How to filter Airtable records that aren't referenced in linked record fields?

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1

I’m working with an Airtable base that has a table with these columns:

Employee Name (Single Line Text) | Manager (Link to "Employee Name")
--------------------------------- | ------------------------------------
Alice Johnson                     | `Sarah Wilson`
Sarah Wilson                      | (Empty)
Tom Brown                         | `Lisa Davis` `Mike Chen`
Lisa Davis                        | (Empty)
Mike Chen                         | (Empty)
Robert Taylor                     | (Empty)

I want to build a filtered view that shows:

WHERE {Manager (field)} is empty
OR {Manager (column)} does not include {Employee Name}

The expected output should be:

Employee Name (Single Line Text) | Manager (Link to "Employee Name")
--------------------------------- | ------------------------------------
Alice Johnson                     | `Sarah Wilson`
Tom Brown                         | `Lisa Davis` `Mike Chen`
Robert Taylor                     | (Empty)

I need to combine two different conditions. First condition finds records with empty Manager fields. Second condition finds records that don’t appear as managers for other employees. The goal is showing employees who either have no manager assigned OR who aren’t managing anyone else. Can this be done with Airtable’s filtering options?

2

Airtable’s built-in filtering can’t handle what you’re trying to do. It doesn’t have a way to check if a record is referenced in another record’s linked field - which is exactly what you need for your second condition. I’d create a helper formula field that shows whether each employee is referenced as a manager somewhere else. Then you can filter on that calculated field plus your existing manager assignments. You could also use Airtable’s scripting block or automation features, but that’s way more complex to set up. The formula method is usually easier and won’t break on you later.

3

You’ll need a workaround since Airtable can’t filter based on whether records are referenced elsewhere. I’ve hit this same problem before - here’s what works. Add a rollup field that counts how many times each employee shows up as a manager in the Manager field. Non-managers will show zero. Then filter with two conditions: Manager field is empty OR your rollup field equals zero. This approach works great for org charts and doesn’t need any scripting. The rollup updates automatically when manager assignments change, so your filtered view stays current without you touching it.