Airtable Basics

In this post, we'll cover basic objects in Airtable that will get you off the ground. A good place to start if you're just getting familiar with Airtable.
Joey Alfano
Joey Alfano
|
Co-Founder of Superchart
April 13, 2023
In this post, we'll cover basic definitions and objects in Airtable that will get you off the ground. A good place to start if you're just getting familiar with Airtable.

The very basics of Airtable. Mostly definitions and a quick summary of the major elements. If you're looking for more how-to's and visual descriptions, check out our full Airtable guide for beginners and dig into the details.

Now for the meat of the content, we'll start from the top and get more granular as we go...

What is an Airtable Workspace?

With Airtable, Workspaces are the foundational organization structure. This collection of tables allows users to store a wide range of data with ease. Create an unlimited number of Workspaces as needed and grant access rights to specific teams or individuals within each one.

What is an Airtable Base?

The Airtable Workspace is the ultimate structure for organization. At its highest tier, a Base houses multiple tables and each table contains data of all sorts - customers, products, projects, etc. Utilize Bases to store it all and make your workflow more efficient!

What is a Table in Airtable?

Airtable Tables are the essential blocks of data organization. From customer records to product inventories, project details and more, these structures can contain virtually any type of information you need!

What is a View in Airtable?

With Airtable, you can create Views to filter and show the records in a Table. For example, make one View for current customer data or another View for churned customer data—all utilizing the same base Table with historical customer records. By crafting different Views of your existing records, you'll gain a unique perspective that might uncover valuable insights!

What is a Record in Airtable?

A Record in Airtable is like a condensed version of data about an individual or entity. For instance, if you have customers, each customer would constitute one record with pertinent information such as name, contact details and address noted down. Same goes for products - all the records related to every product will contain its name, description and price within only a single row! That's how convenient it is to store required data in Airtable without having to create separate rows for everything.

What is the Link to Another Record field in Airtable?

With the 'Link to Another Record' field type, Airtable offers you a seamless way of interconnecting your tables. This will come in handy for creating an extensive data list; such as customer details that can then be referred to other tables. To give you an idea: let's say we have a table with customers and link it to another one containing orders - this would allow us easy access when looking up information about any given customer order!

What is the Single Line Text field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Single Line Text' field type provides a great opportunity to store quick bits of information with ease, such as quick notes or updates from a recent meeting with a client or an alternative product name in a product database. With this user-friendly feature, you can quickly and reliably save those critical details in one simple field!

What is the Long Text field in Airtable?

With the Long Text Field Type in Airtable, you can store extended pieces of content such as thorough product descriptions or customer reviews. Not only does this field type provide more space than Single Line Text Fields, but it also allows you to format your text - adding headings and bullets is a breeze! Take advantage of the versatile Long Text Field Type now to make managing information easier and faster.

What is the Attachment field in Airtable?

The 'Attachment' field type in Airtable is a convenient way to store associated files like images and PDFs for each Record. Even better, it allows you to upload multiple photos on one single record! For example, if you wanted to keep track of all the pictures taken in-store at different locations, this would be particularly helpful since all those images can now be stored under one list.

What is the Checkbox field in Airtable?

The 'Checkbox' field type is a versatile tool for storing information in the form of a checkbox.  Utilizing it can be beneficial when you are looking to store data that has two results - either True or False, such as if an individual is currently active or not.

What is the Multiple Select field in Airtable?

If you're looking for a way to store information like customer lists or product catalogs, Airtable's 'Multiple Select' field type is the perfect solution! This feature allows you to easily select multiple entries from your predefined list and keep them stored in one Field and Record. With Multiple Select, organizing larger validated lists of data is very simple.

What is the Single Select field in Airtable?

If you're looking to store a single selection from your predefined list, the 'Single Select' field type is perfect. Define list options and allow only one to be chosen for the record.

What is the User field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'User' field type allows you to store valuable details about your team, such as their name and email address. This is a powerful tool that can help you better manage communications and workflows.

What is the Date field in Airtable?

With Airtable's 'Date' field type, you can conveniently keep track of important dates such as when a product was released or when a customer placed an order. This helpful feature is especially beneficial because it allows you to store and display timestamps consistently.

What is the Phone Number field in Airtable?

In Airtable, the 'Phone Number' field type makes it effortless to store information about phone numbers. From customers to employees and beyond - this field can come in handy! It's especially great for Form views as each number is validated before being entered into the system. No more erroneous data entries!

What is the Email field in Airtable?

Need to store someone's email address? Airtable's 'Email' field type does the job, allowing you to conveniently capture this vital information. This is especially helpful in Form views, which will check for a valid format at input.

What is the URL field in Airtable?

The 'URL' field type in Airtable enables users to store and share web links, such as company websites or product pages. This feature is especially helpful for Form views since it will automatically detect errors when the URL is entered incorrectly.

What is the Number field in Airtable?

