---
title: "Updating a child record when the parent record is modified with pipelines"
slug: "updating-a-child-record-when-the-parent-record-is-modified-with-pipelines"
updated: 2026-04-29T16:40:12Z
published: 2026-04-29T16:40:12Z
canonical: "help.quickbase.com/updating-a-child-record-when-the-parent-record-is-modified-with-pipelines"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.quickbase.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Updating a child record when the parent record is modified with pipelines

Have you been looking for a way to update manual entry fields on your child records when important changes happen on your parent records? For example, imagine a company tracks hundreds of projects, each project having hundreds of tasks. They want to track each task individually until a project is completed, then they need all the tasks to be set to complete. Doing this manually would be time-consuming and tedious work. Instead, using Pipelines they can make sure that their completed project automatically triggers a pipeline set up to mark all their outstanding tasks as completed to get rid of unnecessary cleanup.

## Overview

**Assume the following table structure:**

Projects -> Tasks

Scenario: If a Project's status is set to completed, all status for each related task status should also be set to completed.

**Overview of example pipeline**

- Step A: Trigger the pipeline when a record on the Project table is modified and the project's status is set to complete
- Step B: Search the Tasks table for all child records related to the modified Project from Step A
- Then, for each child task:
  - Step C: Update the task.

Guided Instructions

### **Pipeline step A: Trigger when project is updated**

Step A triggers the pipeline whenever a Project is updated AND a specific condition is met

- Condition: Status is equal to Completed

![Pipeline step A configuration showing the Record Updated trigger for the Projects table with a Status equals Completed condition](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/12096469432980.png)

**Setup**:

1. Create a new pipeline and give it a descriptive name
2. Open the **Quickbase** channel, then open the **Records** category
3. Drag the **Record Updated**trigger onto the canvas
4. In **Account**, select your user token or enter a new one ([learn how to use the Quickbase channel](/v1/docs/use-the-quickbase-channel)).
5. For this example, select the **Projects** table, which is the parent record in the example
6. Set **Trigger on Any Field** to **No**
7. In **Trigger on Any of These Fields**, select **Status** **Note**: Steps 6 & 7 ensures this Pipeline only triggers when necessary. These steps should be taken whenever possible in Pipeline creation for step-run efficiency
8. In **Specify Fields for Use in Subsequent Steps**, select **Status**. This allows the Status field to be used in the query, which you'll define next, and allows the field to be used later in the pipeline **Note**: If you are using a custom key field, you'll need to define that here
9. Select **Add Conditions** to define a query. In the **Query** section define the **Status** the project must have for this pipeline to trigger. For this use-case, only trigger the pipeline when the Project is **Completed** **Note**: Not defining a query would cause the pipeline to trigger whenever the status field changed, regardless of what it was set to.

### **Step B: Search for related tasks**

Step B identifies the child tasks that are related to the parent Project defined in Step A. To do this, search the Tasks table for the related tasks.

![Pipeline step B configuration showing the Search Records step for the Tasks table with a Related Project equals condition](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/12096543320084.png)

**Setup:**

1. Drag the **Search Records** step onto the canvas as Step B
2. In **Account**, select your user token
3. Select the **Tasks** table
4. Under **Fields**, select **Related Project** and **Status** **Note**: This allows you to use the Related Project field in your query and to leverage the Status field's value later in the pipeline
5. Select **Add conditions**
6. In the **Query** section, select **Related Project**
7. Select **Is**
8. Drag the**Record ID** field from Step A in the box so the condition reads: **Related Project is {{a.id}}** **Note**: This is a critical step in the configuration of the pipeline. This ensures only the children tasks of the related parent Project are being updated in the next step. If you're using a custom key field, be sure to select the child table's reference field in the query, and drag the custom key field into the query

### **Step C: Update the related tasks**

Step C updates each child task record found in Step B to *Completed.*

**Setup**:

1. Drag **Update Record** action into the **Do** branch as Step C. The record from the search step is selected automatically.
2. Select **Add Fields**, and select **Status**
3. Set the value of the Status field to **Completed**

With this setup you can make sure tasks aren't left unfinished triggering notifications and reminders or leaving confusion about finished projects for your employees.