1. Centralize your data

Airtable automates relationships between tables so that you have a central hub for all your information. Easily create custom views to gain valuable insights across different project management tasks.

Because of the tool’s relational nature, you can easily link different tables together, and any changes made to either dataset will automatically update in all the right places.

💡 For example: Let’s say you’ve divided your data into projects, and their related tasks.

Imagine you have a "Social Media Marketing" project with a task called "Sharing Brand Identity."

If you change the status for that task from “in progress” to “Behind,” you’ll immediately see that change reflected in the overall project.

Image source: Airtable Universe

Airtable can store between 2GB to 1,000GB of data per base or project, depending on your plan, including

• Photos and videos
• PDF files
• Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets files

2. Customize and create different views

Airtable offers custom view options for your team to view information in whatever format suits them best.

This gives team members further visibility so that you can streamline workflows and easily track progress.

Common Airtable views include:

• Grid view is the default view in Airtable. It looks just like a classic Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• Calendar view displays records on the calendar to help the team meet due dates consistently.
• Gallery view highlights visual attachments, showing your data as a large card.
• Kanban board is a popular dashboard view style used by Trello and ClickUp. It's ideal for a project team that tracks project status step by step. In Kanban, tasks are shown as stacked cards.
• Gantt Chart view is perfect for complex, multi-step initiatives. Here, tasks are shown across the x-axis, and a timeline showing tasks' duration to completion is displayed along the y-axis.

💡 For example: Check out the video below by Gareth Pronovost from GAP Consulting to get a better view on improving your workflow with Airtable's flexibility.

‍

3. Automate recurring tasks

Airtable saves you further time and decreases the risk of manual errors by allowing you to automate recurring project management tasks.

This key feature lets us create custom workflows and templatize our projects and tasks.

💡 For example: Let's say you need to manually create a new record for your team’s recurring weekly sprints. You can easily set up Airtable to automatically create triggers and actions for you.

All you need to do is set a "Condition" and "Trigger."

For example, you might set a "Condition" for when someone marks the sprint project status as "Complete," and a "Trigger" for Airtable to create a new record for you.

‍

‍

4. Do more with a robust API and extensions

Airtable’s robust API allows you to integrate with over 1,000 websites and apps.

There are several ways you can take advantage of these integrations — like building an Airtable front-end to share different views with various stakeholders or connecting to your own product data.

💡 For example: You can integrate your project data with Github, so your team members can access Airtable data directly from Github and vice versa.

This allows for a seamless data flow system between tools and database solutions.

You can also integrate blocks (mini-apps) and extensions (previously called apps.) For example, you can add a time-tracking block to boost your productivity, or integrate Loom to help you better communicate asynchronously with your team members and stakeholders.

Step one: Narrow down your specific needs

Be clear about your goals and expectations before you get started.

This will ensure you take advantage of the variety of templates and collaboration features. It will also give you the chance to check out which integrations can help boost your workflow.

Ask yourself, are you looking to:

• Manage your team's performance?
• Track progress against milestones?
• Reduce errors in standardized workflows?
• Share valuable insights on project success with stakeholders or clients?

💡 For example: If you’re a social media manager, you could need Airtable to help you:

• Create brand hashtags;
• Interview industry experts;
• Create Instagram posts;
• Write Tweets;
• Meet with the marketing team.

All of these different needs can become tasks, subtasks, or full-on projects in later steps.

Step two: Create your collaborative workspace

When you first log in to your Airtable homepage, you’ll see all the workspaces you’re part of.

Chances are that if you’re a new user, you’ll see “My First Workspace” already created for you.

Workspaces house your bases so you’re more organized.

To create another workspace, just go to Workspaces on the lower left-hand corner of the screen, click on Add a workspace, and give it a name. Now you can go ahead and create a base.

Step three: Create a base from scratch or choose a template

If you're new to Airtable, we recommend you start by looking at the variety of templates available for free.

