Working with the ‘Last modified’ field

The ‘Last modified’ field automatically stamps a row with the exact date and time of its most recent user-made change, helping you track updates.

This guide covers what the ‘Last modified’ field is and its key properties, how to add this field to your table, and how to limit tracking to specific fields.

Learn more: Configure field types

Last modified field in Baserow

What is the ‘Last modified’ field?

The ‘Last modified’ field is an automatic, read-only field that shows the date and time a row was last edited by a user.

When a new row is created, its ‘Last modified’ value will be the same as its ‘Created on’ time. This timestamp will update every time a user edits any editable field in that row.

A key behavior to note is that a row’s ‘Last modified’ value never rolls back. If you edit a cell and then use “Undo,” the ‘Last modified’ time will reflect the time of the “Undo” action, not the time before the edit.

How to add a ‘Last modified’ field

Add the field

  1. In your table, add a new field.
  2. Select Last modified from the field type dropdown.
  3. Name the field (e.g., “Last Update”).
  4. Click Create.

By default, this field will track changes made to any editable field in the row.

You can choose to restrict the field so that it only displays the most recent time a particular field was modified.

Track the last modified time on computed fields

The date functions in formulas can be used to return the date and time of the most recent user modification. Using the date functions in formulas, you can specify one or more field names to track modification and return the date and time of the most recent change made to any of the specified fields.

Both the formula function and the Last modified field type reflect recent changes to editable fields by a user. They do not capture changes made automatically in any fields, such as formula fields, where the user does not directly modify the cell values but rather uses Baserow to compute the values.

If you add or remove a row from a Link-to-table field, the Last modified data will change. However, if the data linked to the Link-to-table field field changes, the latest modified time will not change. Although the connected row’s values in the other table have changed, you haven’t altered which row you are linking to. Changing the Link-to-table field row’s fields that are stored in a different table won’t affect the Last modified value.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between ‘Last modified’ and ‘Last modified by’?

They work together:

  • ‘Last modified’ (this field) tells you when the last edit happened (the date and time).
  • ‘Last modified by’ tells you who made the last edit (the user).

What’s the difference between ‘Last modified’ and ‘Created on’?

  • ‘Created on’ is set once when the row is created and never changes.
  • ‘Last modified’ updates every time the row is edited.

Do formula fields or other computed fields trigger an update?

No. The ‘Last modified’ field tracks changes made directly by a user. It does not track automatic changes in computed fields (like Formulas, Lookups, or Rollups) that update because their underlying data changed.

This is a special case:

  • YES: If you add or remove a link from the link to table field, this is a user edit and will trigger an update.
  • NO: If the data inside the linked row changes (e.g., the linked record’s name is edited in its own table), this does not count as an edit to the current row, and will not trigger an update.

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