Can you pls share how you update your data ? directly in Airtable ? and what’s the nature of the update ? (like update/delete/etc) ?
We do sync Airtable data so we can serve it without hitting their slow APIs… and as a side effect certain direct Airtable edits might be affected… I need to learn more about your use case first…
The specific issue I have noticed is with a formula field in Airtable. It is getting pulled into a Softr Item details block.
I changed the formula in Airtable over 2 hours ago. In Airtable, I can, of course, see the result of the new formula immediately. However, Softr still shows the field as if the formula was never updated. I guess the data is cached somewhere.
This helps! I think the root cause is that when you modify the formula values change but Airtable doesn’t mark those records as updated and hence we don’t pick it up as updated value… While we will look into this for those cases adding a field into the schema and deleting it in few mins will solve the issue… it will force update… until we check what can be done… I’m sure we can improve but might take a bit to do it.
@DustinL if you update a field in the table as long as Airtable counts that as record updated then we update… Unfortunately some calculated field changes they don’t count as record updated… one way to enforce it could be (needs testing) to add update_at date that is getting updated on each field change.
I found another example where the expected data isn’t being shown. It’s related but not identical to what I mentioned before.
We have a formula field in Table A. The formula contains a Lookup field from Table A that references a Long text field in Table B. If I manually update the Long text field in Table B, the formula in Table A now has a new result, but Softr doesn’t show it.
So it seems Softr no longer works correctly with Airtable formula fields? Is that fair to say?
You could say that if you directly update the data in Airtable… if it’s done via app it will work just fine… I shared why it happens as Airtable for some reason doesn’t count this as record updated which is silly and we need to find other ways.
These seems like a major problem for any Airtable base that uses formulas.
I know it used to work correctly with Softr.
Could it be your new caching system is too aggressive? Maybe go back to the old way for bases that have a formula field in the schema. And only be so aggressive with the cache if there are no formula fields.
@DustinL there is no way back Airtable API has been terribly slow and every player who integrated has moved into sync mode… I think we should accept that direct formula edits in Airtable can cause delays until we find a better solution for this specific scenario.
Fair, would appreciate if you could also raise it with Airtable why this is not considered record updated they could also fix their core issue and then we would all be in a better place… Until then we will work hard to find alternatives and see how we can improve
Figured I would share this in case anyone else runs into this issue: I created a Last Refreshed date field in the table with the formula. I ran several tests and found that manually updating this field busted the cache. So it seems that a likely workaround is creating an automation that runs when the root data is updated and having it set a new Last Refreshed value.
I am having this same issue. We’ve had no problems with this since we started using Softr about a year and a half ago, but last week a team member noted that updates they made to a notes field in Airtable (which then pulls into a formula field before being pushed to Softr) did not reflect in the Softr app until the following day. This week, two team members are experiencing the same issue, stating that they aren’t seeing updates for a day or two.
Has something changed recently? Is this going to continue to be a problem? We can’t manually mark every single record every time a change is made as the records Softr looks at are in a completely different base and pull from multiple records from different bases, combining the relevant fields with formulas. The amount of time it would add to our workflows to go into the separate base to manually update each record is not feasible. The data is also important to be updated at least within an hour.
We will look into automation workarounds, but just wondering first if this is something that might be able to be fixed, considering this is a recent issue, before we spend the time and effort to create a workaround?
Hi @Olivia1 thanks for your message. We have made some updates to our underlying airtable system and will check to see if this is related to it or not.
After digging into this, I’ve identified two main issues so far:
#1. Formula Changes While Building
When I update the formula itself in a formula field, Softr doesn’t seem to detect the change and continues showing cached data. This is surprising because I am modifying the field definition—not just the underlying data—so Airtable should signal that an update has occurred.
Current workaround:
I added a “Softr Bust Cache” checkbox field to any table containing formula fields I’m actively editing. After modifying the formula, I toggle the checkbox (flip its state) and copy the new value to all records. This forces Softr to refresh.
It’s annoying but manageable when modifying our app, so I’m treating it as part of my temporary “build process.”
#2. Cross-Table Formula Dependencies
If a formula field references data from another table, and that referenced data changes, the formula technically recalculates—but Airtable does not mark the formula field as “updated.” As a result, Softr keeps showing cached or outdated data.
This is a major problem for us. We have a large, complex base with 140+ cross-table formula dependencies, and it would be a major pain to:
Manually review all dependencies and identify which ones Softr displays
Create and maintain automations to update a “Last Refreshed” field for each one
Remember this limitation every time we add new features or formulas
This really needs a platform-level fix. Ideally, Softr would detect cross-table formula relationships and automatically bust the cache when a root (non-computed) field changes in a way that affects downstream formulas.
Does Softr plan to address this?
It would be extremely helpful to know whether a fix is planned before I invest significant time into complex workarounds—or consider migrating to a different platform.
Dependency Scanner Script
I also had Claude Code generate a CLI script that finds all Airtable cross-table formula dependencies. I’ll include it here in case it helps others. For safety, duplicate your production base without records or comments, and create a PAT with access only to the duplicate plus the schema.bases:read scope. It will create an HTML document showing you all cross-table formula dependencies and how they are connected.
Hi @DustinL thanks for your response. We have a couple engineers on it at the moment. This is part of an underlying upgrade that we’re making for Airtable and are working to improve it ASAP.
Your reply was very help and we appreciate the level of detail you are providing to help his resolve this faster. I’m going to DM you as well.
We are having the same issue. In our case one of our tables has a formula field that calculates its “status”. Our Softr UI is heavily dependent on this field, with action buttons and whole blocks being shown or hidden depending on its value. When Softr “sees” an outdated status it is allowing users to perform actions that should otherwise not be allowed for database’s actual state.
We are implementing workarounds to verify that these actions can be performed on the backend, but this makes the whole user experience much more clunky with alerts, messages and unexpected behavior.
As far as Softr is sold as a “no code” platform, synchronicity should be a given.
Any update on this JJ? I’ve got non-profit clients supporting c1500 members and, similarly to @DustinL, @Olivia1 and @urbita Airtable formulas are a key part of the setup (I’ve also messaged Airtable support).
To be in a position now where they’re asking why things that worked instantly a couple of weeks ago are now taking hours (and it’s seemingly pretty random) is frustrating for me but absolutely mission-critical for them.
Airtable API has been terribly slow and every player who integrated has moved into sync mode… I think we should accept that direct formula edits in Airtable can cause delays until we find a better solution for this specific scenario.