Migrating from Trello to Airtable

[Marie_Peze]

Hi!

I’ve been using Airtable for a million different things, and I love it. At work (web publishing) we use it as a database of our content and it’s incredibly helpful. But in parallel we use Trello as a project management system, and there is no possible cross-over (even with Zapier) so we often have to enter the same information in both apps, which is quite a waste of time. So I’ve been thinking that we could switch everything over to Airtable, but I have a few reservations. Maybe you guys can give me some pointers?

Here’s our set up: we have one base, with tables for our content, a table of clients, a table of writers, and a table of social media posts. They all cross-reference each other so it’s important that they remain in the same base. However, my main concern in moving Trello (where you can have personal boards) to Airtable is privacy.

Would it be possible to have team members create their own “personal” table in that base, which no other team could see? It would, again, be important to have these tables in the same base, so everyone can cross-reference the team data with their personal task list, for example.

In the same vein, if we invite collaborators (our freelancers), is it possible to hide certain tables from them (pretty much the table where we keep track of their rates, so they don’t start whining that others get paid more!)

And my last question would be about notifications; we rely heavily on Trello’s desktop and email notifications, so I want to make sure that Airtable’s work properly.

Thank you in advance for your kind help!

Cheers :slightly_smiling_face:

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

Hi @Marie_Peze

Unfortunately, you are touching on the biggest weak spot Airtable has right now – sharing with privacy. What you are wanting to do is not possible in a single base right now. We are all holding out hope that Airtable is going to address this in one of two ways - either allow table-level sharing that properly blocks the right data from users with permission to view only that table; or else base-to-base linked records, which would allow for sharing of bases that reveal only certain data.

It is currently not possible for a team to create a table within a base that only certain users can see. If a user has access to a base, even just view-only access, they have access to view the whole thing. Giving access is an all-or-nothing proposition right now.

It may be possible to do what you are wanting with a fairly complex web of multiple bases and zapier or integromat automations to keep them in sync, but that would require a fair amount of setup work and would end up being about as stable as a house of cards… so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

I would suggest either waiting to see if Airtable addresses this with official features in the future, or else just embrace the lack of privacy and design an Airtable system for project management that doesn’t require hiding data from particular teams or individuals

[Robert_Ponce]

I’m wondering if there is a way to connect your Trello boards to Airtable in a way that achieves your privacy goals by limiting those connections to specific views in Airtable.

[Marie_Peze]

Thank you so much @Jeremy_Oglesby. I guess we’ll have to wait; in Trello we have way too much critical information on private boards that can’t be shared with people outside the team (like client contracts) and in Airtable too (like our freelancers’ fees). I’ve been desperately looking for a project management system that would have both great kanbans for tracking workflow and a solid database system for recording-keeping - so we could link them and make our lives easier! –, but it really seems like, everywhere (monday, asana… etc), it’s an either/or situation. I appreciate your feedback, here’s to hoping Airtable hears our calls for privacy features!

[nea_lpatil]

I build custom standalone web applications.

I can build separate App which can manage privacy related data and provide team based security as per your custom requirements. It means your regular data is managed in airtable. Your privacy related data is managed by separate standalone App. You will have link to connect to privacy related data from airtable after sign-in into this custom App for privacy related data.

Please let me know if there is any interest.
My email can be found in my profile.

Thanks,
Neal

[Marie_Peze]

Thank you @nea_lpatil - we may get to that some day, but not yet! I will keep your info in case.

[Terrilyn_Henry-]

Can’t something like this be done using individual workspaces or bases for the personal data? I am just getting started with Airtable and trying see if i can REPLACE Trello.