Automations only run if they are triggered in some way. There are different ways to do that:
1. Inside of miniExtensions:
Manually, by clicking the "run" button on our website.
Schedule it to run regularly using the Advanced options on the Run tab.
2. Outside of miniExtensions:
Trigger it with Airtable Automations (e.g. for any new record).
Trigger it by a Webhook. A Webhook is a unique URL for your automation that you call from another app (e.g. Zapier). Every time it’s fired (accessed), it will trigger the automation to run.
When triggered automatically, the automation will run in the same way as if you clicked on the run button on the settings page manually.
Keep in mind that, by default, the automation would skip any record that already contains data in its output field. It will only go through records that haven't been processed, unless you select the Overwrite option as explained here.
Scheduling Options
Schedule using miniExtensions
By choosing the Run once per day option in the Schedule settings, you can ensure that the extension automatically runs only once within a 24-hour period. It will execute the moment you set the schedule to Run once per day, and then subsequently at the same time of day each day.
For example, if we set our automation's schedule to Run once per day today at 8AM, the next run will occur 24 hours later, i.e. tomorrow at 8 AM. This ensures that the extension runs consistently at the same time each day, maintaining a predictable schedule for its execution.
To set this up, just go to
Your automation's Run settings
Advanced
Schedule
Select Run once per day
Schedule using Airtable
If you need an automation to run at, say, 4AM, but don't want to turn on the scheduling feature at that time (understandable!), you could use an Airtable automation to trigger it instead. Airtable's automations support setting a specific schedule to run, so you could set it to run at 4AM every day, and use a script to trigger your miniExtensions automation. This help article explains how to set this up!