The primary field is always the first column, or field, in any table. It represents a description of each record in the table and cannot be deleted, moved, or hidden. The primary field is used as a brief description of a record in other parts of the UI. This article covers how you can leverage formulas in a primary field in Airtable to help ensure record naming uniqueness.

Concatenation in the primary field 

Formulas can be used with the CONCATENATE() function or the ampersand sign & to join string data from other fields and/or static text strings.

• Using the ampersand method, you can build a formula that combines the client name, some static description text.

  {Client & ":order #"}&{Order no.}

• Using the same example but with the CONCATENATE() function instead. As you can see, the formula outputs the exact text string:

  CONCATENATE({Client},": order #", {Order no.})

Autonumbering in the primary field 

Primary field formulas can also be combined with the autonumber field type to assign each record a unique number automatically.

In the example below, the formula below concatenates the:

• Static text "MYPREFIX"

• Variable value ( {Autonumber}) which comes from the field named "Autonumber."

• Static text "MYSUFFIX" to create unique record names in the primary field.

All together, the formula would look something like this:

CONCATENATE("MYPREFIX", {Autonumber}, "MYSUFFIX")

Building a formula for a primary field in a sync source

When no single field in your source table is unique and descriptive on its own, combine two or more fields into a formula primary field:

1. Open the source base, then open the table you plan to sync.

2. Double-click the primary field's header, then select Formula as the field type.

3. Enter a formula that joins a name with a date or other distinguishing value, and handle blank records so they don't produce an empty result. For example: IF({Name}, {Name} & " - " & DATETIME_FORMAT({Start date}, "M/D/YYYY"), "Untitled record")

4. Click Save.

5. Repeat in every source base you're syncing from, using the same formula so the values line up in the destination.