Airtable’s “Number” field is an incredibly useful feature that allows you to store numerical data, such as the inventory of a product or the headcount of a target customer. With this information readily available, it can help you make smarter business decisions and streamline operations. You can also set the granularity at which you want to store numbers (i.e. an integer or a specific number of decimals).

What is the Currency field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Currency' field type is an incredibly practical asset for storing currency and value of any kind. Whether you're wanting to keep track of a product's price, the cost to manufacture it, or anything else related - this field type makes everything easier! You can also set the granularity (i.e. an integer or a specific number of decimals) and currency type for any monetary data store.

What is the Percent field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Percent' field is an ideal tool for saving valuable data regarding any proportion - think regional contributions to total product sales, market share analysis, and beyond! Once again, Airtable allows you to configure the granularity (i.e. an integer or a specific number of decimals) to control the input and display of any percentage.

What is the Duration field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Duration' field is perfect for storing time frames of activities, such as the length of a specific project or how long an appointment will last. This field type makes it simple to store precise information about duration in one convenient place.

What is the Rating field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Rating' field provides the perfect way to store and access data about a rating on any given scale. This feature is especially beneficial for storing details like how customers rate your hotel or their overall feedback from reviews. It also helps when presenting a rating in any Form for end-user input.

What is the Formula field in Airtable?

The 'Formula' field in Airtable is a powerful tool allowing you to store data on your calculation results. This can be used to compute an item's cost from various inputs or combine information from separate fields. For optimal usage of the Formula feature, you should become familiar with topics like Expressions, Operators and Functions offered by Airtable first — simply click here!

What is the Rollup field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Rollup' field type enables you to store data regarding a particular calculation by linking two or more tables. This feature makes it easy for users to keep track of various pieces of information, such as the number of clients that selected a certain product, or how many opportunities were generated from an individual sales representative. With Rollup in Airtable, organizing and understanding this important business data has never been simpler!

What is the Count field in Airtable?

The 'Count' field in Airtable functions as an efficient way to keep track of the number of items within a given category. This feature accumulates data from linked tables that fit specific conditions, enabling you to quickly consult and update your records.

What is the Lookup field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Lookup' field type is a revolutionary feature that enables you to view crucial data from connected Records in various Tables without needing to duplicate the information. For instance, if you want to pull up a contact name next to their corresponding email address, this field will accomplish your goal while also saving time and effort!

What is the Created By field in Airtable?

The 'Created By' field within Airtable is a great option for keeping track of who created the record. This is especially beneficial when multiple users are simultaneously updating records or you're using Form to enter more data into Airtable. Airtable automatically captures this information; it's your choice whether or not to include it in the dataset.

What is the Created Time field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Created Time' field type is incredibly useful for tracking when key records were created. For instance, this could come in handy if you wanted to know precisely when a customer completed your virtual webinar sign-up form. It can also be used as a timestamping tool that guarantees accuracy and precision every time! Airtable automatically captures this information; it's your choice whether or not to include it in the dataset.

What is the Last Modified By field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Last Modified By' field is useful for tracking who last changed a record, especially when records are being adjusted by Form or multiple entities. It ensures that you can keep an updated log of modifications made to your database. This field can be configured to track changes to only certain fields and ignore other changes. Airtable automatically captures this information; it's your choice whether or not to include it in the dataset.

What is the Last Modified Time field in Airtable?

By incorporating Airtable's 'Last Modified Time' field, you can reliably track changes to important records. This means you'll be aware of when a customer updates contact information, or when a product manager modifies the description for an item – giving your team more transparency and insight into their workflow. The Last Modified Time Field is invaluable in helping create trust between customers and maintain organizational efficiency! This field can be configured to track changes to only certain fields and ignore other changes. Airtable automatically captures this information; it's your choice whether or not to include it in the dataset.

What is the Autonumber field in Airtable?

Airtable's 'Autonumber' field type is the perfect solution for creating unique numbers to identify each record in a table. Whether it be customers, locations or products, Autonumber allows you to automatically generate ID codes quickly and easily!

What is the Barcode field in Airtable?

With Airtable's 'Barcode' field type, you can store information about a barcode quickly and easily. When your users utilize an Airtable Form with this feature, they can simply scan the code via their camera to capture its associated data into the appropriate Field entry - making it simpler for them to access essential details.

What is the Button field in Airtable?

The 'Button' field in Airtable is a powerful tool that allows you to add buttons linked to external websites and scripts on any record. You can capitalize on this incredible feature for your Forms, making it easy for visitors to interact with your site or run a script when clicked.

What is an Airtable Extension?

Unlock even more possibilities with Airtable Extensions! Easily access them from the "Extensions" button in the top-right corner of your web interface, and select one or several choices from an array of available options. Installation is a breeze - just click to install with no hassle at all. Please keep in mind that some extensions may require payment for full use.

In Conclusion

You can tell from this list of Airtable basics that it's a powerful tool capable of handling a lot of different types of data. For more information on using these Airtable elements, check out our guide for beginners. If you're more familiar with Airtable, be sure to try out building Airtable visualizations in Superchart today.

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