Automations: Use Outputs of a Single Find in Other Actions
Automation’s Find Action has a new configuration option, allowing you to return a single record (whose values can be used in subsequent actions) or a list of multiple records.
With this update, the fields returned by a Find Single Record action are accessible in any subsequent action. A new toggle allows you to choose between finding one or many records. The results of each action have quite different uses in later steps.
With Multiple Find, you can update records that were found, but it won’t pass the records’ data to the next actions.
Single Find is a lot more versatile. The returned data can be used in any subsequent action, just like fields from the trigger.
Automations: Merge records Action
The long-awaited merge capability has been just released in beta! The primary goal of this feature is to keep the data clean and uncluttered. One of the most frequent examples would be cleaning up duplicated contacts and accounts in CRM solutions.
As the name suggests, the feature is a part of the automations engine.
This new action can work in combination with any trigger related to record saving: record created, form submitted, record updated, or record matches condition.
When the trigger fires, it will search for duplicate records, pass their data to the Original record, and eventually delete all duplicates.
Automations: Clear / Append / Replace
Field updates in automations have been enhanced to support the update action type, allowing you to append, replace, or clear existing value(s) for specific fields.
After picking the fields that should be updated, you'll also see the ability to decide whether you'd like to replace with a new value, clear the field's value, or in some cases append new values to the original.
Show / Hide Tables
You can hide any table you don't access regularly or that you might only use to link other Tables together. Simply click on the Table dropdown and "Hide Table."
The 3 lined icon to the left of the first table is where you access the Hidden Tables. From here, you can select to adjust the display.
Record Section Descriptions
Sections can now have their own descriptions with up to 750 characters of text to describe the fields they contain. Educate your users, provide instructions or describe the workflow supported by the section.
Switching or editing the description can be done through the three-dot menu, switching it to edit mode to be deleted or modified.
View Descriptions
You have the option to include descriptions for Views, which can either appear as icons to the right of the View name, or be displayed below the View name when clicked for increased accessibility.
The description appears in a tooltip when you hover the View and can either appear as icons to the right of the View name.
Displaying the description directly below the View's name makes it easier for others to understand the purpose of that View.
Record Cover Image
Enhance the visual appeal of your data by adding cover images to records. You can select cover images from existing File and Images fields, making it easy to provide a visually engaging experience for your users as they navigate records.
Solution Managers can easily enable the Cover Image feature from the Settings tab on the Record Page. The following steps guide you through the process:
Navigate to the Record Page of your SmartSuite record
Locate and click on the "Settings" tab.
Within the Settings tab, look for the option to enable Cover Images.
Choose an existing Files and Images field that contains the desired images for use as cover images.
Formulas: New functions for Related Records
RELATED_RECORD_SORT() function
This function sorts related records and returns a value of a specified field of a first record.
It accepts three arguments:
A field to return
A field to sort by
Sorting order, defaulting to “Desc” when not specified
This formula sorts Orders by Date and returns the Total Amount of the most recent one:
RELATED_RECORDS_SORT() function
*Note the plural in Records.
This is a sister function that works similarly but returns an array of values from a sorted list.
Just like any other array, it needs to be wrapped with an aggregate function.
For example: ArrayJoin() accepts the sorted array of Order Titles and turns it into a comma-separated list:
TOP() function
The new TOP() function allows you to limit the size of the returned array.
Let’s say, we want to calculate the Total Amount of the three most recent Orders.
In the example below the returned array gets trimmed to the first three values, which are then summed up with the SUM():
This set of functions can be used in combination with any field type that returns an array, like Sub-Items and Checklists.
A formula below returns a name of the person assigned to a checklist item with the latest Due Date.
GET_LIST() function
The new GET_LIST() function allows running a query against related records of any type: Linked Records, Sub-items, and Checklist Items.
For example: On the Customer level, I want to get the Total Amount of the three most recent Orders that are in Shipped status.
GET_LIST() can both filter and sort the related records. Hence, it accepts four arguments:
A condition to filter by (Order’s Status)
A field to return (Total Amount)
A field to sort by (Order Date)
A sorting order, defaulting to “Desc” when not specified
Formula: Time Tracking Log as a Nested Field
You can now employ dot notation to access sub-fields such as Reported By, Reported On, and Reported Time. This enhancement allows formula builders to create more sophisticated reports, utilizing these sub-fields similarly to linked records in functions like SUM and SUMIF for precise data analysis.
Our time tracking log field displays the total time tracked on a record by all users, but what if you're looking to get a bit more granular? Using our formula field, you can extract and narrow down different elements of data from within the Time Tracking Log field.
The following subfields are available when using dot notation in formulas:
Reported By
Reported On
Reported Time
Notes
Grid View: Editable Dependency Sub-fields
Introducing inline editing for sub-fields within the Dependency field, allowing project managers to effortlessly update dependencies with improved efficiency and accuracy.
Make Enhancements
SmartSuite’s Make connector has been enhanced to add Advanced Settings to the Updated Records triggers, allowing you to specify field values (and optional changes) that will trigger the scenario. Also reference fields (like Linked Record) give you the option to use their text value or their SmartSuite Id, making it easier to configure advanced workflows.
Learn more