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Base Design

Need help with your Airtable base design? You've arrived at the right place.

  • 3,359 Topics
  • 8,414 Replies
3359 Topics
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Mike_BallKnown Participant
asked in Base Design
Design assistance - mapping users to products

HelloI'm looking for some assistance with my base design. I come from a SQLServer background and can do this easy here but not getting the best way to build for AT...The ScenarioI have a list of users and a list of products.  It's collectibles so I want to be able to know what users have what products, and more importantly which don't they have.In SQL I'd just create a UserProduct table and pretty much create a record for every user for every product and just record it there (not hugely scalable I know but not a big issue).In AT I already have the two base tables Users and Products.  I know once I have the base data I can create Got/Not Got views easily but that base table is baffling me - probably over thinking!!!I'm sure it's easy but I'm just not getting itTIAMike

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AmarBhaktaNew Participant
posted in Base Design
Trying to build a marketplace environment

Im trying to build a marketplace of sorts that connects wholesale suppliers to store-fronts, and then in turn to retail customers. I'm just not sure how to do this with linked records.I want to have one base that houses all the information about each supplier as an individual record.I want to have one base that houses all of the information about each store front.I want to have one base that houses all of the information about retail customers who sign up for this service.I want to have one base that acts as a primary product database. This will link the manufacturer / supplier and the store-front through two linked fields for each individual product as its own record.Lastly, I want to have a primary order database so when orders are put in they're created as new records in this base and link the store front, products bought there, and the customers who bought them.That all seems easy enough.Here's where I'm starting to run into some trouble and need some help:When I build the front en

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FPX
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rridParticipating Frequently
posted in Base Design
Design Assistance: Tracking User Performance

I am trying to design my base in the most efficient way to track my user's performance. I want to track performance per week, as well as in total. There is a table where the users are adding records (not directly into the base, but through a user interface), and those records get basically a grade - A, B, C, D, F (a single select field) and have a field with the user's email. I am struggling to find the best way to wrap all of this data into a new table that tracks the users productivity. I want to know for each user how many As, Bs, Cs, etc they get per week, as well as the total counts of each grade over all of the data. With the totals, I am also hoping to do calculations such as percentage of A's, etc. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could set this up in Airtable in the most optimal way?Thanks!

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TheTimeSavingCo
matt_stewart1
matt_stewart1Inspiring
posted in Base Design
Two-Way Sync editing not working on fields/tables with "Specific Users" permissions

I am trying to get smarter with base designs and newer feature offerings, however im having trouble balancing risk vs reward.Moving a teams workflow to another base makes great strides in decluttering and simplifying bases for teams. However i am seeing that if i want Source and Target editing in two-way synced tables, i can only do so if the permissions are a generic "editors and above" or "creators and above". For example ... i have a field in source table where i am a creator, and i have set this field to allow edits from specific users and i am selected. I then jump over to the target table and try to edit field, and it will not let me. But if i change the source field permissions to all creators or all editors, then the editing works. I am the admin and builder/creator of this workspace, both bases are within this workspace, and i am logged in.Similarly if i choose table permissions to only allow myself to create records and/or delete records. i want this to carry over to tar

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madisenbaldwin
madisenbaldwinKnown Participant
posted in Base Design
Can I add fields to a synced table and have them appear and update in the source?

I have a base "Inventory and Catalog" to keep track of seed received and varieties. This is the sourceI sync a catalog table to a base "Trials" where data lives about projects. I sync the variety catalog to this base so that users can link varieties into trials and say how much seed they'll use per trial.So i've added a linked record field in the synced catalog table for "trials" and then a field that rolls up how much trialing seed is used per variety. I want the seed used roll up field to then appear back in the inventory and catalog base but can't seem to figure out how to make that happenFor security reasons, I cannot put trials and varieties in the same base because varieties are entered with an external form, and our IT doesn't want that third party to access our trialing information.

