For months, I've been trying to wrap my head around how to automate generating an event itinerary in Google Docs leveraging data in our Airtable database, that data having come from Airtable forms sent to and completed by our clients. The hope is that we can ask a set of questions that helps determine what is happening and when in a way that we can create a baseline itinerary for review during a consultation with the client. I'm excited to say the least to see this video, as it means more of the tools needed seem to be in place, and I might find myself one step closer to the solution I've been trying to conceptualize and put the test for some time. On that note...time. Having a way to account for time of day, beyond utilizing single select fields designated for an undetermined fixed time interval (e.g. every :15, :30 designates the next single select option), seems to be a pretty big missed opportunity on Airtable's part. Perhaps I'm missing something, and perhaps it's a big something, but is there an effective / straight-forward field type that can account for time of day agnostic of the date itself? Part of my trouble is trying to figure this out in order to set up the data in a way to account for logic that would help determine what time certain items may occur based on where they are typically ordered and the length of time they generally take. This would, I think, allow me to set automation up to put the right items in the right place and with the correct associated times, which would allow for a draft itinerary to be generated in Docs utilizing the methods shared in this video. Would be incredibly grateful if anyone is able to get me a bit closer to the right solution here in the comments, but am already quite grateful for all the knowledge shared in all of your videos, Gareth. You're really doing a great many people a service by presenting things in a way that's easy to follow and put to action with enough foundational comprehension to overcome that inertia and really cut to the meat of what you can do with Airtable. Wishing you, and everyone here in the comments, an awesome weekend ahead!
Check out the duration field in Airtable. It can display hours:minutes. Alternatively, you can write a formula field that references a date field and only outputs the time. Maybe one of these options is a fit?
@@GarethPronovost Appreciate the extra guidance! I believe the duration field will serve us well for the anticipated length of certain line items in order to inform interval and order. I’ll take a look at leveraging a formula field to output the time as described. Definitely trying to solve for a pretty complex use case that is more or less fully built out on a platform that already exists, but I’d rather build something from the ground up that fits our use case than try to apply a cookie cutter solution and adapt it to fit. This might do the trick!
Thanks for this! When creating a g-doc using the AT automation, is it possible to grab a link from an AT field and have it appear as a live link in the G-doc? I haven't figured out a way, I hope you know of one! Thank you!
That looks great for reporting! Since this demo is for a report of multiple records across multiple tables, I'm wondering if there is a way to use this feature to create reports similar to what Page Designer does, specificallly one report per record. Our use case is to auto-generate resumes from data we're storing in Airtable. As we all know, Page Designer is limited to one page per record, along with other limitations. Thanks!!
Great question! This sounds possible so I'll work to create a video demoing this. In the meantime, you might look up Documint. It's an addon document generation software that allows for really cool docs to be automated from Airtable.
Hey there! We're trying to build out an automation like this one, using Webhooks by Zapier to populate a Google Docs template, based on data from our Airtable, and it's working flawlessly with text fields. However, we haven't been able to figure out how to translate an Airtable attachment (in this case an image) to the Google Doc. Is there any way to embed an attachment from the Airtable record in the Google Doc, via Webhooks by Zapier?
I can't say for certain, as I haven't had a need for this in quite some time. However, I know this is possible in Documint (a similar tool to Google Doc). We've done videos on this in the past if you're interested in exploring. I suspect you might not want to add another software to this mix, but Google Doc is somewhat limited when it comes to this automation.
I don't think we can do images yet, just text. If you need images in your docs, I'd suggest Documint. We've done some videos with his tool in the past.
This could be used to automate content creation of any kind I believe - blogs, emails, social media posts. All you have to do is name each column....ex instead of Name, Stage, Task (like so in the vide, you could have Blog Article Title, Blog Article Body, Blog Article CTA. then all you content can be centralized in airtable, a template created (content blocks) and pushed to google docs - where you have very accurate file management and retrieval (vital for reuse). Then the content could just be cut and pasted to blog. Actually there's probably a way to push the content directly to the blog or another distribution channel (ex. the APi of your email service provider or the social media networks' APIs). AM I RIGHT OR AM I MISSING SOMETHING? You just need DATA + DYNAMIC CONTENT FIELDS (from that data) + TEMPLAE + an API if you wanna get fancy?? Am I missing something???
Just want to add that you can also use AI to generate a lot of your content with some specific data points for reference. We just pushed out a video on this topic yesterday!
@@GarethPronovost I just used this to help me set something up and came to say thanks for sharing and realized I already did a year ago! Ha! Thanks again! This is a really helpful reference!
After creating the doc, the only piece of info that you can access from that step in the automation is the URL of the doc. I didn't try to put that URL in an attachment field so I can't say for certain. My gut reaction is that it wouldn't save as an attachment.
