The way you work is unique. That’s why seeing your data in different ways and engaging with your data in different ways is essential to empower your workflow.
With Airtable Views, you have the power to change how your work is displayed with the touch of a button. Views allow anyone on your team to see the information they need, in the way they need, when they need it.
What’s a view?
In a traditional spreadsheet, every user sees the contents of your sheet in the same way. If you create a filter, or hide a row, everyone else will see those same changes as well—whether or not they want to. That’s why Airtable allows you to create infinite unique views for different people and uses.
Views are specified ways of looking at your data and information in each table. You can use views to show (or hide) specific fields or records, or change the way information is formatted to manage the information in that view.
For example, a product manager might want to create a Gantt chart of her product roadmap to share with exec stakeholders, a grid view to run check-ins, and a form view to create product requirement documents. It’s the same data, from the same table for the same person—but three different views empower three wildly different use cases.
Think of a view as a custom lens for looking at the same underlying information: how you see the information changes, but the information that you're looking at stays the same.
For now, all you really need to know is that a view is simply a different way of looking at the same information.
How to create a new view
To create a view, navigate to the left sidebar on any table and select the view type you want to create.
(Tip: If your view creation section is collapsed, you will need to first expand it.)
The 5 view types in Airtable
- Grid view: A grid view, or table view, is the default view type of an Airtable database and each table must have at least one grid view. It closely resembles a spreadsheet as the records and fields are organized into rows and columns.
This is your de facto view and the best way to add new information to a table.
(Tip: With a grid view, you can easily copy and paste information from a traditional spreadsheet program or another Airtable base as a way of quickly adding in information.)
2. Calendar view: If you have at least one date field in your table you can create a calendar view. A calendar view displays your records as—no surprise here—events on a calendar, letting you focus on important dates and deadlines.
3. Gallery view: A gallery view represents your records as large cards. Most importantly, the gallery view highlights your attachments—images, documents, and more.
4. Kanban view: Need to track the status of a project? Kanban view may be right for you.
With the Airtable kanban view, you can visualize your workflow in a board of stacked cards. But remember, your table must have at least one single select field or single collaborator field in order to make a kanban view.
5. Gantt View: Finally, you can use Gantt view to visualize a schedule of related activities over time—like tasks, projects, or events. You can use Gantt view for project management, production timelines, or resource management.
While it’s not a traditional view, you also have the power to create a shareable form that populates records in your table. You can send anyone the form for them to fill out and their submission will automatically get uploaded into your other views.
Once you choose your view, give it a descriptive name so you can easily find it in your sidebar.
(Tip: The view sidebar helps to navigate all of the views in your table.)
How to share a view
When you add a base collaborator in Airtable, they can see all of the information in your base, which means every table and every view.
But what if you don’t need to share all the details with someone and only a subset of information? You can share a view that updates in real-time with a read-only link so anyone can keep track of your work without the risk of accidentally updating it. For instance, if you’re planning a wedding, you might share the base with your planner but only specific views for your flower vendor. Or maybe you’re the editor of a fashion magazine, sharing a view of your content calendar with a freelance writer.
To share a view of your base and nothing more, click “share view” to generate a one-click URL you can send to collaborators. When they use the URL you created, they can only see the information that is visible in that specific view. No information beyond what’s in the view is accessible from the share view link. They can only see what you want them to see.
And you don’t need to worry about keeping it up to date. If you make any updates, these changes will automatically be reflected in the shared view upon refresh. It’ll stay up to date and reflect exactly what’s in the view at any given time.
Now, if you are going to share a view with anyone, there are a few security measures that are good to know about.
By default, share view links are accessible by anyone visiting the URL, and the information in the view can be exported. But you do have the option to increase the security of a share view by adding a password, limiting access through an email domain, and disabling the ability to download the view’s information to a CSV.
That’s it!
Now you can give stakeholders a view into the information they need without giving them access to your whole base using view share links. Customize, create, and share as many views as you need.