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New Field Type: Nested Table

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BenInDallas
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

As weโ€™ve been testing AirTable for our businessโ€™s project management needs, one thing weโ€™ve had trouble setting up is something like an expense report, purchase order, or mileage report.

Our typical reports would be a single printable document with several standard pieces of data (job name/number, purchase date, vendor info, billing method, etc), and a table containing purchase info (item, qty, price) with totals at the bottom.

In Airtable, you can currently accomplish something like this with two tables (letโ€™s call them โ€œExpense Reportsโ€ and โ€œExpense Itemsโ€) with the latter connected to the former with a โ€œLinkโ€ field. But itโ€™s a bit clumsy, because youโ€™d have one table with each โ€œreportโ€ and another table that contains lots and lots and lots of expense items that likely have nothing to do with each other. More importantly, itโ€™s not really possible to export the data from each Report while including the Expense Item data.

A more elegant solution would be a field type called โ€œNested Table.โ€ This would create (within a record) a small table/spreadsheet with customizable columns, simple math functions, and the ability to add rows on-the-fly.

Thoughts?

28 Comments
Elias_Gomez_Sai
13 - Mars
13 - Mars

A related Table through Linked Record field is already a nested table (kind of). I have an Events base and I generate invoices in it. I have an Events table, and a Services linked to it, and in the Page Designer block I just add the Services field, and of course the Customer and Event data.

BenInDallas
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

Elias, there are probably many examples where a linked records field could serve the purpose. And Iโ€™ve certainly experimented with that. But I think my initial example (an expense report with several line items) is one where linking to another table would be cumbersome, clunky, and prone to errors.

Another good example is a checklist, or a log (a list of notes sorted by date).

In all those examples, what you need is a SINGLE record with multiple lines of data that is distinct and segregated from other records. Linking to another table would be a nightmare for this kind of info.

Itโ€™s further complicated by the fact that Airtableโ€™s interface makes it a PITA to view data in linked records.

Elias_Gomez_Sai
13 - Mars
13 - Mars

Iโ€™ve replied to @Randi_Leist:

Captura de pantalla 2019-03-22_03-59-33_p. m..png

And obviously to @Helen_Vaskevitch, as Iโ€™ve cited her.

Anyway, I have both โ€˜logโ€™ and โ€˜line itemโ€™ types tables, and with the use of Shift + Space and the Expanded Record feature, I can handle them very well.


Also, I have a Page Designer for invoices, that mainly is the same than this:

You can Group them by report, or just ignore the whole table. I rarely open the Line Items tables.

What do you mean? Iโ€™d use the Page Designer and you can include as many fields from the Line Items as you want.

shop_taha
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Me too
Need this to be able to use on my project

Sharhan_Shukor
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Any new development on this ? Hope Airtable team donโ€™t ignore this request.

mdmtr
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

This would be a game changer. We need this feature badly.

We use one-to-many relationships to manage order contents in two tables.
Basically, multiple items (rows in table A) link to one record (table B). Seeing the linked records in table A in the expanded record view in table B would be insanely helpful.

Hamlin
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

In my mind the way to do this is with the โ€˜Link to another recordโ€™ field type. Add two toggles: one to โ€˜Display as portalโ€™, and one to โ€˜Allow record creationโ€™. Follow that up with a way to select the visible fields within the portal.

I-Wen_Lai
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Is there any follow-up to this discussion? I really need this feature! It really is necessary.