@@Pithon369 If you're willing to get your hands dirty with Google Apps Script, you should be able to set up automation on Google's end to automatically generate a PDF based on the document output from Airtable to Google Docs. I'm unsure off the top of my head how you could then automate adding that same PDF as an attachment to a field in Airtable, but I believe I remember one of Gareth's videos (I could be misremembering the source) showing how this could be accomplished. So I know it seems to be possible to build out the entire loop somehow, though you'll likely need to leverage other platforms to do so. If it's of any use to you, I found this tutorial video for Google Apps Script that may help you find a workable solution. Hope it helps and best of luck coming about a solution! ua-cam.com/video/8Nmtug2Fmn8/v-deo.html
@@muchTALLERirl To be honest I prefet to use The automation software Make to generate my Google doc and create the PDF my struggle is how to then add that PDF to the attachment field of my Airtable base. If you have any help or advice on that I would be very grateful.
Sure thing! If you reference the Date field in the automation it will format poorly. However, you can first build a formula field that alters the Date format using the Datetime_Format() function. Once the formula displays your date in the ideal format, you can include it in the automation in place of the original Date field.
@@GarethPronovost I've formulated "friendly" date fields and included those in my automation, but they're still showing up raw in my document. They are lookup fields - does that make a difference? Any further guidance on formatting - in the base or the automation? Thank you! Love this video!
@@heatherbrown988 check the formula you used to format them. Datetime_format() is the one to look for and then set your format as desired. Make sure your lookup fields references this formula output and not the actual date field. Lastly, you may want to replace the lookup with a roll-up field and use an array_unique() output if you're still having trouble.
![Beginners: Build an Intake Workflow in Airtable [full automation] 😲](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-xI-YpS4blo/mqdefault.jpg)
Grab my *FREE TRAINING* that teaches the building blocks of automation: www.garethpronovost.com/webinar-registration 👈
Excited to set this up in my base. Thanks for a well-explained and put-together video!!
Thanks for watching! LMK how it goes and what you like/dislike about the new feature
I'm looking forward to improve my reports with this new feature. Great demonstration!!!
Thanks Gustavo! 🙌
do you know " Word Document Auto-Fill"? cuould you make a tutorial?
For months, I've been trying to wrap my head around how to automate generating an event itinerary in Google Docs leveraging data in our Airtable database, that data having come from Airtable forms sent to and completed by our clients. The hope is that we can ask a set of questions that helps determine what is happening and when in a way that we can create a baseline itinerary for review during a consultation with the client.
I'm excited to say the least to see this video, as it means more of the tools needed seem to be in place, and I might find myself one step closer to the solution I've been trying to conceptualize and put the test for some time.
On that note...time. Having a way to account for time of day, beyond utilizing single select fields designated for an undetermined fixed time interval (e.g. every :15, :30 designates the next single select option), seems to be a pretty big missed opportunity on Airtable's part.
Perhaps I'm missing something, and perhaps it's a big something, but is there an effective / straight-forward field type that can account for time of day agnostic of the date itself?
Part of my trouble is trying to figure this out in order to set up the data in a way to account for logic that would help determine what time certain items may occur based on where they are typically ordered and the length of time they generally take. This would, I think, allow me to set automation up to put the right items in the right place and with the correct associated times, which would allow for a draft itinerary to be generated in Docs utilizing the methods shared in this video.
Would be incredibly grateful if anyone is able to get me a bit closer to the right solution here in the comments, but am already quite grateful for all the knowledge shared in all of your videos, Gareth. You're really doing a great many people a service by presenting things in a way that's easy to follow and put to action with enough foundational comprehension to overcome that inertia and really cut to the meat of what you can do with Airtable.
Wishing you, and everyone here in the comments, an awesome weekend ahead!
Check out the duration field in Airtable. It can display hours:minutes. Alternatively, you can write a formula field that references a date field and only outputs the time. Maybe one of these options is a fit?
@@GarethPronovost Appreciate the extra guidance! I believe the duration field will serve us well for the anticipated length of certain line items in order to inform interval and order. I’ll take a look at leveraging a formula field to output the time as described.
Definitely trying to solve for a pretty complex use case that is more or less fully built out on a platform that already exists, but I’d rather build something from the ground up that fits our use case than try to apply a cookie cutter solution and adapt it to fit. This might do the trick!
good job Gareth
Loved it. Always looking for new automations.
Thanks Steven
Thanks for this! When creating a g-doc using the AT automation, is it possible to grab a link from an AT field and have it appear as a live link in the G-doc? I haven't figured out a way, I hope you know of one! Thank you!
Sorry, I haven't tried this personally. I believe you can do it with a 3rd party tools like DocsAutomator (also works with GDocs)
That was amazing. Thank you Gareth.
Glad you enjoyed it!
