Big Tables

Built for the most demanding workflows, Big Tables is an enterprise-grade database hosted directly in Glide. While a normal Glide Table has a limit of 25,000 rows, Big Tables can support up to 10 million rows. With Big Tables, your app can scale as your data grows.

You can also use an API to add rows, set columns, or delete rows from a Big Table.

Creating a Big Table

From an already existing project, select the plus in the tables menu and choose “New big table.”

The data editor will create an empty table with a single cell. From here, you can add more rows and columns and configure them as you need for your project.

Import/Export Big Table data

Import to a New Big Table

To import data into a new Big Table:

• Right-click the data source from the “tables” menu.
• Select “import.”
• Choose which file to upload for import.

Glide data imports support .xlsx, .csv, or .ods files.

Import to an Existing Big Table

To import data into an existing Big Table:

• First, make sure the column names on your existing spreadsheet match the column names on the Big Table you want to import to. This helps Glide know where to put your imported data!
• Right click the data source from the “tables” menu.
• Select “import.”
• Choose which file to upload for import.

When you import data into an existing Big Table, Glide will add your rows to the existing table — it will not modify or delete what's already there.

Exporting from a Big Table

To export data out of a Big Table:

• Right click the data source from the “tables” menu
• select “export”
• Choose which columns to export, or export all.
• You will receive an email with your Big Table export as a csv.

Big Tables API

To use an API to add rows, set columns, get all rows, or delete rows from a Big Table:

• Right click on the Big Table you want to connect with.
• Select “Show API.”

• The API usage provides examples for JavaScript, Python and curl. Select one, then choose from either Get rows, Add rows, Edit rows or Delete rows, then click the Copy Code button to copy the API instructions to your clipboard.

Limitations of Big Tables

There are some features in Glide that aren't compatible with a Big Table. We're working to reduce these limitations! For now, those unavailable features are:

• Relations based on computed columns - the target column cannot be a computed column if it’s in a Big Table (but the source column can be).
• Single Value columns that target Big Table columns.
• Multi Lookups into Big Tables (eg. Lookups via Multiple Relations or Lookups that target an entire Big Table column)
• Filtering, sorting, and search by computed columns
• The Delete Rows action cannot be applied through a multi-relation in Big Tables.
• Big Tables do not update between devices in real time. A refresh is necessary to update. For example, if one user makes a change, that change will not be visible to other users until they have refreshed.
• A Big Table cannot be the User Profile data source

Big Table FAQ