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TheTimeSavingCo
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dcooldrummerNew Participant
asked in Base Design
Best way to structure data when a task can be linked to a child or a parent

Can't seem to find this on the community board, but if it has already been answered - I'd appreciate a link. I have Projects and Subprojects. The latter being the child. So there are a few Subprojects for every Project. On the other hand, I have Project managers. I want to have a "Tasks" table with all the tasks assigned to Project managers. My issue is that I want tasks to be EITHER created related to the Subproject, OR related to the main Project. The same exact relationship issue I encounter is when I have "Payments". A payment can be to a subcontractor - and therefor related to a Subproject. OR a payment can be to a Sales agent who brought the Project - and then it would be to the project. If I create two tables for these (i.e. "Project Tasks" and "Subproject Tasks" or "Project Payments" and "Subproject Payments") then it really just duplicates a lot and it also makes it impossible to create a normal interface to see all tasks assigned to me

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TheTimeSavingCo
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AndreaRInspiring
posted in Base Design
Lookup contact info from another table

Hi there - I keep getting hung up on lookups and links and it's driving me bananas so it's time to phone a friend! To generalize, I have a "Counterparty" table that lists all of the counterparties our organization has a contract with that includes their state and county (these are also lookups from another table which might be complicating matters). I have a second, "Local Office" table that is synced from an external base that lists every local county office by state that counterparties need to meet with as part of their contract. Each row is a different office and the columns are "state, county, office name, phone, address." Each state is naturally different, so, for example, New York has 10 rows/county offices and New Mexico 4. Super basic, right?I want to link the two tables so that we can create an automation that will automatically inform the counterparty the name and contact information for their local county office from the sync'd Local Office table.  I cannot fi

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TheTimeSavingCo
DiceTroubles
DiceTroublesNew Participant
posted in Base Design
Create a new record in a table using data from a master table

Fairly new to Airtable, so big picture question:I have a table with all records of product type (Master List)I have a second table with similar record fields, not identical (Inventory)I need to create a new record in inventory when an action is taken (button click in master list?) which will bring over relevant data but not all.Help please! 😂

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Pascal_Gallais-
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MACCNew Participant
asked in Base Design
Creating tab groups

I would really like the ability to group related tabs within a base - it would make our database so much tidier and easier to navigate. Thus far I can see no such function. Does it exist, and if not, how can I suggest such a function to them? 

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RockyCCChong
RockyCCChongKnown Participant
asked in Base Design
Using a text field as Lookup

I think this is a fairly straightforward process, but I am unable to figure out how to do this. I have 2 excel sheets imported. One is Product Master List, one is Inbound Shipment. The Product Master List contains Code, Product Name, UOM, while Inbound Shipment contains Delivery Number, Code, and shipping date. I just need to add a lookup field in the Inbound Shipment, to look into the Product Master List for the Product Name. Just want to make sure I'm not crazy, because it sure seems like extra work for what could be available . 

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RockyCCChong
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ryahbNew Participant
asked in Base Design
New Home Screen

Is there a way to switch back to the old home screen dashboard UI? Maybe it's just me but I found it far better organized and a superior UX overall

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sunny11Known Participant
posted in Base Design
Rental management - base, apps, automation?

Dear AT Community, I own/manage a few rental units and was looking for online software for managing them (ie organize, make life easier). Figured I check AT for a template, base, apps, and automation. Surprisingly (and disappointingly), can’t seem to find anything. Saw one base someone created but it’s for short-term rentals. Is there anything out there that I have missed? Checked Templates, Marketplace, Universe. If not, any suggestions where I should look to start building? I’d prefer to not have to subscribe to yet another app and keep this home within AT. TIA, Regards, Sunny

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AFEINew Participant
posted in Base Design
History table logic

I have a book borrowing app, I have a table with the list of the books, and other fields such as UserID, Borrowing Date, Returning Date, and Status. These last 4 fields’ records are updated through the app. And when a book is returned, I delete/change these records manually. I also have a table with User information, such as name, email, phone number… I want to create a table History where I can store a list of the books a user has already borrowed as well as the borrowing date for each. Ideally, the history table would update automatically when a book is borrowed from the app and the table with all of the books is automatically updated. Also, it would keep the info even if the info in the book table is deleted because the book has been returned. I am struggling to make it work on airtable, if any of you could give me a lead on what way to take to make it work, it would be awesome. Thank you. PS: Some screenshots of the different tables book list table: User table: History table:

