I agree that this would be a useful feature. In the meantime, I suggest getting to know the base-switcher hotkey: Command-K. That opens a popup in the middle of the window where you can type the name (or partial name) of any base, use the cursor keys to navigate the filtered list, and hit Enter to open that new base. While I use the Mac desktop app myself and often have multiple bases open in different windows for quick switching, this is still a very frequently-used hotkey when I want to keep the number of open bases to a minimum and just switch one window to a different base.
Seconded. Another use case for this feature: I integrated a base with my calendar app so that the events in my Calendar View show up in the local calendar. It would be nice if I could open the calendar events in the desktop app instead of the browser:
@DyslexicLabrador While I originally agreed about the usefulness of this feature, I’ve learned more about the desktop app since then. Based on that, I don’t believe that this is even possible—at least not without completely redesigning the desktop app (and even then I have my doubts).
Long story short, the current desktop app is just a shell around the existing Airtable web application. In other words, you’re still running Airtable in a browser, but it’s a very restricted browser that only opens a single, pre-programmed URL and nothing else. It’s also a browser that the OS doesn’t recognize as a browser, so you can’t send any URL to it using the typical “always open URLs in my default browser” type of way.
For URLs to open in an Airtable app, it would first have to be an app designed as an actual app. The URLs would also have to be designed in such a way that the OS could distinguish them from normal web-browser URLs. This is all totally doable (other apps do this), but it would require significant development resources to create and support platform-specific applications in addition to the existing web version of Airtable. While the Airtable team is doing amazing things, it’s still a relatively small team (to my knowledge), and they don’t currently have the resources to go in that direction. It’s on a completely different order of development magnitude compared to, say, adding a new view or creating a new formula function. Could it happen in the future? Maybe, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
I also want this feature but I've found a possible workaround if you simply don't want the distractions while working with Airtable in a browser. You'll need a Mac running Safari 17 or higher to use the "Add to Dock" feature.
Log into Airtable on Safari and navigate to a base or interface page
Copy the full URL in the address bar
then use the Add to Dock feature (File>Add to Dock...)
In the dialog box that pops up, edit the name in the first space and paste the full URL into the second space. This is what your "app" shortcut will open to.
Click "Add" to add the shortcut to your dock.
Note: Clicking on the "app" icon will open a window to the exact URL that you pasted, but without any browser clutter. It will look and behave just like the Airtable desktop app.
If you want to adjust the start page to a different base or view, you don't need to delete the icon and start over. Navigate to the exact page you want the dock icon to open to, then open the app settings (menu bar) and click "Set to Current Page" in the General settings section.
If you want these icons on the desktop instead of the dock, you can find right click on the dock icon and click "Show in Finder" to reveal where the "app" lives (in your USER/Applications folder). Right click on this and make an alias to drag to your desktop (or wherever you want it to live). I would not move the actual app from your ~/Applications folder as I don't know how this will behave but perhaps someone else can chime in about that.
