Is it possible to add multiple currency amounts ($, € etc.) in a single currency column? If not, would be nice to have that option, similar to how multiple-select creates tag-like colored bubbles.
Multiple Currencies in a Single Column
I have to say I have no idea how you envision this working. Would there be an exchange rate configuration option in Preferences where the user would input, say, each currency’s value, normalized against the user’s preferred standard currency? Would the Airtable server itself be expected to follow world currency markets and self-correct as needed? At what interval? Based on which market?
From a practical view, accomplishing this would essentially require each field to hold two values in memory – the amount of specified currency, and the normalized value of that amount of currency – performing calculations with one, but converting to the other for display. Strictly speaking, Airtable don’t play that (except, of course, it does all the time, when the values involve pointers to records or attachments – but forget I said that!).
It seems to me a better approach might be to have an all-inclusive field that accepted – with proper leading indicator – any currencies of your choice. Using a second, hidden field – actually, a number of hidden fields – you’d then normalize entries to a common value, perform whatever manipulations are needed, and then convert back to the specified currency if needed for reporting and update. (Fields color-coded by currency is a sweet idea, though – I’d really like to see robust conditional formatting throughout Airtable.)
I have to say I have no idea how you envision this working. Would there be an exchange rate configuration option in Preferences where the user would input, say, each currency’s value, normalized against the user’s preferred standard currency? Would the Airtable server itself be expected to follow world currency markets and self-correct as needed? At what interval? Based on which market?
From a practical view, accomplishing this would essentially require each field to hold two values in memory – the amount of specified currency, and the normalized value of that amount of currency – performing calculations with one, but converting to the other for display. Strictly speaking, Airtable don’t play that (except, of course, it does all the time, when the values involve pointers to records or attachments – but forget I said that!).
It seems to me a better approach might be to have an all-inclusive field that accepted – with proper leading indicator – any currencies of your choice. Using a second, hidden field – actually, a number of hidden fields – you’d then normalize entries to a common value, perform whatever manipulations are needed, and then convert back to the specified currency if needed for reporting and update. (Fields color-coded by currency is a sweet idea, though – I’d really like to see robust conditional formatting throughout Airtable.)
I don’t think the OP is intending Airtable to perform market calculations on the currencies. They just want to have one data field hold multiple different currencies. It’s a functionality I’m looking for as well, as we make deals in other countries for set amounts (€5,000 or $5,000) and don’t receive payment for those deals for months and/or sometimes years. We already manually perform the currency calculations when the payments do arrive. But it would be extremely useful to track, say, all foreign sales in one database regardless of currency instead of having a kludgy 2-column solution (one to hold the currency and one to hold the amount).
I don’t think the OP is intending Airtable to perform market calculations on the currencies. They just want to have one data field hold multiple different currencies. It’s a functionality I’m looking for as well, as we make deals in other countries for set amounts (€5,000 or $5,000) and don’t receive payment for those deals for months and/or sometimes years. We already manually perform the currency calculations when the payments do arrive. But it would be extremely useful to track, say, all foreign sales in one database regardless of currency instead of having a kludgy 2-column solution (one to hold the currency and one to hold the amount).
If that’s all you need, define {foreign sales} as a single-line text field and have your formula sniff out the currency indicator (’$’, ‘€’, ‘¥’ or ‘USD’, ‘PHP’, etc.) when it comes time for math.
I did something similar in a base I just published to Airtable Universe. Take a look at the {input} field from the [dimensions] table: The user can enter a measurement in either inches or centimeters. Input entered as raw numbers gets interpreted based upon the value of a ‘constant’ I set elsewhere, but regardless of the default setting, he or she can ‘hint’ the input to specify inches (’##"’, ‘##i’, or ‘##in’) or centimeters (’##c’, ‘##cm’). Seems like one could do something similar for currencies.
(The {input} example actually is more complex than a currency-parser need be; for one thing, I had to wrap it around the concept of configurable input and output preferences, and I had to allow the preferred unit of measurement to change on a living base without corrupting existing data. I also do some ‘prettifying’ formatting so that English measurements are displayed to the nearest ⅛-inch, etc., etc.)
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