What is the proposed idea/solution? Add PDF as supported file type for attachment annotations. How does is solve the user problems? This would allow more robust proofing & approval workflows than what Airtable currently allows. PDF is a standard format for this workflow and not being able to annotate drives users to seek external solutions or move to alternate platforms. How was this validated? This is a standard need, and the attachment annotations help page confirms that PDF is not a supported file type. Who is the target audience? Marketing & Creative teams, Sales teams, Legal teams/contract review, any other teams that need to be able to annotate PDFs vs. just images or videos. ... View more

Proposed Idea/Solution: The idea is to introduce a “Default Column Order Template” in Airtable. This template would allow users to define a consistent column order that automatically propagates to any views linked to the template. For example: •If View #1 and View #5 could both reference the same “Default Column Order Template” (e.g., “Template: Customer Service Data”), any changes made to the column order in the template would dynamically apply to both views, maintaining consistency. •While linked views would share the column order, they could still independently choose to show or hide specific fields/columns, giving users flexibility while ensuring a uniform structure. This feature would save time, enhance collaboration, and reduce errors caused by inconsistent column arrangements across multiple views.   How Does It Solve User Problems? This feature addresses several challenges: 1.Efficiency in Multi-View Management: Users working with multiple views often need a consistent column order to streamline workflows. Manually maintaining the same column order across multiple views is time-consuming and prone to errors. A default column order template would ensure consistency across views with minimal effort. 2.Team Collaboration: In collaborative environments, different team members might use different views of the same data. Having a consistent column order ensures everyone is aligned, reducing confusion and making it easier to locate fields. 3.Improved User Experience: For projects involving multiple teams (e.g., customer service, marketing, and analytics), a unified column order reduces onboarding time for new team members and enhances data usability. 4.Dynamic Data Adjustments: As fields are added, removed, or reordered in the template, linked views dynamically reflect those changes. This ensures up-to-date and organized data without requiring manual updates in every individual view.   How Was This Validated? While this request arises from a practical need observed in real-world workflows, its benefits have been implicitly validated through user behaviors and existing challenges: 1.User Feedback Patterns: Many Airtable users express frustrations in forums and support requests about the manual effort required to maintain consistent views. This feature would directly address such feedback. 2.Analogous Features in Other Platforms: Systems like spreadsheet templates or CMS tools often offer shared configurations for layout or structure. These serve as precedent for the efficiency and utility of such a feature. 3.Internal Testing Opportunities: Airtable could validate this feature through beta testing or user surveys, targeting teams or users managing complex bases with numerous views.   Additional Use Cases: 1.Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A sales team and customer service team might use different views of the same customer data. Maintaining a consistent column order ensures smooth transitions between teams without data disorientation. If 50% of their views need to be different, for their CS team as an example, then that team would use their own template! 2.Project Management: A project manager might create views for “High-Level Overview” and “Detailed Task Tracking,” where consistency in column order aids in quickly understanding data context. 3.Event Planning: An event planning team could have separate views for “Guest List,” “Catering,” and “Budget,” but benefit from a unified column order to avoid confusion when cross-referencing data. 4.Analytics & Reporting: Analysts working with multiple dashboards can maintain uniform field arrangements, making it easier to compare and combine data.   This feature would be a game-changer for users managing multiple views and collaborating across teams, ensuring Airtable continues to be a leader in dynamic data management. ... View more

I've had a few cases where I was using views in the style of a "help desk" and really wanted to see the number of records that needed to be actioned on. It would be nice to have an optional badge count shown for records in a view or in the interface pages, especially for help desk and similar apps where the views and pages are filtered based on the actions needed to be taken. ... View more

We need a 'Conditional Select' type field to add to forms. This type of single select and multi select question would conditionally disable and 'grey-out' specific options in select questions on forms. It doesn't seem currently possible to do this. There would be many use cases for this. My particular one is that I have a form for view only users to update certain fields in a database for a not for profit or charity music school recording students and musical instruments loaned to them. We need to prevent students resigning but not handing instruments back. The first single select question on the form is "What do you want to do?" which hides/shows various fields on the same form. One of the options is to resign a student. If that student is still holding an instrument, (ie. {instrument ID} is not blank) It should not be selectable, but should still be visible, greyed out so that the user can see they are in the right place and its clear they cannot select that option. An important feature of the proposed conditional select field would be the option to include a warning message when the disabled option is clicked or hovered over, which should allow the inclusion of variables from the source field causing the restriction. ie. in my use case, I would want to say, "{First name} cannot be resigned at this time because records show they are still holding the instrument {Instrument ID}. I think this feature would be of great benefit to a lot of Airtable users. ... View more

