Airtable automation action: Create record

Adding a create record action in automations

Airtable automations are trigger-action workflows that execute a series of steps, often used to take the place of repetitive or tedious work. All automations include a trigger and at least one action (ex. when a new record is added [trigger], send a message to the assignee [action]).

When building an automation, you may choose the “Create record” action. When the automation runs successfully, a record will be created in a specified table. The create record action can be configured with one or more fields set to any text or to a value from a previous step or both.

To add a create record action automation:

1. Open your Airtable home screen.

2. Open the base where you want to create an automation.

3. Click Automations.

4. Click + Create new.

5. Click + Create automation.

6. Click + Add trigger and select your preferred trigger.

   1. Test your trigger by clicking Use suggested record or Choose record.

7. Click + Add advanced logic or action button. This will bring up a menu of options. Click on the Create record option.

8. Next, select your desired table where the new record will be created.

9. Depending on which other Airtable features have been set up in the table where you are creating a record you may or may not see a dropdown under “Create record.”

   1. If you don’t see the dropdown, then you’ll see a “Fields” section where you will choose fields to add static or dynamic information when the record is created.

   2. If you do see the dropdown you can choose between Using specific fields or From a template. Find more information about record templates here.

10. At this point, you might add more automation actions or action groups.

11. Finally, test and turn on the automation. Be sure to test all of the steps in the automation that you are building. Once every part of the automation has tested successfully, you’ll be ready to turn the automation on. Find the red colored “OFF” toggle and click it so the automation now appears as “ON” in green.

Accessing data from other tables

When creating records via automation, the data available to map into fields depends on how tables are connected in the automation workflow:

• Data from the trigger table - Fields from the table where the automation trigger occurred are automatically available to insert into the new record.

• Data from other tables - To access data from a table other than the trigger table, one of the following must be in place:

  • Linked record field - The trigger table must have a linked record field connecting to the table where data is needed. You can map that linked record (record ID) into the new record. To map other fields from the related record (e.g. name or email), add a “Find records” action before “Create record” to look up that table; the found records’ fields will then be available to map. You might also consider adding specified lookup fields if you’d rather insert those field values as tokens.

    • If tables are connected via linked record fields, you can access related record data directly from the trigger without needing a "Find records" action. However, if you need to filter or find multiple related records based on conditions, a "Find records" action is still required.

  • Find records action - Add a "Find records" action before the "Create record" action to query another table. The found records' field values will then be available to map into the new record.

  • Static values - Manually enter fixed values that don't change between automation runs.

FAQs