Forum Discussion

CodyCopenhaver's avatar
CodyCopenhaver
Qrew Member
5 years ago

Automation 'Copy action' function not working correctly

I'm trying to set up an automation that contains ~25 very similar copy records actions. I've set up the first few and am trying to use the copy action button to make duplicate an existing action and then make the required minor tweaks to it. However, when I use the copy action button, it doesn't copy the original action correctly, and sometimes even makes changes to the copied action or even previous actions. The scrambling of previous actions is even happening when just adding a new action from scratch and not copying. I'm not really sure what's going on as I've built previous automations in a similar manner without running into this issue.

Top screenshot: Original action we're trying to copy
Bottom: resultant 'copied' action
 


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Cody Copenhaver
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Quickbase Automations
  • BlakeHarrison's avatar
    BlakeHarrison
    Qrew Captain
    5 years ago
    I would recommend reaching out to the Care team by submitting a Support Case. Honestly, though, I don't know that Automations was intended to handle that many actions. What is it that you're trying to accomplish?

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    Blake Harrison - DataBlender.io
    Quick Base Solution Provider
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    • CodyCopenhaver's avatar
      CodyCopenhaver
      Qrew Member
      5 years ago
      I have a couple of multi-select text fields in a table that I need to transpose such that there is one row for each unique combination of a single value from the first field and a single value from the second field. The intended automation basically copies the original record with the first value from the multi-select text field in a new field, then has another copy action that places the second value from the multi-select text field, and so on (similarly for the second field). At the end there'll be a delete action that deletes all records with null values in one of the two new flattened fields.

      Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try submitting a support case, but also happy to hear if there's a better way to accomplish what I'm going for that still makes data entry not a pain in the butt.

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      Cody Copenhaver
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      • BlakeHarrison's avatar
        BlakeHarrison
        Qrew Captain
        5 years ago
        It sounds like you need something more flexible than what Automations can do.  I would first recommend changing your structure from a couple of multi-select text fields to two separate tables, each with a single record for each option in the original field. I would then suggest looking into Pipelines or Zapier so that you can set up a "For Each" process where the process runs recursively for each record. Here's an example process:

        1. Search for records
        2. For Each record found in Step 1:
          1. Search
          for records
        3. For Each record found in Step 2-1
          1. Create a record in
          where:
          is inserted into [Related Table 1]
        4. is inserted into [Related Table 2]
          This isn't specific to either Zapier or Pipelines, just a plain-English outline of a process you can create in either service.

          Blake Harrison

          Owner / Quick Base Solution Architect

          Phone / SMS: 404.800.1702