Simple request: Can you please incorporate the ability to create colored and/or highlighted fields? I’d like to call out certain rows within sheets. With the inferior, last generation sheets programs (shameless sucking up) I’d always used colors for this purpose. I realize I could use a column for this, but its a waste of a column in my mind, especially if you are trying to avoid scrolling left to right.
Related to the above support article, I would say that there are two general reasons for which our users have requested colors (which aren’t really the same request, and thus require different solutions and different approaches from a product standpoint):
Manually color individual cells/rows/columns to “tag” something (e.g. every vegetarian in this list of dinner attendees has a green background)
Conditional formatting to color a certain record given a certain condition (e.g. make it so that every overdue project automatically appears with a red background)
For users who want colors for the first purpose, a colorful single select field may be the best bet, and for users that want colors for the second purpose, a formula field combined with emoji is a good alternative.
How would you all like to use colors in your workflows? Something more manual and freeform, or something like conditional formatting? What specific benefits would it bring you? Would you want to highlight entire fields or records, or just individual cells? If you have any feedback, please let us know!
I use colored fields and text in Excel to denote progress of an order. For example:
Each line in my spreadsheet represents a customer’s order, with the most recent orders added to the bottom. Columns represent stages of design & manufacture. As each part of the design process is completed (ex: the customer approves a design proof), the date it happened is entered into the column. We want to color-code a field based on whether it’s been requested, is in-progress, or has been completed. We can’t use color-coded drop-down options because the content of the field is going to be a unique date.
Also, we submit batches of orders for manufacturing on a weekly basis. The “Dye-Sub Purchase Order Submitted” column (the content is a date) is then colored either light blue or light pink, with each weekly batch alternating colors so they’re very easy to pick out visually. (last week’s batch was pink, this week is blue, next week will be pink, etc.) That’s important, as we deal with entire batches from that point forward, not individual orders.
Basically, we just need the ability to color-code individual cells at will. It seems a very simple feature to incorporate, and strikes me as the type of thing that would have been available in the earliest versions of this software. Honestly, I’m testing other similar pieces of software right now only because I can’t color-code cells in Airtable.
Likewise, we should be able to color text, and have access to really basic formatting options, like boldface. I know this isn’t Excel, but those sorts of things are really, really commonly used by pretty much everyone who uses a spreadsheet for anything beyond calculations. People who use Airtable want it to behave like a spreadsheet.
I would love to have the ability to color different portions of my table (different sections of groups of fields).
For instance, if I have a table within a base, and it has 100 fields, some of those fields may be related to “Spring” programs, some to “Summer” and some to “Fall”. If I could group the fields that belong to different seasons, it would make viewing them on mobile devices much easier. The reason this becomes an issue on mobile, is due to the user not moving thru the table starting at the beginning and moving to the end, in many situations, the user in the field, will use their mobile device, but need to jump around within the table, and the color coding provides a very fast reference for “where” in the table you are currently viewing on that small mobile screen.
I think this would be a very big help in a number of different circumstances, and with the right varied set of options for utilizing it, everyone could be happy. I built a table for tracking warranties and have a couple columns for start/end dates and then a formula field for whether that warranty is active or expired. Because this isn’t a single select column, I can’t color code it to show Active as green and Expired as red; additionally, I had to add a column for this Status info when conditional formatting would allow me to highlight a record already based on criteria in the Coverage Ends column (if passed, red, if not, green).
I know columns can be added with these formulas, but since right now hiding columns only works in the grid view and not the expanded view, this isn’t a huge help. I have quite a few bases filled with hidden columns used for formulas and lookups that then clutter up the expanded view if someone tries to look there. I think this builds on the request to add true hidden columns since the answer to this request is often to create a column with a formula and then hide it.
Just my two cents. :slightly_smiling_face: Would love to see something like this someday.
I would love to be able to have a visual distinction on fields where the field is calculated or populated by a method other than data entry. Seeing formula fields in a different font style or color would really be helpful for understanding tables where a small amount of user inputs calculate a large amount of fields. Differentiating between input fields and fields that are auto-generated by calculations would be very useful.
I would love to have colours enabled in Calendar view, like maybe having them coloured by type of post or so. Because I use airtable as editorial calendar mainly.
Couldn’t agree more; color for the calendar view would be a HUGE add for me. I’m using AirTable for project management, and I am trying to dispatch technicians from it. I would love to be able to color code appointments by which technician was scheduled for it so I could look at the calendar and quickly see whether my “blue” technician was scheduled for anything that day.
I would also really love to have the ability to color whole entries and columns. I love Airtable so far and this is really the only thing missing for me. Thanks so much!!