Airtable offers various templates for project management, so you don’t have to start from scratch. But if you’re an Airtable wiz, or up for a challenge, you can start from zero.

To create a base, head over to your Homepage>Add a base. Here, you can choose to either import your previous data, check out some templates, or start from scratch.

Check out the video below for an in-depth tutorial.

‍

Step four: Populate your template or base with your data

After finalizing your template, start populating it with your own data. To import data from a CSV file or another spreadsheet, open your base, and click on Import data on the top left-hand corner of your screen.

To import your data, open your base, then click Import data.

Step five: Add your team

Lastly, invite your other team members to begin collaborating on your new project.

On the top right corner of your screen, click share. From here, you can either invite your team members through an email invite or create and share a link to the base.

When you’re ready to invite your team members, click on share on the top right corner of your screen.

1. Pre-built templates

One of Airtable’s most useful features is its pre-built project management templates. This is perfect for smaller teams and startups who are looking for fast and easy ways to start optimizing their workflows, and don’t need tons of customization.

Airtable’s pre-built project management templates are perfect for newer users, or smaller teams who are looking for fast and easy ways to get started.

2. Adaptability

Airtable is a highly adaptable tool because:

• Its familiar spreadsheet-like interface makes it easy for any user, with any amount of tech-savviness, to get started.
• Its free plan allows smaller teams and startups to get their business off the ground with minimal costs. Not many tools offer a free plan, especially one with features that are actually helpful. Just look at Airtable vs. Smartsheet.
• It easily integrates with third-party plugins, apps, websites, and platforms like Softr to help you optimize your workflow. An integration with Softr also means having the option to add a team wiki or knowledge base on top of your project management platform if you ever need it.

Integrate with no-code web app and website builders like Soft to adapt and scale your Airtable project management

3. Easy to integrate with other database solutions

If you’ve been working with other spreadsheet tools or database solutions like Microsoft Excel, or Google Sheets, you can easily transfer your data to Airtable.

Easily import your previous data to Airtable from a CSV file, Microsoft Excel, or Google Sheets.

And, if your project requires you to go back and forth between Excel and Airtable, you can also integrate the two tools so once new data is entered into Excel, a new record will automatically be created in Airtable.

1. No complex communication capabilities

When making other tool comparisons, like looking at Airtable vs. Monday.com, Airtable falls short of complex collaboration capabilities. For example, while Airtable allows users to put comments on a row, it doesn’t have an in-app chat function that can give context to a discussion, like Monday.com does.

Softr fills this gap for Airtable users by offering an instant messaging integration that enables peer-to-peer, in-app, communication.

Softr offers users the peer-to-peer Atom Chat integration to make up for the lack of real-time communication tools in Airtable.

2. Higher learning curve compared to other tools

Airtable is a highly complex tool that allows for a variety of use cases. But this complexity also means it takes longer to set up initially. However, there are many Airtable templates available to get you started. And if you have a specific use case you can’t find a template for, there’s always Airtable Universe, a platform filled with bases created by Airtable expert users.

Airtable Universe is a collection of bases created by expert Airtable users and can help specific projects get off the ground more quickly.

3. Lack of granular permissions

Airtable does have certain permissions levels like

• Workspace owner;
• Workspace collaborator at the editor level;
• Workspace collaborator at a commenter level;
• Base collaborator at the editor level.

However, these permissions are pretty basic and no different from a normal Google Doc, for example.

Luckily, you can easily integrate the cloud-based platform with a third-party integration tool to get so much more out of the spreadsheet app.

Softr elevates Airtable by offering granular permissions that make sure users only see the information that’s relevant to them.

For example, a marketing employee won’t be able to access the same tasks or documents as a team leader. This reduces information overload and increases data integrity.  

With Softr, you can add roles and conditional permissions to make sure only the appropriate team members can access certain information.

4. Only available in English

Right now, Airtable is only available in English, which makes it harder for international teams to manage projects effectively.