Help linking contact tables

[Isabella_Brodzi]

I have three tables: one table that lists All Contacts which contains over 100 records, the second table called “Leadership Board” has 15 records, and the third table “Conference Speakers” has 35 records. I want to link the contacts in such a way that if a record in All Contacts is updated, the corresponding record will be updated in the other table. Obviously, the other two tables don’t contain all the records that All Contacts contains, and I want to keep it that way. When I attempt to link the tables, all the records from All Contacts are added to “Leadership Board” and “Conference Speakers”. If someone could please help me with this dilemma, I’d be very grateful.

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Isabella_Brodzinski! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: One of the core principles of effective database design is avoiding duplication of data. While it’s possible to link the records between tables so that updating a record in [All Contacts] will update the others—or, more accurately, the update would reflect in the other tables via Lookup fields—I strongly suggest considering a design where [All Contacts] is the lone contact table, and you use a Single Select field named something like {Role} to indicate when someone is a speaker, in a leadership role, etc. You would then create views that would isolate records by role: a “Leadership Board” view, a “Conference Speakers” view, etc. A view is the preferred way of looking at a subset of a larger record collection. More about views:

Airtable - Support

Guide to views

This article provides an overview of views within Airtable—what they are, why they're important, and how to make new ones. This article is primarily focused on grid views—to learn more about our ot...

[Isabella_Brodzi]

Thank you for your prompt reply.
What should I do if each role requires other specific fields, for example:
conference speakers need a single select field labelled “invitation status”, prospective clients need a single select field “level of interaction”, and leadership role needs a field for “notes” and “date accepted”?

[Justin_Barrett · Accepted solution]

You can control which fields are visible for each view. For example, in the main view you might only see basic contact info fields, leaving all custom fields hidden. In a “Conference Speakers” view you might show those fields plus the {Invitation Status} field. Use the “Hidden Fields” button on the toolbar to open a full list of all fields and set the visibility status of each, or hide individual fields in the field drop-down menu (click on the triangle in the field header). Views also remember the field order, sorting, and filtering options that you set, allowing you to completely customize each view separate from all other views.