---
title: "Using Formulas in Airtable's Primary Field | Airtable Support "
slug: "using-formulas-in-airtables-primary-field"
description: "This article covers how you can leverage formulas in a primary field in Airtable to help ensure record naming uniqueness."
updated: 2025-10-10T17:42:44Z
published: 2025-10-10T17:42:44Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.airtable.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Using formulas in Airtable's primary field

| **Plan availability** | All plan types |
| --- | --- |
| **Permissions** | - **Owner** /**Creator** - Have access to all field configuration options. Additionally everything editors, commenters, or read-only users can do. - **Editor** - Can sort by, filter by, group by, or hide the field within a view. - **Commenter** / **Read-only** - Copy a field's URL |
| **Platform(s)** | Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app |

> [!CAUTION]
> Note
> 
> Below are just two common examples of using functions in primary fields that are the formula field type. For a more extensive overview of the various functions that can be used in formula fields, [please consult our formula field reference](/docs/formula-field-reference).

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")`

![prefixSuffixAutonumber](https://cdn.airtable.document360.io/d0ee2ee4-3f78-47c7-b388-85e40be9fb89/Images/Documentation/prefixSuffixAutonumber.jpg)