Airtable automation trigger: When record updated

When building an Automation, you may choose a trigger that will start the automation. The "When record updated" trigger allows you to select an entire record, or individual fields in a record, to monitor for updates. Anytime the selected fields are updated the automation will trigger (or run) the action(s) you configured. Learn more about this trigger in the article below.

NOTE

This trigger does not run when a record is created, only when it has been updated. For that kind of workflow, you might consider using the "When record created" or "When record matches conditions" triggers instead.

Setting up an automation to trigger when a record is updated

1. To start creating an automation, from the open base of your choice click on Automations in the upper left corner of your screen to open the automation configuration window.

2. Click the + Create automation option to begin the setup process. If you would like, you can rename the automation right away to make it easier to understand what it does.

3. Next, you will need to click + Add trigger option.

4. Once clicked, the available triggers will be displayed for you to choose from. Choose the When record updated option.

5. Under the “Table” section, select the table where updated records will trigger this automation to run.

   1. You can optionally select a view to only watch updates in that view. This can be helpful in preventing accidental automation runs since a view can contain additional filters or hide certain fields from the view. Note that if you update a field's value that is shown in your chosen view from anywhere, even in another view, this automation will be triggered. Anytime a watched field in your view changes this automation would be triggered.

   2. Furthermore, click Select fields. Any activity in records of fields being watched will trigger the subsequent automation that you build out to run. This option allows you to have the automation:

      1. Watch all - This option will watch all of the fields in the table/view. This is also a good option to use when you want to watch most of the fields and then you can toggle one or more fields off from being watched by the trigger.

      2. Unwatch all - This is a good option when you need to clear the watched fields and only select certain fields.

      3. You can also pick and choose one or more fields for the automation trigger to watch.

6. Next, test the trigger step. It’s important to test the trigger at this point so that you can utilize dynamic tokens in the automation action steps. Dynamic tokens allows you to pull in information from the updated record that triggered this automation such as record ID or time of creation. You can click Use suggested record to allow our system to choose a random record that aligns with the trigger type you selected or you can click Choose record to be able to select a specific record of your choice that may fit your needs when testing other steps of the automation. You will see a green “Step successful” message under the “Results” section after the trigger step has successfully tested.

7. Then, you want to add one or more automation actions. Check out our help center’s Automation actions section to learn more about each action Airtable offers.

8. 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.

Note

Once turned on, this automation will trigger as soon as the trigger conditions are met for a record. If you need to make record changes without triggering the automation, make sure to turn the automation off while those changes are being made.