Pulling in data from other tabs

[Laura_Mantzoros]

Hi there,

I’m using AirTable to build out an editorial calendar/management system. We’ve separated each channel (social, blogs, etc.) out into their own tabs, but I’d like to build out a “Master Calendar” tab to show when all content types are slated to go live.

Is there a formula that will allow me to do this?

[Matthew_Moran]

I don’t know if this would work - and it requires stepping back from your current structure.

I do this with a PR and marketing agency client… We use a single editorial calendar and the items added are categorized for the various types of media/outlet.

In this way, you can create filtered views but see all the items together if desired.

I know this isn’t what you were asking but I wanted to reply with what we’ve found to be flexible and functional.

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Laura_Mantzoros! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: I’ll echo what @Matthew_Moran said re: rethinking your base structure. It’s better to use something like a single select {Channel} field that indicates which channel a given item is about, instead of making a table for each channel. With all the data in a single table, making a calendar view would be very easy. You could also make individual views for each channel so that you can see, for example, only blog posts. This would be done by adding “Blog Posts” view, then adding a filter to the view to only display records where the {Channel} field is set to “Blog”.

[Laura_Mantzoros]

Thanks, both! My team is pretty married to the idea of separate sheets, but I’m going to pitch your suggestions and see how it lands.

When using a single sheet with different views, is it possible to view the calendar with only a single channel (ex: we’re reviewing upcoming blogs, but don’t want to see social, email, etc.)?

[Matthew_Moran]

Yes… you can filter a calendar view.

[Justin_Barrett]

Laura_Mantzoros:

When using a single sheet with different views, is it possible to view the calendar with only a single channel (ex: we’re reviewing upcoming blogs, but don’t want to see social, email, etc.)?

This could be done by adding a filter to the calendar view, similar to the one in the example “Blog Posts” view I mentioned earlier. If you find yourself switching between all channels and individual channels a lot, you might consider making multiple targeted calendar views, in addition to one master view that has all channels.

[Matthew_Moran]

Also, if your team is married to the idea, as the person responsible for creating/maintaining data, I would work HARD to cause a divorce. Mind you… I’m no fan of divorce - things get ugly, kids get tossed around, etc. But, early on, if the bad relationship is recognized, everyone will be happier for it. :winking_face:

There are few things as challenging as bad data. I suspect their desire for separate tabs is based more on a lack of understanding of what Airtable can do and the benefits of clean data.

Based on the functionality you seem to require (distinct calendar views by channel and ability to view all or multiple channels together), a single table with channel categories is the way to go.

[Laura_Mantzoros]

Oh duh. Clearly thinking too hard about this!
Thanks for the help, folks!

[Laura_Mantzoros]

Justin, how have you handled creating the master view without adding a bunch of manual work for yourself?

[Justin_Barrett]

First off, you tagged the wrong account. Tagging must use the correct spelling to notify the right person. The forum will try to help if you begin typing the “@” and the first few letters, showing you one or more matches based on what you type, at which point you can pick the correct one.

To your question, what kind of manual work are you seeing? If you have each record marked with the proper channel type (email, blog, social, etc), and a date field for indicating when that item should be created/posted/sent, creating the master calendar is just two steps:

1. Click the current view name and choose “Calendar” from the “Add a view” options at the bottom of the popup.
2. Select your date field as the date used to drive the calendar entries.

You should see calendar entries appear for each record that contains a date. Undated records won’t show up.