I'm a PM at a Product company and we've been using the Gantt view to build all of our schedules! One function that would be extremely helpful is the ability to add or remove the vertical lines that run through milestones, depending on how we want it visualized.  Example: We have a Mile High view that displays only milestones for multiple projects across the company. With so much overlap, the vertical lines become extremely condensed and messy quickly. Our goal is to have one, visually clean view that we can return to on a monthly basis and review with a cross-functional team to track milestones across the company. Would love any suggestions here! ... View more

What is the proposed idea/solution? I'd like to have the ability to save draft forms before sending them and recall them later. How does is solve the user problems? A user can start filling out a form, save the answers entered and complete the form at a later time, for example if they need to collect information to be able to answer everything. Who is the target audience? Anyone who uses a form to collect complex information, which requires time to fill out or the need to collect additional information. ... View more

What is the proposed idea/solution? Create an Overarching Timeline and Date settings functionality that lives at the BASE level versus the view. In these settings, I can configure a timeline that will appear at the top of every timelines / Gantt view that will display a single line of important date information.  I can also define dates to be "Unschedulable". How does is solve the user problems? There is currently no clean way to define a single line "important Dates" or milestones for your project, and you have to hackily set this up dependent of what you are showing in your timeline / Gantt view. Additionally, you must also define your date settings PER view, versus setting this up 1 time for your base.  If your company has 100 Holidays, time off, etc. per year, you have to input these 100 dates in EVERY view where you dont want them to be seen.  In any timeline or Gantt view "Use Global Timeline Settings" is set on by Default How was this validated? In timeline and Gantt, a Top level Timeline row will exist and I can input dates to be displayed as either a Single Date, or a Span of time.  I can define the colors for each without needing to setup the conditions. Who is the target audience? Project Managers and Producers ... View more

What is the proposed idea/solution? In the configuration screen for a linked record field, show the name of the backlink field. This could be either read-only or editable.  For same-table links, state that the field is a same-table link and does not have a backlink field. When creating a new linked record field to a different table, state that a backlink field will be created and display the name that will be used (or let the user enter a name for the backlink). How does is solve the user problems? Many novice creators do not realize that a back link field is created when they create a new linked record field. This would let them know. Once users are accustomed to the creation of backlink fields, some are surprised and confused when same table links do not have backlink fields. This would make things clearer for them. Creators often don't think about naming the backlink field, as the default name usually works when there is only one linked between two tables. However, sometimes the default name doesn't work and should be changed, especially when there are multiple links between tables. Showing the name reminds creators to pay attention to the backlink field name. When deleting a linked record field, the backlink field also often needs to be deleted as well (versus hanging around as a single line text field). Showing the name of the backlink field will make creators more aware that they should delete the backlink field, and also make it easier to find the backlink field to delete it. When there are multiple links between tables, especially in legacy bases where backlinks were not named well, it can be difficult to figure out relationships. Although the Base Schema extension shows which linked record fields go together, in a large base, the diagram is a huge tangled mess and too hard to work with. It is also possible to identify backlinks by looking at field data, but this is cumbersome and depends on knowing the data values or having the ability to put in test data. The "Show Dependencies" tool lists the backlink field among all the other field dependencies. This is probably the easiest way to see the name of the backlink field, but the nature of the dependency is not obvious to new users. Scripting is another way of identifying backlinks, but that is also a niche skill.  How was this validated? Personal experience maintaining bases. Who is the target audience? People with creator permissions who will be creating and maintaining linked record fields, including both novice and experienced creators. ... View more

What is the proposed idea/solution? I use the timeline view to plot upcoming translation projects and see what resources will need to be allocated to them over the coming months. I would love to be able to have the bar on the timeline change height depending on the size of the project, so I can see at a glance how much work each project represents. In my case, this would simply mean referring to a 'Number of Words' field for each project, then making a thicker bar for a higher number. How does it solve the user problems? I currently use colour coding to do something similar, but the colours are a little arbitrary, so it's not hugely intuitive. I could potentially also use the 'grouped by' feature to put bigger projects higher up and smaller lower down, but that's also not hugely visually immediate. I imagine this feature would also be useful to other users who wanted to get a similarly at-a-glance idea of the 'size' of a given record, or some other numerical quality. How was this validated? Not 100% sure what you mean here, but I've looked around and don't believe this is a feature or a currently suggested feature, but apologies if it actually is. Who is the target audience? Project managers, anyone else wishing to get an at-a-glance idea of the size of some aspect of a record when looking at it in timeline view. ... View more