Using Airtable actions in action flows

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can connect action flows to Airtable using a personal access token to automate tasks like creating, updating, deleting, and searching records. This integration supports batch operations, adding comments, and retrieving table schemas, helping you manage data and collaborate across platforms. Use a dedicated service account for secure connections and review access scopes carefully to maintain control over your Airtable data within workflows.




By connecting the action builder to external systems, such as Airtable, admins
can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows, improving
collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.
Note: The steps associated with external systems in action flows are
referred to collectively as external actions.

This article contains the following topics:
Connecting Airtable to action builder
Using Airtable actions in action flows




Connecting Airtable to action builder

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the
action builder to the external system.
When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:
All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.
All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.
When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.


To create a personal access token
The Airtable connection requires a personal access token (PAT) for authentication.
See the Airtable documentation for details.
Create a personal access token at https://airtable.com/create/tokens.
Grant the token access to the specific bases you want to use.
Ensure the token has the following scopes: data.records:read,
data.records:write, data.recordComments:read,
data.recordComments:write,schema.bases:read

Save the token or keep the window open so you can copy and paste it into
Zendesk. You'll need it when connecting Airtable to action
builder.




To connect action builder to Airtable
In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action
flows.

Create or edit an action flow.
Open the step sidebar.
Under External actions, click Airtable.
Click Connect.
Follow Airtable's prompts to enter your Airtable access token and complete
the connection.
Note: All external actions performed by
an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the external
system. Therefore, it is a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each
external system.



After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and
details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available for
Airtable.



Using Airtable actions in action flows

The following Airtable actions are available:
Create record
Update record
Delete record
Lookup record
Search records
Lookup comments
Batch create
records
Batch delete
records
Add comment to
record
Lookup table
schema




Creating a record

Use the Create record action to create a new record in an Airtable
table.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record fields (or
table-specific dynamic fields) Base ID starts with "app"
(e.g., appAbCd1234EfGhIj) and can be found in your
Airtable URL.
Table name can be the table name
(for example, "Contacts") or table ID (starts with
"tbl").
After selecting a base and table, the
action will dynamically load that table's specific
fields. Record fields should be formatted as "FieldName:
Value, Field2: Value2" for arrays using semicolons
(Tags: tag1; tag2).



Output
Record details including ok status, baseId, tableName,
and record object (with id, createdTime, and
fields).








Updating a record

Use the Update record action to modify an existing record in an Airtable
table.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record ID,
Record fields (or table-specific
dynamic fields) Record ID starts with "rec" (e.g.,
recAbCd1234EfGhIj).
After selecting a base and
table, the action will dynamically load that table's
specific fields. Only provide values for fields you want
to update. Existing values for fields you don't specify
will remain unchanged.



Output
Record details including ok status, baseId, tableName,
and record object (with id and updated fields).








Deleting a record

Use the Delete record action to permanently delete a specific record from
an Airtable table.
Important: This action
permanently deletes the record and cannot be undone. Use with
caution.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record ID



Output
Deletion details including ok status, baseId, tableName,
deleted confirmation, and record id.








Looking up a record

Use the Lookup record action to retrieve a record by its ID from an
Airtable table. Use this action to retrieve detailed information about a
specific record, including all of its field values. The output schema
dynamically reflects the table's actual field structure.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record ID



Output
Record details including ok status, baseId, tableId,
tableName, and record object (with id, createdTime, and
fields with their values).








Searching for records

Use the Search records action to find records in a table using filters,
sorting, and pagination.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base,
Table Optional: Filter by
formula, View,
Sort field, Sort
direction, Max records,
Page size, Offset,
Return fields by field
ID
Consider the following when using the
Search records action:
Filter by formula uses Airtable formula syntax
(for example, "{Name} = 'John'").
View constrains results to a specific view.
Sort direction options are Ascending or
Descending.
Page size maximum is 100. Use the offset value
from the response to fetch the next page of
results.
Return fields by field ID determines whether to
use field names or field IDs in the output.





Output
Array of records with ok status, baseId, tableId,
tableName, records (each with ID, createdTime, and fields),
and pagination offset.








Looking up comments

Use the Lookup comments action to retrieve all comments on an Airtable
record.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record ID Optional:
Page size,
Offset
Page size controls how
many comments to return per request (1-100, default:
100). Use the offset value from the response to fetch
the next page of comments. An empty offset string
indicates no more pages are available.



Output
Comments array with ok status, baseId, tableName,
recordId, comments (each with id, text, createdTime,
lastUpdatedTime, and author details), and pagination
offset.








Batch creating records

Use the Batch create records action to create multiple records at once in
an Airtable table.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Records Format
multiple records as "FieldName: Value, Field2: Value2"
and separate each record with "---" (three dashes).
Example: "Name: John Doe, Status: Active\n---\nName:
Jane Smith, Status: Done". This is useful for bulk data
import operations.



Output
Records array with ok status, baseId, tableName, and
array of created records (each with id and
createdTime)








Batch deleting records

Use the Batch delete records action to delete multiple records at once
from an Airtable table. This action is useful for bulk cleanup operations.
Important: This action permanently deletes all
specified records and cannot be undone. Use with caution.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Base ID, Table
name, Record IDs Record IDs
can be provided comma-separated or one per line (e.g.,
"recAbCd123, recEfGh456, recIjKl789").



Output
Records array with ok status, baseId, tableName, and
array of records (each with id and deleted
confirmation)








Adding a comment to a record

Use the Add comment to record action to post a comment on an Airtable
record. Comments are visible to all collaborators with access to the record. Use
this action to add notes, updates, or context to records from your Zendesk
workflows.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: Base ID, Table name or
ID, Record ID,
Comment text



Output
Comment details including ok status, baseId,
tableIdOrName, recordId, and comment object (with id, text,
createdTime, and author details including id, email, and
name).








Looking up a table schema

Use the Lookup table schema action to retrieve the schema and field
definitions for an Airtable table. Use this action to discover the structure of
a table, including all available fields and their types. This is particularly
useful when building dynamic workflows that need to adapt to different table
structures. The tableId from this response can be used for more reliable table
references in other actions.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: Base ID, Table ID or
name



Output
Table schema including ok status, baseId, tableId,
tableName, and table object (with id, name, primaryFieldId,
description, fields array with id/name/type/description, and
views array with id/name/type).








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