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Zap can't find record in airtable


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I am creating a zap to send out weekly emails. It will find records in airtable that have projects with an active status, go through a date/time formatter and then a second find records action will search a different table within my airtable base for the matching project and send out an email. However I am getting an error with my second find record action that says the following: "failed to find a record in airtable." I checked to make sure that the ID I chose for the search value matches the ID from the first find record action. When I click the button under the error message that says "help me fix it" this is what it tells me: "


The error you're encountering indicates that the "findRecord" step in your Zap could not locate a record in Airtable that matches the specified search criteria. The key issue here is the searchByValue parameter, which is set to {{_GEN_1735240488848__id}}. This suggests that the value being searched for is dynamically generated, likely from a previous step, but it seems to be incorrectly mapped or not producing the expected value.

To resolve this, first ensure that the dynamic value {{_GEN_1735240488848__id}} is correctly pulling the intended data from the previous step. You can do this by checking the output of the previous step to confirm it contains the correct data you want to search for in Airtable. If the output is not as expected, adjust the mapping in your Zap to ensure the correct data is being passed. Additionally, verify that the "Project" field in Airtable contains the exact value you are searching for, as the isExactMatch parameter is set to "yes", requiring an exact match. If necessary, consider setting isExactMatch to "no" to allow for partial matches, which might help if the data format or content slightly varies.”


I am not sure what I am doing wrong, any help would be greatly appreciated

Best answer by aymanb

@Troy Tessalone 

 

I think I found the fix. I changed the “search by field” section from “project” to the newly added look up column in the weekly updates table and it finally worked. I truly appreciate all the assistance you have provided.

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16 replies

Troy Tessalone
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Hi ​@aymanb 

Help us have more info by posting screenshots showing how your Zap steps are outlined and configured in EDIT mode with the field mappings visible.

Also, post screenshots from Airtable showing the fields and example records you are trying to use.


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  • Author
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  • January 6, 2025

Hey ​@Troy Tessalone thank you for trying to help. I have attached the relevant screenshots. I hope you can see something I am missing.


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

NOTES:

  • It seems like you should be able to do this automation in the native Airtable Automations.
  • Zap step 2 will only ever find/return 1 record from the Projects table

 

Post screenshots from the “Projects” Table in Airtable, that shows the record ID you are testing with.

You can expose the Record ID using a Formula field:

RECORD_ID()

 

 


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  • Author
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  • 18 replies
  • January 7, 2025

@Troy Tessalone 

I’ll try that out and see how it works in airtable. Would you mind explaining why step 2 would only ever find/return 1 record? Wouldn’t it search all the status fields and return any that are set to active?

 

Here is the projects table screenshot, I already had the record id in a field.


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

Zap Action: Airtable - Find Record

Label is singular (not records).

Description indicates “a matching record” (singular).

 

Zap Action: Airtable - Find Many Records (with line item support)

Limit: 100 records MAX

Can then be used with the Looping Zap app (Create Loop from Line Items) to iterate.

Help with Looping: https://zapier.com/apps/looping/help

 


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

FYI: Attachment did not upload.

 


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  • January 7, 2025

Oh I see, I appreciate you explaining that. And I have attached the airtable screenshot as a pdf, hopefully this one works fine.


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

 

Can you post a screenshot showing the encountered error in the Airtable Find Record step?

 

 


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

Also, post screenshots showing how the rest of the fields in your Airtable Find Record step are configured as those could be impacting the results.

 


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  • Author
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  • January 7, 2025

@Troy Tessalone 

Here is the encountered error screenshot. As for the rest of the fields in my find record steps, they are blank which is why I didn’t include them in my previous screenshots. 


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

Here’s a workaround:

In the Table “Weekly Updates”, add another column.

Column Type: Lookup

This will be a lookup column from the “Project” column to expose the ‘Record ID’ column you added from the “Project” Table.

Then you can search based on that new column using the “ID” of the record from the previous Airtable Find Record step.

 


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  • Author
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  • January 7, 2025

@Troy Tessalone 

Just to be sure I am understanding you. So I add a lookup column to my weekly updates table that looks up the record id column I have in my projects table. Then for the search value in my second find record action in the zap I choose the new lookup column I just created?


Troy Tessalone
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@aymanb 

Yes.

 

When in doubt, test it out.


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  • Author
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  • 18 replies
  • January 7, 2025

@Troy Tessalone 

 

I tried this workaround and received the same error as before. I even rebuilt a brand new zap with the same steps and your suggested fix but no luck


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  • Author
  • Beginner
  • 18 replies
  • Answer
  • January 7, 2025

@Troy Tessalone 

 

I think I found the fix. I changed the “search by field” section from “project” to the newly added look up column in the weekly updates table and it finally worked. I truly appreciate all the assistance you have provided.


JammerS
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  • Zapier Staff
  • 2087 replies
  • January 7, 2025

Hi ​@aymanb,

 

Thanks for sharing the resolution with this issue. This will significantly help our members with the same issue. Thank you!