The Airtable field manager gives users control over permissions and settings for features like schema fields and field configurations.

What you can do with the Airtable field manager

• Delete fields in bulk

• Update field permissions

• Review a list of fields connected to a table

• Locate relevant fields to update through filtering and sorting by different criteria

• Identify if a calculated field is broken

• Identify which objects are dependent on a specific field before making changes to or deleting a field

• Identify who created or last modified a specific field

Opening the Airtable field manager

To open the field manager:

1. Open your Airtable home screen.

2. Open the base and click the arrow icon to the right of the table name where you want to access the field manager.

3. Click Manage fields.

   • From here, you can search for or filter individual fields using the "Find a field," "Permissions," and "Dependencies" filtering tools.

Filtering fields using the Airtable field dependencies

To filter fields using the Airtable field dependencies:

1. Open your Airtable home screen.

2. Open the base and click the arrow icon to the right of the table name where you want to access the field manager.

3. Click Manage fields.

4. Click Dependencies.

   • From here, you can filter by selecting "All," "Automations," "Configurations," "Fields," "Interfaces," "Syncs," or "Views."

Documenting the fields in a table

When a table has a large number of fields, keeping an inventory of what each field is for makes the table easier to maintain. You can review that inventory in the field manager, or generate a copy you can edit and share.

Reviewing the field list in the field manager

The field manager already lists every field in a table along with its type, permissions, and dependencies, so for most tables you do not need to build a map by hand.

1. Open your Airtable home screen.

2. Open the base and click the arrow icon to the right of the table name.

3. Click Manage fields.

4. Sort or filter the list to find the fields you want to review.

Generating a field inventory with the Scripting extension

To turn the field list into records you can annotate and share, use the Scripting extension to read the table's fields.

The script below prints the name, type, and description of every field in one table:

let table = base.getTable("Projects");
let inventory = table.fields.map(field => ({
    Name: field.name,
    Type: field.type,
    Description: field.description,
}));
output.table(inventory);

To save the inventory instead of printing it, create a table named "Field directory" with single line text fields named "Name," "Type," and "Description," then replace the last line of the script with:

let directory = base.getTable("Field directory");
await directory.createRecordsAsync(inventory.map(row => ({fields: row})));

Tips for managing tables with many fields

• Add a description to every field so its purpose travels with the field instead of living in a separate document.

• Use a consistent naming convention so related fields sort together in the field list.

• Hide the fields a view does not need, so each view shows only the fields relevant to the work done in it.

• Check "Dependencies" in the field manager before you edit or delete a field, so you can see which automations, interfaces, syncs, and views rely on it.