Airtable automation action: Create record

Adding a create record action in automations

Airtable automations are trigger-action workflows that execute a series of steps, often used to take the place of repetitive or tedious work (ex. posting updates, sending messages, etc). All automations include a trigger and at least one action (ex. when a new record is added [trigger], send a message to the assignee [action]).

When building an Automation, you may choose the Create record action. When the automation runs successfully, a record will be created in a specified table. The Create record action can be configured with one or more fields set to any text or to a value from a previous step or both.

To add a “Create record” action in an automation:

1. To start creating an automation, from the open base of your choice click on Automations in the upper left corner of your screen to open the automation configuration window.

2. Click the + Create automation option to begin the setup process. If you would like, you can rename the automation right away to make it easier to understand what it does.

3. Next, click + Add trigger and select your preferred trigger. After completing the trigger setup, test your trigger by clicking Use suggested record or Choose record.

4. After testing the trigger successfully, we can move on to setting up the action. Click the blue + Add advanced logic or action button. This will bring up a menu of options. Click on the Create record option.

5. Next, select your desired table where the new record will be created.

6. Depending on which other Airtable features have been set up in the table where you are creating a record you may or may not see a dropdown under “Create record.”

   1. If you don’t see the dropdown, then you’ll see a “Fields” section where you will choose fields to add static or dynamic information when the record is created.

   2. If you do see the dropdown you can choose between Using specific fields or From a template. Find more information about record templates here.

7. At this point, you might add more automation actions or action groups.

8. Finally, test and turn on the automation. Be sure to test all of the steps in the automation that you are 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.

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