Airtable is one of my favorite – if not the favorite – tech tools in my arsenal.
Airtable in One-ish Sentence
Airtable, a freemium service, combines spreadsheet data and powerful database tools that allow you to create automated workflows and data dashboards.
What does Airtable do?
Airtable takes the spreadsheet concept and powers it up, essentially turning it into a user-friendly database tool. It excels (ha!) at relational information; it allows you to relate information between spreadsheets to get a better understanding of the bigger picture. Most of the power is derived from the field types – rich text, numbers, formula, dates, single and multiple selections, and related records among them – combined with extensions, automations, and dashboard tools. The result is a flexible, Swiss-army-knife kinda tool that can be used for so many things.
But what does that actually mean? Well, I’ve created an experience database for mid-size law firms that tracks content (website, JD Supra, third-party, etc.), lawyers, pitches/RFPs, practices/services, marketing landing pages, even prospects and diversity data. A content tracker for a large-scale writing project with automated reminders and a client-facing dashboard. Even hair and skincare trackers, clothing tracker, fountain pen and ink database…There’s also a template repository that likely covers all your other needs: project management, content/editorial calendars, event planning, and financial tools. There’s a lot to work with.
Who is Airtable for?
Folks who are using Excel or other spreadsheet tech to track something. It’s one of those tools that can be used simply – take advantage of the field types and views. Or, leverage the tools that allow you to use the data in different ways.
Involvement
Let’s be practical: a tool is good when used, but there can be learning curves and time constraints. What is really involved?
Bare Minimum
The least amount of knowledge required to use the tool.
- You can enter data: by typing, uploading a spreadsheet, or copying/pasting spreadsheet data. (If you can use a spreadsheet, you can use Airtable.)
- You have a sense of the basic field types: single line text, long text (basically their rich text), attachment, checkbox, single select, multiple select, user, date, phone number, email, URL, number, currency, percent [honestly, you could stop here, but then there’s not much of a point of using the tool outside of Excel]
- You utilize some of the views to display information differently: grid (your basic list), calendar, gallery (cards) and Kanban
- You can also use controls like filter, group, and sort that help you create custom views.
Leveling Up
Digging deeper—time to start bending the tool to your will.
- You’re relating content using the “link to another record.” Linking a lawyer to a practice area to an article, RFP, or marketing campaign.
- You’ve unlocked a basic understanding of Airtable’s other field types like formula (tying other fields together or creating different numerical formulas), rollup (creating formulas for related content), and count (gives you the number of related fields).
- You’ve checked out and tried some of the extensions (web clipper, chart, pivot table) and maybe you’ve even tried the forms and shared them for someone to fill out to collect data.
You’re an Expert Now
Once you’re comfortable with the tool and its use, it’s time to put all that knowledge to work.
- You’re connecting disparate data together to create a new way of looking at things.
- You’re utilizing functions to get the information you need beyond simple A + B = C, including Airtable’s automation tool.
- You can display that data using Interfaces, Airtable’s dashboard tool, in a way that’s meaningful to others.
