When Zapier searches for a value in a Zapier Table, it will find the most recent entry or record when there are several choices available…..

BUT, when searching an Airtable, you don’t get any such guidance.

I have tested multiple scenarios and it is very unpredictive as to how the search is being conducted. 

If I had to guess I would say that it is based up the last record entered or maybe the last record altered.  

It has nothing to do where the record is in the table --whether at the beginning or the end.

I am surprised I am not getting any help on this topic!!  I did send something to Zapier support but that is a prayer!!

Hi @blueguy 

In Airtable, create a View.

Sort the View as desired.

Select the View in the Zap action: Airtable - Find Record

It should return the first found record in that View at the top.

I do not need to create a sorted view because all my record entries have the date of submission in the first field (or column); so record 1 (row 1) might have yesterday’s date in that field; rows are added sequentially down the table as submissions from Jotform are being made.  The oldest date is at the top with the most recent date at the bottom.  

But looking at your note, you are stating that the search function or find a record function is searching from the top of the table.  That is, I  should sort my Main table into a View with the most recent records being at the top of the View.  Is this correct?

I have tested it both ways and it appears to find the most recent record added or altered regardless of position in the table, but the problem I could conceive with this is the following: say I add 5000 records via a CSV upload and those records are added at the same time.  My records are sorted by date (most recent entries at the bottom of the table), but if I am searching multiple records with the same variable ( a UniqueID), then it has to have a way to differentiate between those entries.  The sort has to know where to start -- at the bottom of the table or at the top.  If you are saying the find a record feature starts at the top of the table, then every table that gets queried for the most recent record would need to have the most recent submissions at the top; this makes no sense when the table is putting the most recent submissions at the bottom of the table.    

Once again, it would be nice to know how the records are being sorted.  And it does matter.    

Thanks for responding as always.  

@blueguy 

Think of it this way…

Take a look at the list below.

• A
• B
• C

Did you naturally read the list from top to bottom OR from bottom to top. (Guessing, it was top to bottom.)

Similarly, in the GSheet Lookup Row Zap action, there is a field for Bottom-Up, because the default logic (if not specified by setting this field) is to search from top to bottom.

Thus, the Airtable Find Record action functions the same way. (top to bottom)

The Find Record steps uses the default View from the Table if not specified.

So if you don’t know which View is the default View for a Table, then use a View that has set sorting as you want.

If you want the newest record, then you would have a View that is sorted by the desired field from latest to earliest, to ensure the newest record is at the top of the View.

Alright...I get what you are saying ….and you have rarely steered me wrong over the years!!!  It just seems counterintuitive to me to create a View which is just a sort of the Main Table especially when records are add to the bottom. 

That is what I will do!!!  

Also, odd that there is no documentation on this notion of how the Find a Record function works in Airtable.  I have been searching far and wide these past 2 days.

Thank you.

GML

@blueguy

Airtable links about View sorting: https://support.airtable.com/docs/sorting-records-in-airtable-views

Context as defined by the Airtable API for sorting when searching records.

Airtable API: https://airtable.com/developers/web/api/introduction

Zap step functionality is based on the underlying app APIs.

I appreciate that.  I still would have needed the assistance here.

Thanks again!!!

GML

Troy:

Thanks again for the context.  I have spent quite a bit of time with both Zapier Tables and Airtable over the past 2 weeks, and for my purposes, I would have to give Zapier the nod. 

What is my purpose in choosing software with a data table type functionality? Our typical work flow is Jotform to Google Sheets and then to Zapier.  But our data sets in Google Sheets are becoming too large, and data tables are a very workable solution for us.  The data tables handle more data and are faster and require less maintenance.  The data table is a replacement for Google Sheets; the “magic” happens with Zapier if that makes sense.

So why did I say I give Zapier the nod over Airtable?  This only has to do with set up of the table and getting data into the table; I did not test any other functionality of Airtable.  Zapier was better at mapping and formatting the data from Jotform.  Airtable seem to have difficulty with formatting dropdown fields and multi-select fields.  

Excellent discussion here and thanks again for your help.  With regards to sorting or finding a record within a Zapier Table, Zapier is pretty clear how they do it….if there are multiple records with the same search variable, then the most recent one will be chosen.  That is exactly  what I want and would expect.

GML

That’s wonderful to hear @blueguy! 

We're really pleased Tables is working well for handling those large data sets, and that you’re finding it much quicker and easier to maintain! We’re always looking to improve here at Zapier, so if you ever come across any ideas for how we could make Tables even better please do get in touch to let us know. 

Thanks again for sharing your experience with using Tables here and for being part of our community! 🧡