How to Auto-Populate Hive Template Fields from Parent Action Cards
Learn how to use Hive Automate to automatically populate custom fields in action templates from parent and sub-action cards, eliminating manual data entry.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
When your team applies an action template in Hive, those custom fields don't populate themselves — unless you build a Hive Automate recipe to do it. Here's how to set up a recipe that automatically fills key custom fields (like a job number, job title, and budget account number) from parent and sub-action cards the moment a template is applied to a sub-action.
The Problem: Jumping Between Cards to Fill In Fields
A publications team we work with uses Hive to manage print jobs from intake to delivery. Near the end of each project, they apply a print specs template to a sub-action card. That template has around 17 fields to complete.
Three of those fields are already captured elsewhere in Hive:
- The job title lives on the sub-action card's title
- The job number is embedded in the sub-action's title
- The budget account number lives on the parent intake action card
Every time, someone had to navigate between cards to copy and paste this information into the template. Small friction on its own — but multiplied across dozens of print jobs per month, it added up fast.
This team had previously migrated from Workfront, which generated these fields automatically. They wanted the same behavior in Hive.
The Solution: A Hive Automate Recipe That Reads Both Parent and Child Data
Hive Automate (powered by Workato) supports multi-step recipes that can retrieve data from both a triggering action card and its parent. Here's the four-step recipe structure:
Step 1: Trigger on Template Application
Set the recipe to trigger when a sub-action is created or updated — specifically scoped to detect when your named template (e.g., "Print Specs") is applied. You can scope this to a specific project or workspace-wide.
Step 2: Get the Sub-Action Details
Use a Get Action step to retrieve the full details of the triggering sub-action. This gives you access to:
- The action's title (which contains the job number and job title)
- Any custom fields already set on the sub-action
Step 3: Get the Parent Action Details
The trigger data includes the parent action ID. Add a second Get Action step using that parent ID to pull the parent card's full details — including the budget account number from the intake form's custom fields.
Why this works: Hive's action hierarchy (parent → sub-action → sub-sub-action) exposes the parent action ID within the trigger payload. That ID becomes the bridge to retrieve data captured at a higher level of your workflow.
Step 4: Update the Template Fields
Finally, use an Update Action step targeting the sub-action that received the template. Pass in the values retrieved from Steps 2 and 3:
- Job number — from the sub-action title
- Job title — from the sub-action title
- Budget account number — from the parent action's custom fields
The fields are now populated the moment the template lands on the card.
What Auto-Populates vs. What Stays Manual
Field | Auto or Manual? | Data Source |
Job title | ✅ Auto | Sub-action card title |
Job number | ✅ Auto | Sub-action card title |
Budget account number | ✅ Auto | Parent intake action card |
GL code (dropdown) | 🖊 Manual | Dropdown — user selects |
Note on dropdown fields: Fields that use a selector list (like a GL code) can't be auto-populated via Hive Automate because the automation would need to match a displayed label to an internal option ID. Leave those for the user to select manually — they're fast and unambiguous anyway.
Key Takeaways
- Hive Automate can read data from both a triggering action and its parent. You don't have to limit yourself to the card that triggered the recipe.
- Template application is a valid trigger point. Scope the recipe to detect when a named template is applied to a sub-action, and use that moment to pre-fill the fields.
- Dropdown fields require manual entry. Selection-list fields need the user's input — but that's typically one quick click.
- The recipe takes roughly 1–2 hours to build once the source fields and target fields are clearly identified across your card hierarchy.
- This pattern generalizes. Any team that captures intake data at the project or parent-action level can use this approach to surface that data further down the workflow — in print, proofing, fulfillment, or any template-heavy sub-process.
Ready to stop copy-pasting data across Hive cards? Book a free discovery call and let's map out what your team's template workflow could look like with Hive Automate filling in the gaps.
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