Kuovonne's Guide to Airtable

Pages
- Kuovonne's Guide to Airtable
  Fields
  Overview of fields types
  Editable Field Types
  Computed Field Types
  Field Types by Formula Data Type
  Field Types in Scripting
  Specific field types
  Formula fields
  Demystifying Formulas (DareTable 2022)
  Rollup fields
  Select fields
  Attachment fields
  Uploading Attachments
  Attachment Size
  Attachment URLS
  Thumbnails
  Converting Field Types
  Naming fields
  Metadata fields
  Simple Metadata Fields
  Data Validation
  Additional Dependencies
  Original Record URL (Thumbprint) Field
  Column Divider Fields
  DareTable 2023 Presentation
  Field dependencies
  Formulas
  Formula Field Reference
  Writing Formulas
  Using AI to Write Formulas
  General tips for writing formulas
  Testing for Blank Values
  Drafting Formulas in Parts
  Function versus Operator
  Typing Special Characters
  Commenting Formulas
  Formulas to avoid
  Formatting Formulas
  Basic Rules
  Nested IF formulas
  SWITCH Formulas
  Operators
  Specific Formulas
  Ranges of Numbers Values
  Comma Separated List of Fields Values with Optional Fields
  Earliest / latest date across columns
  List Fields Values (one per line) with Optional Fields
  Rounding a date to the half year
  Url of Interface Page for a record
  Removing varying items from a list
  Data Type Conversion in Formulas
  Text to Numbers
  Numbers to Text
  Data type conversions with Dates
  Troubleshooting Formulas
  Formulas that won't save
  Hiding or showing #ERROR!
  Troubleshooting date/time/duration formulas
  Troubleshooting numeric formulas
  Troubleshooting formulas with lookups
  Troubleshooting text formulas
  Automations
  Triggering automations
  Triggering automations for typed values
  Triggering automations on existing records
  Sending Emails
  Ways to send emails
  Using links in emails
  Emailing Attachments
  Accessing updated record values
  Third party automations
  Managing automation runs
  Templates
  Templates for record values
  Templates using field values
  Controlling Access
  Sharing a base
  Access control considerations
  Techniques for limited access
  Airtable interface
  Share link access
  Synced table
  Prefilled forms + Automations
  3rd party portal
  3rd party webhook
  Preventing base duplication
  Specific Solutions
  Most recent form submission for ermail
  Email digest of a person’s records
  Sum of Multiple Select choices
  Link to multiple records based on select choices
  Dropping Lowest Score (top 4 of 5)
  Identify the position of a record in a linked record field (top 4 of 6)
  Sequential Numbering of Records
  Ending a list of rollup items with ", and"
  Table ID in a formula
  Latest/earliest date across several fields
  Associating People with Records
  First Tuesday of the Previous Month
  Miscellaneous
  Web API Calls for External Integrations
  Getting paid to work with Airtable
  Hiring a consultant
  Airtable Communities
  Making major changes to a base
  Suggestion for this guide

Kuovonne's Guide to Airtable

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General tips for writing formulas

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General tips for writing formulas

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Here some tips for writing formulas:

Understand the data type that each field type uses for formulas: text, number, date, array. Note that the data type for a field varies depending on context. Single-selects are treated as text in formulas, but are objects in scripting. There are hints as to data type by looking at a cell value (text is left aligned and numbers are right aligned), but you cannot tell the difference between some data types just by looking at cell values. Also, learn how to convert from one data type to another.

Read the

Formula Field Reference⁠

and refer back to it when you have a question about a particular function. This is the vocabulary of formulas, and the more vocabulary that you have memorized, the easier it is to find the right words to say what you want. Know the data type of each input parameter and the data type of the output.

Understand the grammar of formulas. No space between a function name and its open parenthesis. Commas between parameters.No trailing comma after the last parameter. The importance of straight quotes around hardcoded text.

Understand how to nest one formula inside another. Knowing data types (of both inputs and outputs) and where to put the commas is essential for this. Use a multi-line style of writing formulas to make nesting clear.

Understand “truthy” and “falsy” values for IF() conditions. The number zero, empty strings, BLANK(), FALSE(), ERROR() are all falsy.

Know if you are working with an array or not. Often lookups are arrays. Arrays often behave in unexpected ways in formulas.

There usually are multiple ways to do things in code, but some ways are better than others. Features of a good formula include producing correct results, being easy to understand, and avoiding excessive calculations.

Even though formulas are code, there is no explicit support for comments or for assigning values to variables.

Keep writing formulas. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Test your formulas as much as possible. Test typical cases. Test edge cases. Test blank values. Test error conditions.

Work to understand every word and piece of punctuation in a formula.

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