Projects in Glide can have multiple Data Sources. This means you can have data from Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel, and more — all in one app.
When you first create a project or add a new tab to an existing project, Glide will build a basic layout based on the data that it finds.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to structure your data simply and understand the fundamentals of how your data appears in Glide.
Structuring your data
Spreadsheets are incredibly flexible and allow you to organize your cells however you want. For your data to work in Glide though, it needs to be tabular — with neat rows and columns.
Within each table, every column should have a name. These column names describe the properties or attributes of your items. Some Data Sources like Airtable automatically have column names, but in spreadsheets, you’ll need to make sure the first row is reserved for this.
For example, if we were making a Team Directory, we might have two tables; one for Staff and another for Locations. In the Staff table, we would have columns for Name, Email, Photo, Phone Number, Role, Manager, and Location. In the Location table, we would have columns for Name, Address, and Image.
If your data is not in the right format for Glide but needs to stay in that format for other reasons, you might want to read our guides on Changing Horizontal Data to Vertical, IMPORTRANGE, and ARRAYFORMULA.
Understanding how Glide displays your data
When you first import your Data Source, Glide will create a basic app as a starting point. If you’ve structured your data correctly, you’ll see some tabs with lists of items. If you click on one of these items, you’ll see more data about that item.
At first, it might be a little confusing to understand how your data and the UI relates. So let’s break it down.
- Tables become tabs
- Rows become List Items
- A single row becomes a Details Screen
- Column values (a single cell in a row) are displayed in Components
Tables → Tabs
When you create an app from a Data Source, Glide will try to make a tab for every table it finds. You can create new tabs whenever you like, but they have to have a table as a source. You can create multiple tabs with the same Data Source.
Rows → List Items
If your Data Source has multiple rows, you’ll see those items in a List or Collection.
When you click on the List or Collection in the Components panel, you’ll be able to configure its settings on the right and show different columns from that table. Modifying your List Layouts is one of the first ways you start designing your project in Glide.
Row → Details Screen
When you click on one of the items in a List, you get taken to a Details Screen. This details screen then represents the whole of that row. Glide adds Components for each column it finds in your table. So if we added a table with team member info, our Details Screens might look like this.
But you don’t have to show every single column in a Component. You can display what you want and leave some columns hidden.
Most of the time, your table will have multiple rows of data — and therefore, the top level of your tab will be a List Screen. However, if you create a new tab based on a table that has only one row of data, it will create a Details Screen.
You can also turn a Tab that has a list layout into a details screen. When you do this, the context for the details screen will be the top row of your table. In other words, the data that ‘feeds’ that screen is the top row of your table.
Leaving components out of your screens is not a security feature as the data is still accessible. Learn more in our Security Guide.
Column Values → Components
Details screens show some or all of the data for an entire row. Some Components can display only one column from your row, and some can display more, like the Title Component.
While others, like Action Text, only show one.
Differences between Apps & Pages
While the above principles apply to both Pages & Apps, Pages are slightly different. In Pages, every screen is a Details Screen. If you want to learn more about these differences and get a deeper understanding of screen types, read the article below.