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Here’s my thinking. I like the simplicity of Airtable’s own “Export CSV” function. Data in a spreadsheet as a simple backup is all I am after.


If “Export CSV” could be triggered via a script, the entire process could be automated. A new record could be the trigger to run this script.


Does anyone know if this is even possible?

Thank you!

You cannot trigger the existing “Download CSV” feature in Airtable with a script. However, it is possible to use scripting (either in scripting app, or with an automation scripting action) to convert the existing data to CSV format and save that data to a website. The exact details would depend on where you want to save the data.


Hello! I'd love to know how to do that if you're willing to share

Thanks!


You cannot trigger the existing “Download CSV” feature in Airtable with a script. However, it is possible to use scripting (either in scripting app, or with an automation scripting action) to convert the existing data to CSV format and save that data to a website. The exact details would depend on where you want to save the data.


Hi Kuovonne,

How would one use scripting to convert the existing data into a csv format? I tried with the below, but couldn't get the URL.createObjectURL to work with Airtable.

 


@kuovonne wrote:

You cannot trigger the existing “Download CSV” feature in Airtable with a script. However, it is possible to use scripting (either in scripting app, or with an automation scripting action) to convert the existing data to CSV format and save that data to a website. The exact details would depend on where you want to save the data.


// Define the input variables
let table = base.getTable("Content Brief"); // Table name
let view = table.getView("Excel Author Flyer Download View"); // View name

// Fetch records from the specified view
let result = await view.selectRecordsAsync();
let records = result.records;

// Check if there are records to process
if (records.length === 0) {
console.log("No records found in the view.");
return;
}

// Convert records to CSV format
function recordsToCSV(records, fields) {
if (records.length === 0) return '';

// Map field names from the result fields
const headers = fields.map(field => field.name);
const csvRows = v];

// Add header row
csvRows.push(headers.join(','));

// Add data rows
for (let record of records) {
const values = headers.map(header => {
const value = record.getCellValue(header);
return `"${String(value || '').replace(/"/g, '""')}"`; // Escape quotes
});
csvRows.push(values.join(','));
}

return csvRows.join('\n');
}

// Fetch the field names for the table/view
const fields = table.fields;
const csvContent = recordsToCSV(records, fields);

// Check if the CSV content is empty
if (!csvContent) {
console.log("CSV content is empty.");
return;
}

// Create a file blob from the CSV content
const blob = new Blob(ecsvContent], { type: 'text/csv' });
const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

// Output the download link
output.markdown(`Download your CSV file Shere](${url}).`);

// Clean up the URL object after use
setTimeout(() => {
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}, 1000);




For a no-code way of automating the process of exporting CSV files from Airtable, you could use Make’s CSV tools.

I discuss how to automate the importing and exporting of CSV files from Airtable on this episode of the BuiltOnAir podcast.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread. For example, here is one of the ways that you could instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable.

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

 


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