Skip to main content

Multiple Bases and Multi-Syncs

  • June 2, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 125 views
E
Forum|alt.badge.img+1

Hello, 

Our Marketing team uses Airtable to manage tasks and campaigns across functions. These bases sync to a single base that marketers can use to view all their tasks across different bases. My question is: can we manage and process these tasks from the consolidated synced base? Doesn't seem so...all we can create are views and if we want to update the task and/or import documents, we have to go into the source base from which the synced task originated from. Is there away around this? Can we open permissions to all updates to the task in the synced base that will carry over to the originating base?

5 replies

S
Forum|alt.badge.img+18

Hi @elisess! Yes, this is a great use case for base syncing in an org.

You can have your master campaign list live in a public base that all teams can access, use a field to track teams involved, and sync campaigns to the appropriate team’s base based on this field. Then, you can either multi-source sync task info back to the main base or, if you only want high level details going back, push each team’s overall tasks status (if all the team tasks are done) by keeping a high level status table in the main base.

Definitely, doable and a great way to give teams autonomy to do their work while also connecting everything back to a cohesive structure. This is exactly what Airtable’s value proposition is for enterprises that traditionally have had to make trade offs to achieve either.

Hope that helps!

-Stephen

E
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • elisess
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • June 5, 2023

Hi @elisess! Yes, this is a great use case for base syncing in an org.

You can have your master campaign list live in a public base that all teams can access, use a field to track teams involved, and sync campaigns to the appropriate team’s base based on this field. Then, you can either multi-source sync task info back to the main base or, if you only want high level details going back, push each team’s overall tasks status (if all the team tasks are done) by keeping a high level status table in the main base.

Definitely, doable and a great way to give teams autonomy to do their work while also connecting everything back to a cohesive structure. This is exactly what Airtable’s value proposition is for enterprises that traditionally have had to make trade offs to achieve either.

Hope that helps!

-Stephen


The issue we're having is that once the bases are synced to one base, we cannot make edits to the individual synced tasks. We have to go back into the individual task. 

Is there a way to edit tasks in the synced base? 

S
Forum|alt.badge.img+18

The issue we're having is that once the bases are synced to one base, we cannot make edits to the individual synced tasks. We have to go back into the individual task. 

Is there a way to edit tasks in the synced base? 


Airtable released two-way sync last month for this reason https://support.airtable.com/docs/two-way-syncing-in-airtable

You can edit records in both places now 🙂

E
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • elisess
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • June 6, 2023

Thanks. 

I have followed the two-way sync and it appears that there are limitations. I still cannot edit in the catch-all base, I always have to go back to the originating bases. Simple edits like uploading images or changing long text fields or updating a single select status field.

(P.S. I have opened all permissions and toggled the "edit source records" in the configuration. )

Any insight here?

S
Forum|alt.badge.img+18

Are you trying to sync multiple bases as sources into a destination main base using multi-source syncing? That sounds tricky.

I would try setting it up this way:
Establish an existing main base view as the source and sync this to different destination team bases w/ 2-way sync enabled. Adjust each sync to only send records relevant to the respective team base, based on some team tagging for each campaign field like "Team(s) Involved." This way each team should only be able to edit their records from the main base.

Hope that helps!
-Stephen

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement