Access Rules to Restrict Duplicate Records#

Suppose we have a table listing airports, and we want to forbid entry of a new record with the same airport code as an existing one. In the table, we can add a column named Count that counts how many records have the same code as each other:

Airport table

To understand this formula, visit our formula cheat sheet example for finding duplicates.

Now, we can add an access rule to forbid any record update or creation that would result in a Count above one. We can also include a memo to explain the problem:

Duplicate rule

newRec

This variable is available for record/row creation and updating, and contains the state of a row after a proposed change, allowing you to selectively allow or deny certain changes. See checking new values for details.

Now if we try to add a new row with an existing code, we get a helpful error:

Duplicate error

See Access rule conditions for details on writing access rule conditions, and Formulas to learn more about using formulas in columns.