simple Airtable functionality that should work properly, as it has been and shouldn't take a 3rd party software to perform correctly. 

[ScottWorld]

You haven’t changed anything, but Airtable has changed EVERYTHING about attachments in the last month.

If you’re using a formula field, that won’t work anymore. If you’re trying to access an attachment too soon after an upload, that won’t work either. 

You still haven’t posted any screenshots, so I am unable to help you further. 

[abdurraafi]

Yes this a very recent issue that is affecting some of my automations that have been working perfectly for the past year but starting throwing the 'An attachment url is disallowed' error in June 2023. Hope airtable at least tells us of a workaround that doesn't require 3rd party software.

[ScottWorld]

There are several workarounds/solutions that already exist in Airtable. Here's one of them.

[Tania_O_Connor · Accepted solution]

I figured out the problem with my automations....I hope this helps someone out there! Just as a note, this was working for us for the past year and only started failing sometime over the past few weeks.

This is how the original automation looked:

The attachment was taken from the step "when a form is submitted", where they would upload a document "expense report":

Again, that was working for a long time until it just stopped working recently. The send email task would fail and I got an error "An attachment URL is disallowed".

What I did was change the automation to go like this....I would update the record with the expense report document and then send the email. I changed the attachment to actually select from the "update record" step, where it pulls the newly submitted document from the record.

This is what the attachment selection looks like:

I tested this on other automations that were built the same way that used to work and were also now failing. They all work now. Given how many people are experiencing this, I suspect it's related to something that they have changed.... Best of luck everyone!

[Aaron_Smith]

Thank you for working on this and posting the solution.  Shouldn't they fix their own bug???

[ScottWorld]

Report it as a bug to support@airtable.com, and let us know what they say.

[Aaron_Smith]

I have contacted support