Airtable automation trigger: When a comment is added

What can I do with the "When a comment is added" trigger?

The "When a comment is added" trigger runs whenever a top-level comment is added to a record in the table you select. When it runs, it passes the comment's text, the comment's author, the time it was added, any collaborators who were @mentioned, and anyone subscribed to the record. You can use those details in later action steps to build comment-driven workflows, such as:

• Notify the collaborators who were @mentioned in the comment, plus anyone subscribed to the record

• Post the new comment to a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel

• Update the record's status when a comment comes in by adding a condition step

• Log every comment to a separate table, capturing its author and timestamp

• Create a follow-up task when someone asks for one in a comment

Note

Automations you build with this trigger add notification routes on top of the email notifications Airtable already sends for comments—they don't replace them. Collaborators can always control their personal notification settings to turn email off if they don't want to receive email notifications.

Considerations before using the "When a comment is added" trigger

• The "When a comment is added" trigger runs whenever a comment is added to a record in the table you select. The trigger doesn't filter by who left the comment or what the comment says, so it fires for every new comment on any record in that table.

• The trigger fires for each new comment, including comments you add yourself. If you're testing or iterating, expect the automation to run on your own comments too.

• The trigger watches a single table. If you want automations to run when comments are added in more than 1 table, set up a separate automation (or a separate trigger) for each table.

• The trigger doesn't require a specific view or a condition set, so there's no need to configure a filtered view first. If you'd rather an automation fire only when a comment meets certain criteria, pair this trigger with a condition in a later step or use a different trigger such as "When record matches conditions."

Setting up an automation to trigger when a comment is added

1. Open your Airtable home screen.

2. Open the base where you want to create an automation.

3. Click Automations.

4. Click + Create new.

5. Click + Create automation.

6. Click + Add trigger.

7. Once clicked, the available triggers will be displayed for you to choose from. Choose the When a comment is added option.

8. Under the "Table" section, select the table where added comments will trigger this automation to run.

9. Next, test the trigger step. You'll see a green "Step successful" message under the "Results" section after the trigger step has successfully tested.

   1. It's important to test the trigger at this point so that you can utilize dynamic tokens in the automation action steps. Dynamic tokens allow you to pull in information from the record and the comment that triggered this automation, such as the record ID, the comment's text, the comment's author, the time the comment was added, any @mentioned collaborators, and the record's subscribers.

   2. You can click Use suggested record to allow our system to choose a random record that aligns with the trigger type you selected or you can click Choose record to select a specific record of your choice that may fit your needs when testing other steps of the automation.

      Note

      When the trigger runs, its output includes both the record and the comment that was added. When you configure later action steps, look for the comment-related dynamic tokens alongside the standard record tokens to reference the comment's contents, author, or timestamp.

10. Add 1 or more automation actions to finish building out your automation. This will vary by your workflow’s needs. Check out our help center's Automation actions section to learn more about each action Airtable offers.

11. Finally, test and turn on the automation. Be sure to test all of the steps in the automation that you're building. Once every part of the automation has tested successfully, you'll be ready to turn the automation on. Find the red colored "OFF" toggle and click it so the automation now appears as "ON" in green.

Limitations

• This trigger fires on top-level record comments only. Comments on attachments, proofing annotations, and replies inside a comment thread don't trigger the automation yet.

• The trigger doesn't distinguish between comments left by different collaborators. To act only on comments from specific people or comments that contain specific text, add a condition step after the trigger.

• @mentioned collaborators or subscribers are passed to later action steps as dynamic tokens, but availability can depend on your workspace's configuration. If you don't see the @mentioned token in a later step, check with your organization’s or workspace’s admin.