Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid with the features of a database but applied to a spreadsheet. Your apps can be integrated with Airtable bases, offering you a more robust approach to data management that you may not find in simple spreadsheets.
Airtable is available as a data source for Team, Business, and Enterprise customers. Browse our plans to find the right first for you.
Airtable user must stay in Glide team
Before adding your Airtable base, decide who in your Glide team will control the integration. This Glide user account needs to be part of the team as long as you are using Airtable and cannot be changed or removed. Any updates to the Airtable connection must be performed by this same team member.
To create a new app, click on New app in your dashboard.
Name your app, select Mobile or Large screen view, then Continue.
Select Airtable as the data source, then Continue.
Sign in to Airtable, click on Add a base, add the Airtable base(s), then Grant access.
Select the base you want to use for your app and click Create Page to create your new app.
The sheets or tables in your base are added as individual Tabs to the Layout Editor and individual Tables in the Data Editor.
Airtable API Key Deprecation
As announced by Airtable, API keys can no longer be used to connect to Airtable bases. You must reauthenticate your Airtable bases with OAuth before February 1st, 2024, for your Glide apps to continue syncing without interruption.
Have the team member who added the Airtable base to the Glide app open the app. If you do not know who this is or if this person is no longer part of your Glide team, please contact Glide support.
Once the app is open, navigate to the Data Editor by clicking Data on the top of the builder.
On the upper-left, click the plus (+) sign to the right of Tables and select Airtable in the dropdown menu.
In the Select an Airtable Base modal, click the dropdown menu and select + Add another Airtable account.
A new tab will open for you to provide Glide access to your Airtable bases. Click + Add a base and then either select the same base in the app or All current and future bases for a specific workspace or all workspaces.
Glide recommends selecting All current and future bases if you have many bases connected to Glide.
After making your selection, click Grant access.
Once you have granted access, you should be directed to the Select an Airtable Base modal. If not, repeat step 3.
Make sure that you select Airtable (User ID) in the dropdown menu. Select the base that is connected to this app and click Add Source.
If you do not see the base, click Edit Airtable integration and select Delete. You will need to start this process again to make sure you give Glide access to the correct bases.
Once you have added the base again, you will switch your authentication method from API key to OAuth for all apps connected to this base by this team member.
This process must be repeated for every base that was added by each user, in each app. For example, if the Orders base was added by Jane to the Inventory app and added by Greg to the Shipping app, both Jane and Greg will need to complete this process for each app.
Ignore API Key Dropdown
If you click the plus (+) sign in the Data Editor and select Airtable, the modal may default to showing the API Key in the dropdown. This does not necessarily mean that your app is using your Airtable API key to sync. If you have completed the steps above, your app is already using OAuth. You should ignore the API Key selection and not use it anymore.
Sync data between Airtable and Glide
Glide and Airtable differ in how they manage data, which may impact how the data syncs across both platforms.
Views
Airtable allows you to create different ways to view your information. This means you can switch seamlessly between looking at your data as rows in a grid, cards on a kanban board, or even events on a calendar. Each view has its own layout, sorting, filtering, grouping, and more.
When connecting your bases to Glide, keep in mind that any filters applied to an Airtable view will not be transferred to your app. For example, if you have a filter in Airtable that hides empty rows, those empty rows will appear in your data in Glide.
It's best practice to keep at least one view in your Airtable base that has no filters or customizations. This way, you can see all the records in that base and know what will be brought into Glide.
Columns vs. fields
In Glide, data is arranged in columns. In Airtable, these are called fields. Airtable allows you to create many different types of fields, but Glide doesn't support all of them.
All field types transfer to Glide, except for the Button type.
Basic vs. user-specific columns
The Airtable API does not allow Glide to add new fields to your Airtable base. Because of this, any new basic columns (e.g., Text, Number) you create in Glide will not appear in Airtable. Instead, they will become user-specific columns that are only accessible in the Data Editor in Glide.
It's recommended to add new basic columns directly to Airtable rather than Glide if you want to keep both data sources in sync. Once you add a new column to the Airtable base and save, you'll be automatically prompted to refresh your app's data to update it.
Links vs. Relations
In Glide, data is connected using Relation columns. In Airtable, these same connections are called Links. When you create a link in your Airtable base, it will show up in Glide as a Relation column.
You can use that data just like you would a normal relation. However, you will not be able to configure it in Glide since the configuration for the link/relation is set in Airtable. Connecting columns between data sources
Attachments
Starting November 8th, 2022, Airtable introduced expiring links for all attachments stored in Airtable. This means that URLs for attachments stored in Airtable will expire every few hours. You can read Airtable's full announcement here.
As a result of this change, attachments stored in Airtable bases connected to Glide will be automatically stored in Glide, so that these attachments remain accessible to users of Glide apps. These attachments count toward your Glide team's file storage quota.
Exceeding your file storage quota can result in your Glide apps becoming inaccessible to users until you upgrade to a higher plan. Removing an Airtable base from your Glide team (e.g. by deleting apps that use it) will free up storage space within minutes, and unused attachments are removed from Glide within 72 hours.
On your team's dashboard, you can navigate to the Usage page to check how much file storage your team is currently using.
Learn Airtable
If you're new to Airtable, check out the resources below to get you started.
Article: Airtable vs Traditional Spreadsheets
Video: Meet Airtable
Course: Intro to Airtable
Support: Airtable Support Center