Airtable error: Nothing can be found for the search

Symptoms

When using an Airtable search action in your Zaps, you get the error message “Nothing could be found for the search.” You’ll see this error in the details of a Zap run in your Zap’s history. 

Causes

This happens when:

• The record you are searching for does not exist in Airtable or another Zap that should’ve created it has not created it yet.
• The search criteria for a record does not match the corresponding data in Airtable.
  • The mapped field in the Search Value or Search Formula field contains data in a format different from that in Airtable. 
  • The mapped field contains a trailing space.
  • You have the exact match setting turned on which restricts your search.
  • You selected a view in Airtable that restricts your search. 

How to fix

To fix it:

Check in Airtable that the record you are searching for exists.

• If it does not exist, amend your search action to create a record if one is not found:
  • Go to your Airtable search action.
  • In the Configure tab, select Create if Airtable Record if it doesn’t exist yet? checkbox.
  • Complete any fields you need for a new record.
• If your record is created by another Zap that runs after your affected Zap, add a delay step before your Airtable search action. This will prevent your Zap from running until the record is created.

Adjust the search criteria to see if this improves your search results. 

• In your affected Airtable step, turn off the exact match setting.
  • In the Search for Exact Match? dropdown menu, select No.
• In the Limit to View field, select an alternative view. 

Review the mapped field you are using in the Search Value or Search Formula field.

• You may need to map a different field that has values that match the record in Airtable.
• If the field you mapped from a previous step does not always send a value, replace it with a field that consistently does. If you cannot change the current mapped field:
  • Add a step to set a default value as a fallback whenever your mapped field has no data.
  • Add conditional logic using a filter or branching logic with paths before your search step. This will allow you to define what the Zap should do if the mapped field receives no data from the previous step.
• You can format data in your mapped field using Formatter by Zapier to match what Airtable expects. Learn more about:
  • Getting started with Formatter.
  • Split text fields.
  • Modify text formats.
  • Modify date and time formats.
  • Extract data.