Skip to main content

Hi there,


I’m an enthusiastic Airtable newbie… please forgive the probably daft question.


I’m trying to link tables by people’s names, in the primary field, and I don’t know how.


This is about maintaining a database of contacts, some of whom will be clients, and others who’ll be part of my network.


I want to have a “Master” table, where I’d enter the basic demographics for people I come into contact with, e.g. their name, an email address and a phone number.


The “Clients” table needs this demographic data, linked, and client-specific fields, let’s say “Current employer” and “Career goals”


The “Network” table needs this demographic data, linked, and networking-specific fields, let’s say “Industry” and “Hourly rate”


I’d imagine my first port of call when I meet a contact, would be to put their demographic details in the “Master” table, with Name as their Primary field. (What I want is for their name to be the primary field across all three tables, linked from this one, to avoid potential error, but I understand I can’t do this in Airtable.)


So, let’s say I’ve decided they’re a potential client, rather than a networking contact. I’d like to go to the “Clients” table and add a new record, with their Primary field either as their name (linked; can’t do) or as a linked field of their Demographic data from the “Master” table, so that what I see under each Client is a card, with their name and the first couple of demographic items from the “Master” table. I don’t want to have to enter their name again, but I do want their name to be the first thing I see.


I understand I also can’t do that in Airtable. I’ve implemented a workaround, by using an Auto-number in the Primary field of “Clients” and then linking to the “Master” table records in my second field. But now I have a useless, meaningless number appearing as the Primary field against all my Clients.


What am I doing wrong? How do I link across tables, using the “Master” contact name to show up as the linking field across these three tables?


Second, related question… is there a role for a unique ID at all in this model? I thought that was a fundamental aspect of databases!


Sorry for long winded question and thanks for any advice!

I’m not entirely sure to follow you but…


I can say that when you link 2 tables (or 3, etc…) the Linked record field always shows whatever you put in the primary field as the « name » of the linked record. (Not sure it’s very clear but I can’t find another way to say this right now 😕 )


So if, you enter the name of a person in your Master] table by creating a new record, once you’ve linked that record to your tClients] table, the name should appear in the Linked to record field in your iClients] table.


If you don’t want to retype the name of the person in the primvary field of your dClients] table (or give this « newly created linked record » another name in your aClients] table), there’s a simple solution for that by using a Formula in your primary field in your fClients] table with simply the name you gave to your Linked record field in your fClients] table as formula.

(This create a « one-to-one » link (if I’m not mistaken) between the Linked records field and the primary field still in your eClients] table)



You can do that with your other tables too.


When you create a new record in your eMaster] table, if the person is not already in your tClients] table you can just hit the + add a new record button when linking this person to the hClients] table and the name of the person will appear in the primary field in that table.


To get the other info you need in your Clients] table coming from your Master] table, you then can use either Lookup fields or Rollup fields, depending on what you need and how you need these info to appear


I’ve put up a tiny base for your base simply showing how the name in the primary field can work.

(You can copy that base to your workspace to see it in details :winking_face: )



Clients - Airtable



Explore the "Clients" base on Airtable.












I hope this will help 🙂

I’m not entirely sure to follow you but…


I can say that when you link 2 tables (or 3, etc…) the Linked record field always shows whatever you put in the primary field as the « name » of the linked record. (Not sure it’s very clear but I can’t find another way to say this right now 😕 )


So if, you enter the name of a person in your Master] table by creating a new record, once you’ve linked that record to your tClients] table, the name should appear in the Linked to record field in your iClients] table.


If you don’t want to retype the name of the person in the primvary field of your dClients] table (or give this « newly created linked record » another name in your aClients] table), there’s a simple solution for that by using a Formula in your primary field in your fClients] table with simply the name you gave to your Linked record field in your fClients] table as formula.

(This create a « one-to-one » link (if I’m not mistaken) between the Linked records field and the primary field still in your eClients] table)



You can do that with your other tables too.


When you create a new record in your eMaster] table, if the person is not already in your tClients] table you can just hit the + add a new record button when linking this person to the hClients] table and the name of the person will appear in the primary field in that table.


To get the other info you need in your Clients] table coming from your Master] table, you then can use either Lookup fields or Rollup fields, depending on what you need and how you need these info to appear


I’ve put up a tiny base for your base simply showing how the name in the primary field can work.

(You can copy that base to your workspace to see it in details :winking_face: )



Clients - Airtable



Explore the "Clients" base on Airtable.












I hope this will help 🙂


Ooh, I think that’s it, yes! As I’m new to databases, it’s making my brain hurt a bit, but playing around with my own tables, I can see that I could get this to work how I want it to.


Thank you!


I will have to read some more about the Lookup and Rollup fields to get my head round that next.


So… to answer my own second question: I don’t really need a “Unique ID” field anywhere to link records across all tables? (I don’t suppose it would hurt to give every new contact in the “Master” table a unique ID though, would it?)

Ooh, I think that’s it, yes! As I’m new to databases, it’s making my brain hurt a bit, but playing around with my own tables, I can see that I could get this to work how I want it to.


Thank you!


I will have to read some more about the Lookup and Rollup fields to get my head round that next.


So… to answer my own second question: I don’t really need a “Unique ID” field anywhere to link records across all tables? (I don’t suppose it would hurt to give every new contact in the “Master” table a unique ID though, would it?)


Lol, no worries, I’m fairly new to Airtable too :winking_face: and I do understand brain can suffer with databases 😋


But with time and a little bit of practice you’ll see your bases evolving, becoming more precise, as you’ll be learning more and more on how all of this works :winking_face: .


Reading and playing around with « Test bases » (if you’re not sure what you’re looking for or what you want to do exactly) is a great way to progress :winking_face: . (Well, it works pretty for me at least 😋 )


Lookup and Rollup fields each have their advantages and their inconveniences, often depending of the results you want :winking_face:


Concerning the « unique ID », well I can’t really help as I’ve not yet had the use for it…

But I effectively don’t see why not ?

It could be useful to differentiate, at some point, 2 persons with the same name :woman_shrugging:


And don’t hesitate to ask if you’ve got a problem :winking_face:

The community here is very helpful and there are some pretty good experts always glad to help when they can :winking_face:

Terms & Conditions