The primary field
  • 05 Mar 2024
  • 1 Minute to read
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The primary field

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    Light
  • PDF

Article Summary

Plan availability

All plan types

Platform(s)

Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app

Related reading

Airtable terminology

Primary field - The primary field is always the first column, or field, in any table. It represents a description of each record in the table and cannot be deleted, moved, or hidden. 

Accessing and editing primary fields

Airtable fields contain 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. This article details the primary field and how to use it effectively to improve your team and organization's work. 

To access and edit a primary field:

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2.  Open your desired base.

  3.  Click the primary field's field header. 

  4.  Select Edit field and click Save.

Changing primary fields 

To change a primary fields:

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage

  2. Open your desired base. 

  3. Click the primary field's field header. 

  4. Click Change primary field

  5. Click the dropdown arrow under "Primary field" and select your desired primary field.

  6. Click Change primary field

Duplicating information in primary fields 

To create a new field storing your current primary field's information:

Note

If you plan on editing the field type but still need what's currently stored there, we recommend creating a new field to host that information.

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your desired base.

  3. Click the primary field's field header. 

  4. Select Duplicate field. 

    1. Allowing you to duplicate the name, cells, or both.

Supported field types in the primary field 

Airtable currently supports customizing primary fields as the following field types:

  • Single line text

  • Long text

  • Date

  • Phone number

  • Email

  • URL

  • Number

  • Currency

  • Percent

  • Duration

  • Formula

  • Autonumber

  • Barcode

Related video content

FAQs

Can I use formulas in the primary field?

If your table requires more than a single primary field, change the primary field to a formula type and update the name of each record using values from the other fields in your table. You can read Using a formula in the primary field to learn more.


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