Lookup field overview

Updated
  • Updated on Feb 18, 2026
  • Published on Jul 6, 2022
  • 4 minute(s) read
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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

Note

Click here for a walkthrough of how to add a lookup field in Airtable.

The lookup field allows you to access and use content stored in one linked record for use in another.

Adding lookup fields in Airtable

Note

Lookup fields require a linked record to create a connection between two tables. To use lookup fields, start by configuring a linked record field.

To add a lookup field in Airtable:

  1. Visit your Airtable home screen.

  2. Create or open your preferred base.

  3. Add or edit a field.

  4. Search for and select Lookup. A window opens, allowing you to configure several options:

    1. Click the ⌄ icon under the “Select lookup source” section and choose your preferred source.

    2. Click the ⌄ icon under the “[your preferred source] field you want to look up” and choose your preferred field.

      1. In addition, you can optionally toggle “Only include linked records from that meet certain conditions.” By enabling this feature, you can filter out records that don’t meet your preferred conditions.

      2. You can also optionally toggle “Limit the number of items shown.” By enabling this feature, you can select a limit for displayed items.

  5. Click Create field.

Understanding how lookup fields work with formula fields

Note

The information displayed in a lookup field is collected into a list of values known as an array. In a formula field, you cannot directly access a lookup field's values; you can access the list of values together as a unit.

  • Suppose you reference a lookup field within a formula field. In that case, you may need to initially convert the values into a data type the formula you are working with can accept. We recommend checking out our Array functions when working with a lookup field directly within a formula.

  • Alternatively, we recommend using a Rollup field, which can use a formula on a linked record's field.

In situations like having a linked record field with multiple records, you'll want to change how information returned from a lookup field appears. If multiple linked records exist, the lookup will concatenate the cell values and separate them with a comma.

While changing the comma separator to another symbol is impossible, you can use a rollup field instead of a lookup field. For this approach:

  1. Add and configure a rollup field.

  2. Copy and paste SUBSTITUTE(ARRAYJOIN(values), ",", " + ")into the rollup aggregation formula.

  3. By using the formula above, the rollup field can substitute the comma separator with something like a "+" icon. You can change the "+" icon in this formula with any symbol you'd like to use as a separator.

FAQs

Do lookup fields carry over formatting?

Yes, lookup fields can support rich text formatting when looking up information from fields containing rich text. For more information please see this support article.

How do I format a rollup field's output?

Consult this support article for more information on number-based field formatting.

Which field types require linked records to function?

  • A lookup field returns the value(s) for a specific field from a linked record (or records). You can use this to bring information from one table into another table without duplicating it, so that your information will always be up-to-date in all tables.

  • A count field returns the number of linked records in a linked record field.

  • A rollup field is a bit like a lookup, but instead of just returning the value(s) from a field in a linked record, it also performs a calculation on those values—like summing together all the values from the linked records, or returning only the maximum value from the linked records.

How do I utilize lookup fields with phone number fields in automations?

When using lookup fields that reference phone number field types in Airtable Automations, formatting may not be preserved consistently—especially when the lookup spans multiple linked record relationships.

Phone number fields typically format 10-digit numbers as (XXX)XXX-XXXX. However, when accessed through a lookup field in an automation token, the formatting can appear inconsistently or as unformatted numeric strings. The main reason this happens is because the phone number lookup field ends up being formatted as an array instead of string.

(Recommended workaround) This approach ensures the phone number values maintain consistent formatting when used as dynamic tokens in automation actions. To ensure consistent phone number formatting in automations:

  1. Create a formula field in the table where your phone number lookup field is located.

  2. The formula field will convert the phone number data into a string and give you more formatting options. This formula could look one of several ways, but here are two examples:

    1. {Insert the name of your phone number lookup field} & "" - Super simple and will convert the output to be a string and keep the (xxx)xxx-xxxx formatting.

    2. IF({Insert the name of your phone number lookup field}, CONCATENATE(MID(ARRAYJOIN({Insert the name of your phone number lookup field}, ""), 2, 3), "-", MID(ARRAYJOIN({Insert the name of your phone number lookup field}, ""), 7, 3), "-",  RIGHT(ARRAYJOIN({Insert the name of your phone number lookup field}, ""), 4)))  - This changes the formatting output to be xxx-xxx-xxxx instead.

  3. Update the automation token to reference the output of the new formula field you created instead of the previous phone number lookup field.