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    Airtable field actions
    • 22 Jan 2025
    • 3 Minutes to read
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    Contents

    Airtable field actions

    • Updated on 22 Jan 2025
    • 3 Minutes to read
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    Article summary

    Permissions

    Owners/Creators

    Platform(s)

    Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app 

    Related reading

    Airtable terminology

    • Field - A field contains details or metadata for each record in a table. Fields come in a variety of types, storing data in the form of text, single- or multi-selects, images, checkboxes, numbers, user tags, and more.

    • Field type - A field type specifies the kind or format of data stored in a given field.

    Adding and deleting fields

    The following article details a variety of actions users can take when using Airtable fields.

    To add a field to a new or existing base:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Click Create a base or open an existing base.

    3. Once inside a base, click the + icon to the right of your desired table.

    4. Select a field type and click Create field.

    Note

    In addition to choosing a field type, you can name fields and add individual descriptions. New fields can also be created by clicking a field header and selecting either Insert left or Insert right.

    To delete a field from a base:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2.  Open your desired base.

    3.  Click the field header of the field you want to delete.

    4.  Select Delete field.

    Searching for fields 

    To help users navigate larger bases, Airtable offers the ability to search for individual fields by name. To search for fields in a grid view:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Open your desired base.

    3. Press Cmd F or Ctrl F, enter your desired text, and any related results will appear highlighted.

    Note

    You can also search for specific fields using the search icon in your base's top right corner.

    Hiding and unhiding fields

    Hiding fields in Airtable allows users and collaborators to focus on the information that’s most important to their work.  When a field is hidden, it is not deleted and none of the values in that field are affected—it's only hidden from the particular view being used.

    To hide fields in a grid view:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Open your desired base.

    3. Click Hide fields above your primary field and toggle on any field(s) that you no longer want to appear visible.

    Note

    Paid plan users who want to ensure that field visibility in any views used for view share links or embedded views is not unintentionally changed can lock views, which will prevent collaborators from altering a view's configuration until it's been unlocked by someone with creator permissions.

    To unhide fields in a grid view:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Open the base with hidden fields.

    3. Click Hide fields above your primary field and toggle off any field(s) that you no longer want to appear hidden.

    Freezing and unfreezing fields

    When working within a grid view, you can freeze or lock a field to keep it continuously visible while scrolling through a table horizontally. Keep in mind that if another user has configured the frozen fields for a view in the past, then any changes to frozen fields will affect the view for other users as well. In these cases, consider using personal views instead.

    To freeze a field in a grid view:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Open your desired base.

    3. Hover over the dividing line in between a frozen field and the field next to it that you want to freeze. Note that you may need to rearrange field order before freezing.

    4. A blue bar will appear with the text “Drag to adjust the number of frozen fields.”

    5. Click, hold, drag this past the field(s) you want to freeze, and then release your mouse.

    6. Note that you will want to put your cursor below the field header row. Dragging the field divider there (where a small blue bar also appears) will instead result in you changing the field width.

    To unfreeze a field in a grid view:

    1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

    2. Open your desired base.

    3. In the area where your records are showing hover over the dividing line next to the frozen field.

    4. A blue bar will appear with the text “Drag to adjust the number of frozen fields.”

    5. Click, hold, drag this past the field(s) you want to unfreeze, and then release your mouse.

    6. Note that you will want to put your cursor below the field header row. Dragging the field divider there (where a small blue bar also appears) will instead result in you changing the field width.

    FAQs

    Can hidden fields be reused within additional views?

    You can copy the configuration of hidden or visible fields from one view to another using the copy view configuration feature.

    Can the primary field be hidden?

    Yes, the primary field can be hidden, but grouping cannot be turned on to do so.

    Is there a limit to the number of fields that can be frozen in a single view?

    No more than three fields can be frozen in a single view.

    Can fields be permanently frozen?

    While fields can't be permanently frozen, you can create a locked view to lock in a view's configuration options.

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