Managing Airtable automations

After successfully setting up and testing your automation(s), you can activate your automation by clicking the "On/Off" toggle in the upper left-hand corner of the automation configuration window. After turning the automation on, the toggle will be green. To turn the automation off, simply click the toggle again.

Next to the name of an automation, click the arrow dropdown ⌄ to reveal a menu where you can click:

• Rename automation - You can rename an Automation if you have "Editor" permissions or above in the base where the automation resides. With the automation's setup window opened you can either click the dropdown menu next to the current name and choose "Rename automation" or simply double-click on the name to begin editing.

• Edit description - Add a description of the automation to help other users better understand what it accomplishes.

• Copy automation URL - This is a direct link to the automation, that only collaborators with Editor permissions in the base or higher can access. For example, this can be helpful to add to descriptions across Airtable so that other users have clarity about the automations in a base.

• Duplicate automation - There are times when you may already have built an automation that is close enough to another automation you are going to build. Or perhaps you want to tweak or test a few things while maintaining your original automation.

  • Duplicating the automation will cause a new automation named "{Your automation's name} copy" to be created.

  • Note that whatever testing state the trigger and action(s) steps have in the original automation will be matched in the duplicate.

  • Additionally, if the tests have all run successfully on the original, but now something has changed in the duplicate, then the trigger or action(s) will need to be successfully retested.

• Delete automation - To delete an automation you need to turn it off first. Deleted automations will be stored in the base trash for a short period of time should they need to be restored.

In cases where you have edited an automation’s configuration while the automation is still “On” you can update an automation without having to turn it Off and back On again by clicking the Update button that appears. You can also click Discard changes to reset the configuration to the state it was in before the edits were made.

• Sometimes you may need to access information in your automation's run history (e.g. troubleshooting to see who may have not received an email automation, etc.) To access this information, you will need to navigate to the Automation history section in your automation's setup window.

  • Here you will be able to see the run history of both failed and successful automation attempts. Clicking on a log item will show the details of the executed automation. The time of execution will be displayed in each collaborator’s local time.

  • Within the Run history window, you will not be able to see any tests that were performed as part of the setup process, so your automation will need to have triggered at least one action while an automation was turned on for you to see any run history.

  • You can also choose to "Rerun" any past failed runs of an automation. This can be especially helpful for troubleshooting and testing automations. Read more about rerunning failed automations here.

    • Sometimes, clicking the rerun option will also fail. It's possible that some part of the automation is broken and needs to be updated. However, even after updating the automation to run correctly, the rerun option will still not work. This is because the automation is still attempting to run the automation in its previous state, the configuration state of the automation when the run was first attempted. In this case, you may need to build out a custom automation using a different manual trigger, such as a checkbox field, to "rerun" the automation.

• You can also navigate to the Version history tab within the Automation history section to view previous versions of an automation and whoever authored that change. You may need to access this information to understand in what ways your automations have changed over time.

  • Clicking a log item will open a dialog with details about the configuration of that previous version. You will not be able to edit or test this previous version.

  • Learn more about the automation revision history here.

Note

The individual user who last toggled the Automation "On" is the user who will receive failed automation run notifications.

If the list of automations isn’t already showing, click the Automations list option near the upper left corner of the automation configuration screen. Once open you can sort and section (group) automations:

• Sorting

  • When hovering over the automation you want to move, you'll see a six-dot icon appear to the right of the automation you are hovering over. Your mouse will appear as a hand icon and you can then click and drag the automation to move it somewhere else.

  • You can also sort sections and move automations from one section to another. We'll cover that below.

• Sections

  • Near the bottom portion of the automations list under “Create…” click the Create section + option. Once clicked, a new section will appear that you can rename.

  • You'll also see a "More" section automatically created. This is where automations not nested in a section you've created will appear.

  • You can also collapse and sort sections. It's worth noting that the default "More" section will always appear at the bottom.

  • Last, if you want to delete a section, then click the ... three-dot icon next to that section and then click Delete section. When a section is deleted, any automations nested in that section will be moved to the default "More" section unless no other sections now exist.

Note

You will be unable to undo the trigger change, so consider making a duplicate automation first and then adjusting the trigger.

In some cases, you may want to change an automation's trigger step because the previous trigger was either incorrectly chosen or is no longer relevant because of changes made to the base. By navigating to the automation's setup window and opening the trigger step you can click the “Trigger type” dropdown menu to choose a different trigger for that particular automation.

There will be a warning message letting you know that changing the trigger may invalidate certain configurations that you've previously set up. Be sure to work back through both the trigger and the action steps, filling in any parts that may have become invalidated, and retest those steps.

Note

You will be unable to undo an automation step's action change, so consider making a duplicate first and then adjusting your action type.

In some cases, you may want to change one of your automation's action steps, because the action type you chose wasn't quite right for the job at hand. You can change an automation step's action type by navigating to the step in question, and clicking on the dropdown menu below the "Action type" section. Then, choose another action type from the menu.

A warning will appear asking whether you are sure you want to make the change. Be sure to work back through both the trigger and the action steps, filling in any parts that may have become invalidated, and retest those steps.

Sometimes you may want to change certain details of an automation that you have created. In these cases, the best practice is to create a duplicate automation in case you need to refer back to the previous state of the automation. However, during the course of making updates, if you decide that the changes you have made should be discarded, then click Discard changes and the automation will revert back to the state it was in before you began making those changes. This is an all-or-nothing option. Individual actions or triggers cannot be reverted in a more granular way at this time.

Note

Automation run limits reset on the first of each month.

To confirm how many automation runs available or used:

1. Open your Airtable account overview.

2. Select the workspace with the automations run history you want to review.  

3. Review your automations run history under the “Usage” section.

Emails sent from Airtable Automations come from noreply+automations@airtableemail.com to ensure that emails aren't flagged as spam. There isn't a way to change the email sender to appear from another email address.

Workspace owners will receive an email that their workspace is approaching the limit when the threshold is 80%, 90%, and then 100% reached.

While an automation is ON, that automation will send an email notification whenever it fails.

• Notifications will always go to the last person to commit a change to that automation.

• If you’d like to have failure notifications sent to a different person, that collaborator can toggle the automation OFF and then back ON, which will revise the automation and update the notification recipient.