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cgreavesInspiring
posted in Base Design
Continuously updated data that needs to be linked and transformed on repeat

I think this question stems from not understanding the core logic behind Airtable. Hopefully this will act as a piece of a puzzle.Background: I have data being automatically sent as a CSV once per hour. Most of the records will not change often, so I plan to merge the new CSV with the previous one, changing, adding, and removing records as necessary.This isn't set up yet - I'm first testing the second half, where I process, display, and use this data after it's merged. Actions I need to take range from concatenating two fields to linking to other existing tables to updating junction tables.I'm stuck with how to start. In Excel, I would set a CSV "landing spot" as a source, so that every new CSV just rewrites the entire source. Then that source would be transformed in Power Query and spit out as a new table. My instinct here was the same - creating a "landing" table, essentially copy and paste that table to a new one where the actions would take place, and use that table for the interfa

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Kevin_MoreauKnown Participant
posted in Base Design
Simple 4 tables all linked together

Hello All, I have a simple task but seems to have some trouble to make it work. I have 4 tables Employees Phone number Inventory Worksite 1.1 Employees table : I want to see and change which phone number (table 2) and which device (table 3) each employee has. 2.1 Phone Number table : I want to see and edit which employee and devices is linked to the phone number and also be able to change it in this table as well. So if I change the employee from a phone number in this table, the phone number in the employee table would change as well. 3.1 Inventory table : I want to be able to see and edit what number and which employee or worksite this number is assigned to. 4.1 Worksite table : I want to see and edit which device and phone number are assigned to each worksite The problem I have right now is that if I use Inventory table and use a linked field for the 3 other tables, it works great. Table 3 Inventory is linked to all the other tables Example : iPhone 8 is linked to John, Phone numb

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Paul_NaraineParticipating Frequently
posted in Base Design
Is it possible to expose "All Activity" as a field on a view?

Hi Airtable community,Is it possible to:Expose "All Activity" of a record as a field on a viewMake it Read OnlyMake it auto-update based on the last updateExpose on an interface

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TheTimeSavingCo
CKARC
CKARCInspiring
posted in Base Design
Creating backlink field when a table is duplicated

Hi everyone.Ive got a table with about 8000 names in it,and this was quite happily linked to another table which has about 30 organisations in it. Totes awesome.Because of a change in the org, Ive needed to set up a new table with a lot of that data in the 8000 names. So I simply duplicated the table. Dead simple.The link field that links from the Duplicate table to the organisations still works, I can still pick the orgs they belong to however it doesnt appear to be bidirectional and of course the orgs table hasnt created the "links to the new table/list" that you get when you do this yourself and not duplicated.Is there a way to fix that and create a linked field at the other end that shows the people in the duplicated table that are linked to the orgs?

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CKARC
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dondonNew Participant
posted in Base Design
Seeking Help to Improve Attendance Tracking for a School System

Hello Airtable Community,I'm in the process of transitioning from Google Sheets to Airtable to manage a dance school, with the aim of creating a more robust and streamlined system. I've successfully set up tables for students, classes, venues, staff, and periods (e.g., May 2024, June 2024). However, I'm encountering challenges with the attendance tracking system.In our previous system on Google Sheets, attendance was tracked in a simple and user-friendly matrix format as follows for each month:| May | 7/5 | 12/5 | 19/5 | 26/5 ||------|----|-----|-----|-----|| Student 1 | x | x | o | x || Student 2 | x | x | x | o || Student 3 | x | o | o | o |For each subsequent month, we would simply copy the layout and update the dates, which were calculated automatically. This format allowed for easy visual and editing access to attendance.In Airtable, I'm trying to normalize this data to improve the system's scalability and integrity. A normalized approach would ideally have records for each indivi

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Sistema_Aotearo
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Lillian_ShiehNew Participant
posted in Base Design
Using dropbox for attachments not showing all my folders in my Dropbox account

So I'm trying to import images in an attachment field.  I tried connected my Dropbox account but unfortunately it's not showing all the folders in my Dropbox account.  It's only showing the first folder.  Is there something I'm missing with permissions maybe? 

