In our CRM, we have a COMPANY Table and a CONTACT Table (among others). Within each of these tables, we have a CLIENT view and SUPPLIER view.
PROBLEM: EXPANDED RECORDS
That said, when I expand a record in the Contact Table > Supplier View, Iโm inundated with irrelevant Client-Contact-specific fields (ex. โWon Projectsโ) haphazardly stacked at the bottom of the record. Itโs become very confusing and bulky for our staff and, in my opinion, itโs probably a big reason so many of us wish we could โlink basesโ; but I wonโt dive into that.
PROBLEM: EXPANDED LINKED RECORDS
Likewise, when Iโm in the Company Table > Client View, and I want to access Contact Info for one of our Client companies, Iโll simply click to expand one of the linked records (linked from the Contact Table). In this case, Iโm still inundated with Supplier-contact-specific fields, lumped together at the bottom. Ultimately, we need these gone!
SOLUTION
Iโd love for a given record to expand into a Default Expanded View Preference (i.e. with default visible fields) that was specified during the creation of this contact/record (i.e. every time I add a new record to the Contact Table, I can select what type of record it is [โClientโ vs "Supplier]; in turn, instructing AirTable on which fields are relevant to that record). The result, in the above example of expanded linked records โ our entire sales team will always see this expanded linked record as a โClientโ-specific record, per the recordsโ system-wide default expanded view setting.
DEFAULT VIEW & CUSTOM VIEW PREFERENCE
But then (hear me out!), once any given record is expanded, Iโd like the option to specify, from a dropdown within that expanded record view, how Iโd personally prefer to view that contact/record going forward. For example, the Default View for a given Contact record couldโve been set to โClientโ when it was created; but, depending on my department and the info I typically need, I can now select an alternate โview preferenceโ from the expanded record drop-down (ex. maybe I choose โClient Finance Dataโ or โClient Holiday Gift Infoโ). Once Iโve selected a new expanded โview preferenceโ, AirTable would remember this selection as my new personal default for that specific contact/record. The result โ anytime the record is expanded by ME, Iโll only see the info thatโs relevant to my work. If I need additional info/fields in the future, I can always change my โview preferenceโ with the dropdown.
Again, I think this feature would help to calm peopleโs consistent request to link bases. I do believe all data can be kept in 1 base, and Iโd prefer it that way; but we need more features to help us hide things that we donโt want to see.