At the time I’m writing this article, there is currently no way to automatically upload an image as an attachment to an Airtable base. We would have expected to have an IMAGE(URL) function that could convert an image URL into an attachment. This is actually a feature request. Until this feature will be added by Airtable team, I will show here a workaround.
We will use the table below as demo. To follow this tutorial, copy this base to your own account and add a new Table with the name “MyTable”.
Step 1: Upload your images to Cloudinary
Create a free Cloudinary account, and upload your image there by a simple drag and drop:
Click on one of the image and copy the image link somewhere. We will use it later:
Step 2: Create a list of image name on your Airtable base
If you don’t have already a list of images name in your Airtable, you will have create it a by drag and drop to an Excel sheet like this:
Then copy and paste the whole column from Excel to your Airtable base in the Image name column:
Step 3: Generate the URL using a formula
In MyTable, create a column name“Image URL” with type “Formula”. The formula should be like:
“http://res.cloudinary.com/noamsay/image/upload/v1526296187/dogs/" & {Image name}”Replace the first part of the url (between the quotes) by the URL you copied earlier. Remove the image name after the “/” and replace it by {Image name}. The result should look like this:
Step 4: Create the Zap using Zapier
If you don’t have an account in Zapier, it’s time to create it. It free. I will assume you are a Zapier beginner, I will go step by step.
- From your dashboard, click on Make a Zap
2. The Zap editor opens. Select Airtable app
3. Select New Record as Trigger, save + continue
4. Select your Airtable account
5. Select the Base and Table
6. Test the step. Zapier should be able to fetch a record from your base. Select a record and continue.
7. Add an Action Step: Select Airtable
8. Set up the Action: Update Record
9. In select Account, click Save and Continue (we use the same Airtable account).
10. In “Edit Template” :
- In Base and Table: Select the same Base and Table as selected in the 1st step
- In Records field : select Use a Custom Value (advanced)
11. In Custom Value for Record ID: Select Record ID (the value from Step 1)
12. In Attachment: Select Image URL
That’s what you should see after selecting the Image URL:
13. Click on “Send a Test to Airtable”
If the test is success, you should see a first image uploaded to your base! Yay !
11. If the test was not successful, go back check your previous steps. If it was OK:
- Click on Finish button,
- Name your Zap
- Turn your Zap ON
- Click on See it on your Dashboard button
Wheeew… ! It was a long, but now it’s money time.
Step 4: Run the Zap
On your Home dashboard, you should notice your Zap. Click on the small arrow, and click on Run
Holly s#@% ! here is what we get:
What’s the problem here?
Remember in the first step, we selected the Trigger “New records”. The problem is that the records we created are already existing in the Table, so there no new records for Zapier.
The solution here is the following (check out the Gif)
- Select all your records, copy them
- Select the row after the last record, copy the records
- Run the Zap
- See the Zap upload the images beautifully
- Delete the previous records (the duplicates without image)
That’s it !
I’m an Airtable consultant. If you need help in setting up an Airtable base for your business, contact me through my website.
