Airtable automation trigger: When a form is submitted

The “When a form is submitted” automation trigger can be used to trigger an action when a response is submitted to the specified Airtable form. This article covers how to use this trigger along with an Automation action to identify and update records created by a form submission. Think of this automation trigger as the beginning step of the ability to automate custom workflows that will follow a form submission.

Automations are included in every Airtable plan, with varying limits depending on your plan. For more information please see airtable.com/pricing.

Video overview

In this short video we walk through the entire setup process for this trigger and the example action.

Setup

After you have configured your base in the way you wish, you can then begin building an automation. It’s important to know that if you modify your base while creating an automation, then you may need to retest any trigger or action steps related to the table, view, field, or record changes that you’ve made.

To start creating an automation, click on “Automations” in the upper right corner of your screen. Then, click “Create a custom automation” to begin the setup process.

Choose a trigger

After clicking “Create a custom automation” you can give your automation a helpful name like “Update team for new form submissions”. This is something you can always change later as discussed in this article. Next, choose “When a form is submitted” from the trigger step dropdown menu.

Customize options

Once you’ve selected the trigger, you’ll be able to specify the table, and form, to use to trigger the automation.

Test the trigger

After your trigger is set up the way you want it, you must click "Run test" to ensure the trigger is working properly. If the test runs successfully, then you can move on to adding an action.

Add an action

After successfully testing the trigger step you can now move onto adding in an action or a set of actions depending on what you want this particular automation to perform. Check out our help center’s Automation actions section to learn more about each action we currently offer.

As an example, one helpful action you can pair with this trigger is to update / categorize records that are created from a form. This is beneficial for situations when there may be a mix of records being created externally (via form) and internally (by Airtable collaborators).

Example

In the example below, we’ll accomplish two things:

1. Identify new project ideas created via form (externally)
2. Categorize those records by updating the record with the automation action

To set this up, add the “Update record” action. Select the same table that you used in the trigger step, and populate the Record ID field with the “Airtable record ID” option like shown below.

Lastly, choose a field to categorize the record as being created from a form. In our case, the “Submission Type” field will be updated with the option “External (via form)”.

After selecting the field to update along with the value to update it, run a test to ensure the action is working correctly. Now, whenever a new form submission appears in the selected table, the automation will update the record with the values set in the action.

FAQs

Can multiple forms be selected in the trigger step?

No, each trigger is scoped to use 1 table at a time.

Is the "When a form is submitted" trigger needed for every form?

No, forms created in the form view can be submitted regardless of whether or not there is an automation containing this trigger. Instead, this trigger allows users to automate custom workflows after forms are submitted. In other words, this trigger is additive, but not mandatory.

Can this trigger be used with interface forms?

No. Only form views created in a base can be referenced by this automation trigger. In most cases, another automation trigger can be used to provide similar functionality. For instance, using the When record created or When record enters view triggers might be good alternatives to use in the workflow you are building out in an interface.