Business and Enterprise Scale plans | |
| |
Platform(s) | Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app only |
App sandbox in Airtable overview
App sandbox allows builders to create a sandbox for their base—a safe environment where they can make changes to tables, fields, automations, etc., without impacting their production base.
How do I access App sandbox in Airtable?
Note
Submitting a request for the App sandbox beta enrolls your account into the beta and confirms agreement to Airtable's Beta Terms of Service.
Admin consent, either via a signed beta form or written acknowledgment over email, is required before Airtable can enable the beta program. Once the beta is enabled, anyone in your organization can use App sandbox, subject to the permission limitations governing the feature.
App sandbox is currently in beta and is only available by request. Please join our App sandbox waitlist to request access.
When should I avoid using App sandbox in Airtable?
Note
While App sandbox is ready for most use cases, there are currently limitations that may severely impact builders making specific changes to their bases.
If you want to make changes to your base, we advise you not to enable App sandbox to make sets of changes to any of the following:
Specific field type changes, like updating fields from single line text fields to linked record fields.
While field type changes are possible in your sandbox, some negatively impact record data and so are unsupported.
Changing field types from any linked record, formula, rollup, count, lookup, created time, last modified time, created by, last modified by, autonumber, and button types to any other field type.
Changing field types from any non-linked record type to a linked record type.
Changing field types from any field that is not single select or multiple select to either single select or multiple select field types.
Changing field types from any single select or multiple select to any single line text, long text, attachment, checkbox, multiple select, single select, user, date, phone number, email, URL, number, currency, percent, duration, rating, or barcode types.
Adding, configuring or removing extensions
Configuring multi-source sync
Builders can safely use App sandbox with bases that use these features but can't make changes that specifically involve those features.
For example, assume a base has multiple sync sources in its "Projects" synced table. App sandbox can be used with that base to make changes to the synced table except adding or removing sync sources.
Enabling App sandbox for bases in Airtable
To enable App sandbox:
Open your Airtable homepage.
Open the base where you want to enable the App sandbox.
Click the ˅ icon next to your base’s name.
Click + Create sandbox.
Creating sandboxes may take several minutes for large bases.
Click the … icon next to your sandbox’s name.
Click Go to sandbox.
Changes to fields, relationships, views*, automations, and interfaces must be made in your base’s sandbox and cannot be made in production when a sandbox is created.
While data can be viewed and edited in production, the production experience becomes similar to being an editor—meaning options to edit a base structure—like adding a new field, are not available.
Note
Views are treated differently when App sandbox is enabled. Personal and collaborative views can be created and edited in production, but locked views can only be created, edited, and deleted in App sandbox.
Viewing and applying changes made to your base while using App sandbox
App sandbox allows you to review a list of changes made in your sandbox and the ability to apply those changes back to production.
To review changes made to your base while using App sandbox:
Open your Airtable homepage.
Open the base with App sandbox enabled.
Click on your base’s name.
Click the … icon next to your sandbox’s name.
Click Go to sandbox.
Click Review changes.
To apply changes from your sandbox to production:
Open your Airtable homepage.
Open the base with App sandbox enabled.
Click on your base’s name.
Click the … icon next to your sandbox’s name.
Click Go to sandbox.
Click Review changes.
Click Apply changes.
Note
To select individual changes click the double arrow icon in the right hand corner, then select the individual changes you want to publish.
Using views in App sandbox
Personal, collaborative, and locked views behave differently than production when App sandbox is enabled.
How are personal views different when App sandbox is enabled?
Note
Personal views do not appear in your base’s sandbox, and new personal views cannot be created in your base’s sandbox.
App sandbox cannot be enabled for bases with personal views that are dependencies like automation trigger or view filter—it will fail when attempting to enable the App sandbox.
When App sandbox is enabled for a base, personal views can be created, edited, deleted, and reordered in production—not in your base’s sandbox.
Colleagues who are not builders making changes in your base’s sandbox can continue using personal views while you are making larger changes in your base’s sandbox.
How are collaborative views different when using App sandbox?
Note
Collaborative views can only be deleted in sandbox
When the App sandbox is enabled for a base, you can create, edit, and reorganize collaborative views in both your base’s sandbox and production experience.
How are locked views different when using App sandbox?
