Can automations only be applied to new entries?

Knacksters' Idea Lab
1

Hi,
I am new to Knack and setting up databases in general. I currently have a lot of data (1400+ records) in excel. I know I can import this into my app, but I also want to add some automations. I only want the automations to be applied to new entries. Is this possible and if so how would I do it?

Thank you,

2

Hello Nuth, It is possible for automations to apply to the new ones.
It also depends on the automations you want to setup. Are you setting up the automations on the fields (conditional/validation rules) or using triggers/action rules on the front end?

3

Hi Godfred, Thank you for your reply. The short answer to your question is I’m not sure. The main automation I want to do is to email/text a service user when they are referred to us to let them know the next steps. I only want this to happen for new referrals/record entries. all the records I’m going to import will already have been contacted.

4

If you are on the Pro plan you could setup a daily task to look for records that were either imported “today”, based on a date stamp when the record was imported, or mark all imported records as “new” or “imported” and run the email task on them and then set them to “complete”.

There is likely a solution to your situation depending on exactly what you’re trying to do

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5

Yes! In Knack, you can apply automations only to new entries by:

  1. Using Record Rules – Trigger actions only when a new record is added.
  2. Setting Conditional Workflows – Ensure automations don’t apply to existing data.
  3. Using Zapier/Make – Automate workflows for new records only.
  4. Filtering by Timestamp – Apply automations based on creation date.

When importing Excel data, consider disabling automations temporarily to avoid unintended triggers.

6

Hi all,

Thank you for your comments. that all makes sense thank you. I can import the data and then set up the automations afterwards and only apply them to new entries.

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