Adding Additional Fields To A Link

[Brian_Kondalski]

I have a established a link between two tables. I’d like to be able to add additional information (fields) on this link instance to give more detail about that particular link. If I make a 2nd link between the tables, I’d like to put different data on that link.

Is there a way to do this? Or is this functionality limited to linking one table record to another without any additional supporting information?

[ScottWorld]

I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking, but it sounds like you’re asking about lookup fields:

Airtable - Support

Lookup field overview

  A lookup field allows you to look up a specific field in a linked record. For example, if you have an Orders table with a field linking to Clients, you could create a lookup field that displays t...

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Brian_Kondalski! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: I’m guessing that you’re talking about the data that appears on the link “badge”. Right now, Airtable only shows the contents of the linked record’s primary field in any link’s badge, and there’s no way of changing that behavior. As @ScottWorld said, you will need to use lookup fields to display related fields for linked records.

[Brian_Kondalski]

Not sure you are getting what I am looking for. My exact example:
I have one table that is a list of pewter miniatures I am painting. It has information related to that miniature (name, manufactuer, part number, a photo, etc).
I have another table that is a list of the various paints I have at my disposal. It has information related to the paint (name, manufactuer, part number, quantity on hand, etc).

Now I want to link the paint as I used it to each miniature. I can do this easily by creating a link on the miniature table. But as I then create each link I want to add an additional piece of information. And that is where I used the paint on that miniature and how I used it. This information does not exist on the two tables and has no meaning other than when I create that specific link. It is only in linking the miniature to the paint that I then know and can enter that. I essentially want to have an additional data field on the link.

In a SQL world, it would simply be creating a 3rd table that links the two others and it having an additional column with information specific to that link.

[ScottWorld]

You will need to create a 3rd table, also known as a join table or a junction table, that acts as the intersection between the 2 existing tables.

This is called a “many-to-many relationship”. You can learn more here:

Airtable - Support

Airtable's guide to many-to-many relationships

What sets Airtable apart from ordinary spreadsheet applications is its ability to link related concepts together. Knowing how to represent the relationships between different groups of objects can ...