Meet the new Glide Apps
Glide Pages are now Glide Apps. Please refer to this article for up-to-date information, as some of this documentation is outdated.
Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid with the features of a database but applied to a spreadsheet. Your projects can be integrated with Airtable bases, offering you a more robust approach to data management that you may not find in simple spreadsheets.
If you're new to Airtable or need a refresher, check out the resources in Learn Airtable.
How to use Airtable with Glide
Find your Airtable API key
Your Airtable API key is required to connect your account to Glide.
- Go to your Account > Overview in Airtable.
- In the API section, either copy the existing key or click Generate API key to create a new one.
- Click inside of the key field to view and then copy it.
Once you have this key, you can return to Glide to begin building projects from your Airtable bases!
Connect to Airtable
- To create a new project, click on New project in your dashboard.
- Give it a name and choose the type - App or Page.
- Continue to select your data source.
- Click on Airtable and Continue.
- Enter your Airtable account API key and click Connect.
- Select the Airtable base you want to use.
- Click Create App to create your new project!
The sheets or tables in your base are added as individual Tabs to the Layout Editor and individual Tables in the Data Editor.
Changing the Airtable API Key
To change the Airtable API key and connect to a different table, first make sure the new table is owned by the same email address you use with your Glide account. Then:
- Open the settings of your app. Then open the Integrations menu and select Airtable.
- Select edit next to the API key and paste in your new key.
- Select save.
Changing with Airtable account is integrated will change the data in your data editor and could change the behavior of your app.
Sync data between Airtable and Glide
There are several differences in the way Glide and Airtable manage data that may impact how it 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 a view will not be transferred to your project. 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. However, not all types are supported in Glide.
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 will be automatically prompted to refresh your project'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.
Attachments
Starting November 8th, 2022, Airtable will introduce 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 projects. These attachments count toward your Glide team's file storage quota.
Exceeding your file storage quota can result in your Glide projects becoming inaccessible to users until you upgrade to a higher plan. Removing an Airtable base from your Glide team (e.g. by deleting projects 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