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Questions
1

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Information on your n8n setup

Title: Airtable “Invalid input” error from Set node (extra spaces / quotes issue)

Hi everyone,

I’m building a lead capture workflow in n8n:

Flow:

Form submission → Edit (Set node) → Airtable

Form fields:

- Full Name

- Email Address

- Phone Number

- Services Needed

- Budget

- How did you hear about us

- Additional Notes

Airtable fields:

- Full Name

- Email

- Phone Number

- Services Needed

- Budget (Single Select)

- Budget Category

- Client Status

- How did you hear about us

- Additional Notes

Problem:

I keep getting errors like:

- Invalid input for ‘Budget’

- Invalid input for ‘Client Status’

Even when the values look correct.

Example:

Airtable expects:

$600 and Above

But n8n sends:

" $600 and Above" (extra space)

Or:

“New Lead” (extra quotes)

What I’ve tried:

- Using .trim() in the Set node

- Cleaning values before sending

- Matching Airtable select options exactly

Question:

1. What’s the best way to normalize/clean form input before sending to Airtable?

2. How do I avoid issues with Single Select fields in Airtable?

3. What’s the best practice for ensuring consistent values across workflows?

Any help would be appreciated :folded_hands:

2

Hi @Ajuzie_Prince

Airtable Single Select fields need an exact string match , any extra space or quote will cause that error.

Two things to do:

  1. In your Set node, clean the values with:

{{ $json["Budget"].toString().trim().replace(/^["']+|["']+$/g, '').trim() }}

  1. In your Airtable node, go to Options and enable Typecast. This tells Airtable to be more flexible with incoming values and auto-create options if needed.

For Client Status, if it’s always the same value like New Lead, set it as a fixed string rather than an expression to avoid any formatting issues.

If you’re still stuck, share the JSON output of your Set node.