That looks great for reporting! Since this demo is for a report of multiple records across multiple tables, I'm wondering if there is a way to use this feature to create reports similar to what Page Designer does, specificallly one report per record. Our use case is to auto-generate resumes from data we're storing in Airtable. As we all know, Page Designer is limited to one page per record, along with other limitations. Thanks!!
I also need to make a document based on one record per time
Great question! This sounds possible so I'll work to create a video demoing this. In the meantime, you might look up Documint. It's an addon document generation software that allows for really cool docs to be automated from Airtable.
I need to integrate Docusign with Airtable, do you have any video about it?
Hey there! We're trying to build out an automation like this one, using Webhooks by Zapier to populate a Google Docs template, based on data from our Airtable, and it's working flawlessly with text fields. However, we haven't been able to figure out how to translate an Airtable attachment (in this case an image) to the Google Doc. Is there any way to embed an attachment from the Airtable record in the Google Doc, via Webhooks by Zapier?
I can't say for certain, as I haven't had a need for this in quite some time. However, I know this is possible in Documint (a similar tool to Google Doc). We've done videos on this in the past if you're interested in exploring. I suspect you might not want to add another software to this mix, but Google Doc is somewhat limited when it comes to this automation.
Good video, do you know how to add images in the google docs?, when I try to do it, a link appears but not the image
I don't think we can do images yet, just text. If you need images in your docs, I'd suggest Documint. We've done some videos with his tool in the past.
This channel is amazing
Many thanks!
This could be used to automate content creation of any kind I believe - blogs, emails, social media posts. All you have to do is name each column....ex
instead of Name, Stage, Task (like so in the vide, you could have Blog Article Title, Blog Article Body, Blog Article CTA.
then all you content can be centralized in airtable, a template created (content blocks) and pushed to google docs - where you have very accurate file management and retrieval (vital for reuse).
Then the content could just be cut and pasted to blog. Actually there's probably a way to push the content directly to the blog or another distribution channel (ex. the APi of your email service provider or the social media networks' APIs).
AM I RIGHT OR AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
You just need DATA + DYNAMIC CONTENT FIELDS (from that data) + TEMPLAE + an API if you wanna get fancy??
Am I missing something???
I don't think you're missing anything... In fact, I think you've seen the light! 🙌
Just want to add that you can also use AI to generate a lot of your content with some specific data points for reference. We just pushed out a video on this topic yesterday!
Really cool! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it! 🙌
@@GarethPronovost I just used this to help me set something up and came to say thanks for sharing and realized I already did a year ago! Ha! Thanks again! This is a really helpful reference!
@@heatherbrand3826 that's what we're here for! 👌
Can you save a PDF of the Google document you created in an attachment field in Airtable?
After creating the doc, the only piece of info that you can access from that step in the automation is the URL of the doc. I didn't try to put that URL in an attachment field so I can't say for certain. My gut reaction is that it wouldn't save as an attachment.
Thank you for responding and I hope this changes in the future.
@@Pithon369 If you're willing to get your hands dirty with Google Apps Script, you should be able to set up automation on Google's end to automatically generate a PDF based on the document output from Airtable to Google Docs.
I'm unsure off the top of my head how you could then automate adding that same PDF as an attachment to a field in Airtable, but I believe I remember one of Gareth's videos (I could be misremembering the source) showing how this could be accomplished. So I know it seems to be possible to build out the entire loop somehow, though you'll likely need to leverage other platforms to do so.
If it's of any use to you, I found this tutorial video for Google Apps Script that may help you find a workable solution. Hope it helps and best of luck coming about a solution! ua-cam.com/video/8Nmtug2Fmn8/v-deo.html
@@muchTALLERirl To be honest I prefet to use The automation software Make to generate my Google doc and create the PDF my struggle is how to then add that PDF to the attachment field of my Airtable base.
If you have any help or advice on that I would be very grateful.
Is it possible to format the date in the Title?
Sure thing! If you reference the Date field in the automation it will format poorly. However, you can first build a formula field that alters the Date format using the Datetime_Format() function. Once the formula displays your date in the ideal format, you can include it in the automation in place of the original Date field.
@@GarethPronovost thanks Gareth. Keep up the great work
@@GarethPronovost I've formulated "friendly" date fields and included those in my automation, but they're still showing up raw in my document. They are lookup fields - does that make a difference? Any further guidance on formatting - in the base or the automation? Thank you! Love this video!
@@heatherbrown988 check the formula you used to format them. Datetime_format() is the one to look for and then set your format as desired. Make sure your lookup fields references this formula output and not the actual date field.
Lastly, you may want to replace the lookup with a roll-up field and use an array_unique() output if you're still having trouble.
Needs to be on the pro plan 😭
Ugh, sorry I didn't think to check that!
Rich text still not working😪
hopefully soon 🤞