A couple of the most convenient things I found in Airtable are the little previews when adding a linked record and then the expanded views that are available with a click.

I wanted to make sure those previews were displaying the most helpful information and that the expanded view was ordered in a way that made sense, despite the varying field order amongst the different views. I realized the following:

Expanded View of a Linked Record accessed from a Table


The order and visibility will match that of the first view of that table. With hidden fields moved to the bottom.

Preview of a Linked Record


The fields previewed will match the first fields within the first view of the table regardless of visibility

I’ve been calling this first view of a table, an “Index View” because in some cases, they serve no purpose to me other than establishing field orders.

My question is, do the expanded view within Interfaces follow any similar protocol?

Expanded View of a Linked Record accessed from an Interface Elements


First, the fields set to visible will appear.


Then, some the fields used within the properties of the records will appear. (Groups, Data, Filters).


But there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason beyond that. When changing the order in field visibility property it warns that “reordering hidden fields will not be maintained after closing”. So where is it getting the order from? Any insights?