Learning Airtable

Chapter 11. Airtable Automations

Until now, we have focused on the Data section in Airtable. However, as Airtable has developed new features, it’s become a full software platform. It includes a way to build user interfaces (the Interface Designer) and Airtable Automations, which are accessible no-code workflows you can run to automatically modify or create data based on conditions in your base.

Automations can reduce your busywork and the potential for human error in simple tasks. For example, you might be copying and pasting values from one field to another for records in a table. However, Automations can change values based on the conditions you set up. So you can think of Automations as your personal army of copy-and-paste robots.

Not only do Automations effectively copy and paste data from one place to another inside your bases, but they also interface with third-party services like Gmail and Google Sheets. In this chapter, we will walk through the options for connecting these external services to trigger and execute actions in Airtable automations. Connecting third-party services without writing code is an example of the no-code software development that Airtable enables for nondevelopers.

Airtable Automations Versus Other Connector Software

Years before Airtable’s Automations were released, tools like Zapier and Make (formerly Integromat) were already connecting different software tools using a no-code interface. Using Airtable Automations instead of these tools has both ...