Choose a template that most closely matches the fields in Airtable that you wish to approve. If you can’t find a perfect match, don’t worry: you can add or remove fields later
💡 Pro tip: When setting up Airtable Approvals, you’ll want to have a few windows or tabs open: this page, the Onalu app, and Airtable so you can switch between them easily.
Once you’ve picked a template in Onalu, we strongly recommend that you copy the corresponding Airtable template from our Airtable Universe page.
Here’s a list of each Onalu template and a direct link to its corresponding Airtable Universe page.
We automatically generate a script that will send the appropriate data from Airtable to Onalu
You can use Airtable Automations to configure a trigger and run a script to automatically send the data from Airtable you wish to have approved in Onalu.
We recommend that you use the trigger "When a form is submitted". This will ensure that all of the fields you wish to have approved will be completed and the act of submitting the form will trigger the automation.
1. In Airtable, switch to the Automations section
2. Create a new automation. We recommend you use the trigger “When a form is submitted” and create a form in Airtable to initiate your process. This will ensure that all of the fields you wish to have approved will be completed and the act of submitting the form will trigger the automation. You can use other triggers to send the data that matches your needs.
3. In the Action section, choose “Run a script” and paste the script that you added from Onalu
4. In the script that you just pasted in, change each Airtable value in the "Data Mapping" section to match the field name in Airtable. As a best practice, we recommend you call the Airtable field the same name as the Onalu field and make changes in both tables to avoid future confusion. In the script, make sure that the table name matches the table name in Airtable you wish to send data from.
5. In the Airtable Automation Edit Script screen, click on "Add input variable" and in the name field enter "record" and in the value field click "+" and select "Airtable Record ID"
6. Click "Finish Editing" to close the Airtable Automation Edit Script settings, then make sure that you turn on the automation.
7. Run a test by meeting the trigger conditions (for example, by filling out the form) and see if the data was successfully sent to Onalu
8. Pat yourself on the back, this was the hardest part!
1. In Airtable, find the field called “Send to Onalu” and select it. It should look like this:
2. Open the extensions tab in Airtable
3. If haven’t set up an extension before, no worries. Under scripting, click “Get Started”
4. Cick “Start from Scratch”
5. Scroll up to the top and click “Edit Code”
6. Replace the default script code with the code you copied from Step 1 above.
7. Click “Finish editing” and close the scripting window (you shouldn’t press “Run”)
1. In the Onalu table you created, select the Update Airtable Record field. This is the colored header field at the top of the table. In the sidebar, open the settings configuration for this field. It should look like this:
2. Integrate Onalu with Airtable by clicking on the “Connect Airtable” button. Onalu uses Airtable OAuth integration to securely connect to Airtable. If that sounds fancy or you don’t know what that means, join the club. Follow the instructions on the popup that opens to grant appropriate permissions.
3. Select the appropriate Airtable Base and Airtable Table. Airtable Record ID should already be filled out, but if not, be sure to choose the Onalu field titled “Airtable Record ID”
4. Map each approved data field with the corresponding approved value field in Airtable. The field “Approval” should already be selected for mapping. You need to select the appropriate Airtable destination field.
Be sure to map “Approval State” in Onalu to “Approval Status” in Airtable
In Airtable, create a new record. Enter test values for each field. In the Requester field, make sure you enter in a valid email address that you have access to.
If you used an Airtable Automation, perform the trigger action that you setup. If you used the Airtable button, click on the button
Go to the Onalu table and confirm that a new record has appeared with the same data that you entered into Airtable. Here’s what your Onalu table should look like:
If this is not the case, go back to the previous section and try the instructions again, or email us with a description of the problem you’re experiencing.
Go to the email account you used to sign up to Onalu and find the request notification in the subject.
As the approver, you can Approve, Comment, Assign to Requester for Revision, or Reject this request. Let’s get started by approving this request first.
In the Onalu table, you’ll see that the approval automation is completed, and that the Update Airtable Record automation automatically triggered and completed as well.
Now go to your Airtable and note that the approved data fields have been completed with the appropriate values.
🎉 Bask in the glow of your accomplishment, you’ve just built an end-to-end approval workflow!
You can start using your Airtable Approval’s workflow right away.
You may want to adjust the fields for approval for your specific use case. If that’s the case, learn how to add or remove a field for approval.
Which approval template should I choose?
Why doesn’t the Onalu Record work for me?
What happens when an approval request is returned to the requester?
How do I add or remove fields for approval?