In this guide, we'll create screenshots for a list of URLs in Airtable. We'll use the Data Fetcher Airtable extension along with the microlink service to create these screenshots as attachment files in Airtable. This tutorial is 100% no-code!
Create URL to Screenshot Table
Create a table called 'Screenshots'.
Create a field called 'URL' and add the URLs you want to screenshot. The URLs must be full URLs with https:// at the start.
Create a field called 'Screenshot' with type 'Attachment'.
Create a new Grid view called 'Needs screenshot' with the following filters:
- The 'URL' field is not empty.
- The 'Screenshot' field is empty.
Install Data Fetcher
Install Data Fetcher from the Airtable marketplace. After the extension launches, sign up for a free Data Fetcher account by entering a password and clicking 'Sign up for free'.
Get Screenshots from URLs in Airtable
On the home screen of the Data Fetcher extension, click 'Create your first request'. Requests in Data Fetcher are how you import data to or send data from your Airtable base.
On the create request screen in Data Fetcher, for Application, select 'Microlink'.
For Endpoint, select 'Create screenshots from URLs'.
Enter a Name for your request, e.g. 'Import Screenshots'. Then click 'Save & Continue'.
For URL, we want to insert a reference to the values in our 'URL' Airtable field. First, click the + button.
On the modal that opens, select 'URL' for Field. Then select 'Needs screenshot' for Run for every record in view. Then click 'Confirm'.
URL should now contain a reference to the table.
Make sure the Output Table & View is set to 'Screenshots' and 'Needs screenshot'.
Click 'Save & Run'.
The request will run and the Response field mapping modal will open. This is where you set how the available fields from Microlink should map to the fields in the output table. Make sure the 'Screenshot' field is mapped to our existing 'Screenshot' field. Then click 'Save & Run'.
Data Fetcher will then run the request for every record in 'Needs screenshot' and convert the URLs to screenshots in Airtable.
Note: if you run into Microlink's free plan limits, you can buy a Microlink paid plan here, set the Authorization type to 'Header' and enter your API Key to increase your limit.
Create Screenshots from URLs on a Schedule
At the moment, we have to manually run the request to create the Screenshots. We can use Data Fetcher's scheduled requests feature to automatically create them every 15 minutes/ hour/ day etc.
In Data Fetcher, scroll to Schedule and click 'Upgrade'.
A new tab will open where you can select a plan and enter your payment details to upgrade.
Return to the Data Fetcher extension and click 'I've done this'.
Under Schedule click '+ Authorize'.
A window will open where you'll be prompted to authorize which Airtable bases you want Data Fetcher to have access to.
We recommended selecting 'All current and future bases in all current and future workspaces' to avoid any issues with unauthorized bases in the future.
Click 'Grant access'.
Back in Data Fetcher, you'll see Schedule this request is now toggled on.
Select how often you want the request to run, e.g. 'Every 15 mins'. Click 'Save' The request will now run create the Screenshots from URLs automatically on a schedule.
