Getting started with selective sync in HyperDB

Understanding selective syncing

Selective sync is a new way to link records on an as-needed basis, to a massive dataset powered by Airtable’s HyperDB feature. You can search over millions of records without slowing down performance.

This is done by syncing each record to your table as it is linked, instead of the typical way that sync works, which would bring in all records from a synced data set.

For example:

1. To get started, you need to have an existing table that you want to link to a larger set of data. In the diagram below, Zelos Inc. has an existing “Support tickets” table, and wants to link the “Requester” field to the HyperDB-backed data set “All users.”
   

2. They would then add the data set “All users” as a new table named “User info” by choosing the “All users” data set from the data library.

3. During the setup process, they will use selective sync to bring in the user data, choosing to link it to the “Support requests” table and “User info” linked record field.
   

4. Once the “All users” data set has been connected to the selectively synced table, you can search for any record with the linked record picker. Support tickets can then be associated with any user in the “All users” dataset. The selectively synced “User info” table will only display a subset of users that have been actively linked to tickets.

   

Note

Once a record has been selectively synced into the base, it will remain there, even if the linked record is removed from the specific support ticket.

Using selective syncing versus filtering

There are two ways you can add a HyperDB data set to a table: selective sync and filtering.  Selective sync is the recommended way to add HyperDB data sets to a table, but here are examples of when each would be relevant.

FAQs