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JackLathrop01
JackLathrop01New Participant
asked in Base Design
Sync between Team Workspace and Free Workspace

Hello All! I was wondering if anyone could explain in more detail how the sync feature works in relation to payment plans. We recently upgraded one of our workspaces to a team plan, and were looking at ways to have more users as read-only. I wanted to see if the Workspace with the Teams plan could operate as a large data repository, across departments and functions. and then have specific views feed into other workspaces. (i.e. A central place for customer data with a wide variety of customer types, and needs) Then the Teams workspace can handle automations, and large numbers of records, while the free workspaces are synced with a subset of the data. I attempted to sync from the Teams workspace to an unpaid one, and it said that it wouldn't work. But it seems to have synced anyway but may just not be updating. Please let me know if this is a viable option, or would there be an automation to automatically push any changes made to the Synced non-Teams Workspaces.&nbsp

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JackLathrop01
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MarksteadyParticipating Frequently
posted in Base Design
Checkoff subtasks from a task

Hi,I have a base with a list of tasks that need to be performed. Every task has a list of different subtasks (about 6 per task) that need to be checked off by someone who performs the task. What would be the best way to approach this? Thanks,Mark 

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User2024New Participant
posted in Base Design
View Records From Another Table Based on a certain condition and dates

Hi, So lets say I want to create an interface or even a table lets say, where I can take records from one table and filter it by a certain date/time frame and get those records. For example. Table 1: Has clients that signed up from different months in different products. Table 2: Takes that data and sorts it into how many clients went to each product. Now I want to be able to just pick dates of my choice to see how many clients for a certain product I got in a certain time period. Thanks

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Chilwin_ChengNew Participant
posted in Base Design
Creating or using fuzzy or wildcard dates

I want to create a field or use a field that will allow me to create "fuzzy dates".  I'm in a business where I want to create records containing a date field.  But, the date field sometimes needs to be flexible.  Sometimes, I know an exact date, like "1 January 2001" or "01/01/01".  But, sometimes all I know is that the event happened in 2001, or that it happened in January 2001, but I don't know the exact date or the exact date doesn't matter and what is important is that I enter for the record that January 2001 is the relevant event measure.  I have used other applications that let me do this quite handily.  So, for the other application, I can enter "??/??/01" to record that the event happened in 2001 and the month and date is either unknown or not relevant.  Or, "01/??/01" would indicate that I know the event happened in January 2001, but I don't know the exact date in January.  It would be quite rare, if not irrelevant, that I might want to

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TheTimeSavingCo
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aly11New Participant
posted in Base Design
CRM functionality - tracking guest attendance at events

Hey everyoneBackground: we are using AT as a CRM Goal: track who of our customers are at which eventsMy solution thus far has been to have a People table and an Events table within the same base. Within each event, there is a guest list field that links to the "name" field of the "people" table. The issue is, I want to be able to quickly link guests to events, i.e. by uploading a CSV guest list and then that automatically linking to the "people" list. Ideally, on the "People" i could create gallery views for each event. I'm sure something like this is possible  but can't figure out how to do so! anyone have any guidance?? 

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auekk2787
auekk2787Inspiring
posted in Base Design
allow CSV Import access without base editing

I'm managing Airtable for a large team of 60 people. We've designed a variety of interfaces for their needs, with the goal of preventing them from going into the base and tampering things.However, we still want them to use the CSV Import extension, which unfortunately only exists with Base-Editor access. Does anyone have suggestions for importing CSVs (either with a script, integration, or anything) with just Interface access?

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ScottWorld

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