Note
Creating, editing, deleting, and reorganizing locked views in production is unavailable while App sandbox is enabled.
When App sandbox is enabled for a base, you must create, unlock and reorganize locked views in your base’s sandbox.
Using automations in App sandbox
How are automations different when using App sandbox?
Automations function in similar ways while using the App sandbox as they do in bases without the App sandbox enabled, with one key difference: When an automation contains any actions that send notifications (e.g., emails or Slack messages) or integrate with external systems—like Jira or Salesforce—all actions in that automation are "skipped," meaning that they do not run automatically.
How do I ensure my automations work in my base’s sandbox as they do in production?
You can run automations in your sandbox in their entirety—including sending notifications and data to external systems—by using the "Test automation" functionality. When you manually test an automation in your sandbox, all actions run, even when sending notifications or data to external systems.
Alternatively, you can configure an automation to run in its entirety by toggling the "Skip actions in sandbox" toggle off when viewing that automation in the “Automations” tab. The toggle can be found immediately below the Automation's trigger.
Which automation actions are skipped when using App sandbox?
Run script (Scripts may integrate with external systems)
Send email
Send Slack message
Send Microsoft Teams message
Append row to Google Sheet
Create response to Google Form
Create or update an event in Google Calendar
Create or update a Google Doc
Create or update an issue in JIRA
Create or update a record in Salesforce
Post a tweet to Twitter/X
Create a post on a Facebook page
Create or update an event in Microsoft Outlook
Schedule a post with HootSuite
Create or update an issue in GitHub
Send a SMS with Twilio
Deleting App sandbox in Airtable
Workspace Creators can delete your base’s sandbox for any base in that workspace. When App sandbox is removed, production reverts to normal base behavior so that bases can be edited in production again.
After deleting your sandbox, all changes—including unpublished changes—are moved to your workspace trash. While those changes can be restored from your workspace trash as a separate base, they are not restored as a sandbox of the base they were previously associated with.
To delete App sandbox:
Open your Airtable homepage.
Open the base with App sandbox enabled.
Click on your base’s name.
Click the … icon next to your sandbox’s name.
Click Delete sandbox, then Delete sandbox a second time to confirm.
FAQs
Can more than 1 sandbox exist for the same base simultaneously?
No. App sandbox only supports 1 sandbox per base. When App sandbox is enabled for a base, the existing version of the base is referred to as "Production," and builders with access to both sandbox and production can freely move between their production and sandbox.
Does my sandbox have the same collaborators as my production experience?
Yes— workspace collaborators are the same while base collaborators are not.
Your sandbox exists in the same workspace as the production experience, and workspace collaborators have the same access to your sandbox as they do in production. Additional collaborators can be added to your sandbox without needing to be added to production.
Can I share my base through the sandbox experience?
No. Sharing Builders can only manage sharing—including things like shared view links—in production, even when App sandbox is enabled.
How does applying changes to views made in my sandbox affect my production experience?
Sandbox changes overwrite corresponding view settings in production.
Changes are applied at the granular level of view name, description, column order, filter, sort, grouping, color, and view section location.
For example, updating the filter setting in your sandbox overwrites the filter setting in production but does not impact your sort setting.
How is changing a field type different when App sandbox is enabled?
Note
While these features are currently unsupported using App sandbox, they will be supported in the future.
Airtable typically allows builders to change any field type to another field type and will attempt to convert any existing data to the new type. When App sandbox is enabled, the following field type changes are not supported:
Changing field types from any linked record, formula, rollup, count, lookup, created time, last modified time, created by, last modified by, autonumber, and button types to any other field type.
Changing field types from any non-linked record type to a linked record type.
Changing field types from any field that is not single select or multiple select to either single select or multiple select field types.
Changing field types from any single select or multiple select to any single line text, long text, attachment, checkbox, multiple select, single select, user, date, phone number, email, URL, number, currency, percent, duration, rating, or barcode types.
What Airtable features are not supported when App sandbox is enabled?
Note
You can use App sandbox with bases that use the features noted below, but making changes that involve these features is unsupported.
Making changes to extensions, Gantt views, and AI-linked record matching in linked record fields is not supported when the App sandbox is enabled.
How is two-way sync impacted when App sandbox is enabled?
Two-way sync tables are static and read-only in your base’s sandbox when the App sandbox is enabled.