# Working with Adalo API - {ElementId} **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [October 28, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412 "2020-10-28T14:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/1 "2020-10-28T14:21:45Z")
Hey Adalorians, I have been working and connection with the Adalo API in the past days and I have one big question: How do I access (read not edit) the `{ElementId}` of a record. We need this for all API calls from outside šŸ™‚ Can you maybe update the Collections and show the element ID as first column list pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![fbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/fbot/32/2865_2.png) [@fbot](https://forum.adalo.com/u/fbot)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/2 "2020-10-29T19:14:40Z")
I have the same issue - I need to update records via the API and require the ElementID to do so. Problem is, Iā€™m not sure what the recordsā€™ ElementIDā€™s are. I can see the ElementID if I run a get on all collection records, but then Iā€™d have to cross reference another property to find the ID Iā€™m looking for. Thatā€™s obviously not viable. ---
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/3 "2020-10-29T19:26:56Z")
Exactly. Itā€™s super prone to errors. Thatā€™s why I would like to access the element ID in read only or as a magic number in Custom Actionsā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![marius](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/marius/32/3618_2.png) [@marius](https://forum.adalo.com/u/marius)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/4 "2020-10-31T03:20:16Z")
Ya we really need the ElementID as a column in each collection. ---
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 11:51am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/5 "2020-10-31T11:51:59Z")
Maybe having no response so far from @anon78309838 or other Adalo Staff is a good sign? šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![anon78309838](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@anon78309838](https://forum.adalo.com/u/anon78309838)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 8:19am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/6 "2020-11-02T08:19:18Z")
I am only part time, so you do have about 4 days (inc weekend) without me šŸ˜ƒ In response to this request. I will run it by the team but I personally donā€™t see the issue with running a request on the collection first to determine all IDā€™s and then cross referencing them for the one I need. ---
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 8:25am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/7 "2020-11-02T08:25:57Z")
Hey @anon78309838, thank you for your reply! Well, it is cumbersome and not elegant. And just one more column saves us so much time and reduces error rates -\> more customer satisfaction -\> much more value for us šŸ™‚ Please let me know if you need more reasons. In case you guys are worried about the less tech savvy users, why not toggle the visibility of the column with a simple checkbox in your profile settings? That way it is still lean and easy to use. ---
**Author:** ![lucapietra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@lucapietra](https://forum.adalo.com/u/lucapietra)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/8 "2020-11-06T12:44:15Z")
Hi all, Iā€™m having the same issue and I also find the workaround a little cumbersome, but well, Iā€™ll try to di with it šŸ™‚ Being quite new to APIs I have a question though: when querying the collection for all items, is there a way to get them ordered by the field I want (in my case itā€™d be ā€œlast modifiedā€) ? An equivalent to what ā€œORDER BY last\_modified DESCā€ would be in SQLā€¦ Thanks for your help! Luca ---
**Author:** ![fbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/fbot/32/2865_2.png) [@fbot](https://forum.adalo.com/u/fbot)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 6:24am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/9 "2020-11-07T06:24:14Z")
Hi Colin, appreciate you escalating this for us. As some others have said, having to get the full collection, just to determine the ElementId, is time consuming (GET collection, process collection), particularly if youā€™re retrieving a large collection. Besides this, Iā€™m sure there may be many others like me, who process these records in Azure. Having to retrieve and process the full collection, results in higher Azure costs. ---
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/10 "2020-11-07T08:18:12Z")
Thank you, fbot. I have the exact same issue, but am processing in Filemaker. @anon78309838 thank you for your effort really. šŸ™‚ I gave it some thought and looked around in the Adalo. How about connceting the showing of the Element ID to the developer mode? In the profile settings we can toggle this mode. If its on, the Syste shows the Element ID, if its off, it doesnt. It could be an elegant to use existing structures and keep it coherant with the different pricing plans. ---
**Author:** ![AfonsoMarques](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/afonsomarques/32/28504_2.png) [@AfonsoMarques](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AfonsoMarques)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/11 "2020-11-09T11:33:47Z")
Can you explain how you manage to get the Element Id please? Thanks a lot ---
**Author:** ![AXIOM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/axiom/32/3515_2.png) [@AXIOM](https://forum.adalo.com/u/AXIOM)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/12 "2020-11-09T11:35:40Z")
There is no ā€œsimple wayā€ at the moment. Work arounds are described above. It seems that this is a popular demand and weā€™re in discussion with the Adalo to make it available to the users. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.adalo.com/system/32/40401_2.png) [@system](https://forum.adalo.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/working-with-adalo-api-elementid/5412/13 "2020-11-19T11:35:43Z")
Closed on November 19, 2020, 11:35am UTC This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.