Single select field

Single select fields in Airtable 

In Airtable, fields allow you to organize all the details for any record in your base, so they can easily be sorted, managed, and analyzed. In this article, learn specifically about Airtable's single select fields and how to use then.

Single select fields are ideal for when you need to select a single option from a preset list of options. For more information about enabling AI in single select fields visit this article.

1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

2. Create or open your preferred base.

3. Add or edit a field.

4. Search for and select Single select.  

5. Click Add option and enter your preferred option name.

   1. From here, you can optionally click on the ⌄ icon and update your select's color.

   2. You can also optionally toggle ON/OFF color-code options and alphabetic sorting.

   3. Lastly, you can also reorder the select options from within the field configuration menu by clicking and dragging on the reorder icons, which appear when you mouse over the left-hand side of each option.

6. Click Create field.

NOTE

If you need to store additional information related to each select option, consider converting the single select field into a linked record field.

Setting default values for single select fields

Configuring this option will automatically add the chosen select option to each new record created in the table where the field resides. A few notes on expected behavior:

• Since this is a single select field only one option can be set as the default. Multiple select fields will allow you to choose a

• The default value you choose will only be included on newly created records. Previously created records with different values or blank values will not be updated.

• This is a static option, meaning that there is no logic that you can configure in order to have the single select field default to different values based on other conditions. Consider using automations to accomplish that use case instead. Additionally, you can look at the first FAQ in this section that discusses using different views and filters or groupings as a way to have newly created records inherit a certain kind of single select value.

• Default values cannot be generated in AI-enabled single select fields.

To add or adjust the default option:

1. Begin editing the field from its configuration menu.

2. Find the “Default option” section. You may need to scroll down to find this section depending on how many select options have been created and/or screen size limitations.

3. If a default value hasn’t already been set, this cofiguration will show up as empty. Click the ⌄ option and select the value that newly created records will default to include.

4. Click Save.

FAQs