Airtable vs. Google Sheets

[@GarethPronovost]

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[@visheshgupta9100]

8:27, I did face this issue, however, a simple fix would be to add another number field, then in the formula you can Multiply the Number Field 1 to Number Field 2. In the number field 2, you can have default inputs, or custom inputs. Works like a charm

[@BBA1994]

Spot on - the "problem" that Gareth is seeing is not really a problem at all - if he wants to multiply a field by a variable amount then he just needs to create a variable field (like Price or Quantity or maybe a variable tax rate for instance) and store the numbers in there. That variable data (the variable number he wishes to use in his formula) should be stored with the record (row) or in another table that is used as source data for the formula.

[@SteveIacobbo]

Good presentation. Explained the differences quickly and clearly.

[@fantom2967]

great man. would love to learn about advanced formulas and use cases in businesses. thanks for video!

[@GarethPronovost]

Sounds good! Tomorrow I'm releasing a video on the top three misuses of Airtable that I see in my client's bases. I think there might be some business use cases in there. I'll work on getting some advanced formula and more business cases going in the near future!

[@fantom2967]

Entrepreneurship by the Numbers awesome! Thanks again!

[@maccamracecar]

I like your style in creation and your presentation skills. You are very clear!

[@GarethPronovost]

Thanks Lonegrowth!

[@ceciliavu6010]

Google Sheets DOES have an audit trail. You’ll have to go and find it, but you can track which person did what and changed what.

[@GarethPronovost]

Great point!

[@gregphilipmusic]

Hi Gareth. Isn’t the drawback you have mentioned a natural consequence of Airtable being a relational database?

[@johnslater8998]

Greg Rochlin That was my thought as well. Although Airtable has a spreadsheet-like view, it’s not a spreadsheet; it’s a database. In Gareth’s example the “limitation” was due to Airtable behaving like a database and not a spreadsheet.

[@osamaidrees88]

Hi there, can you please drop a link to your video in which you have explained task management in airtable?

[@GarethPronovost]

Sure! Check out this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYrNeo1sr5mHkKM

[@gregphilipmusic]

Gareth, I have a question. Can Airtable be used to manage a set of musical items (eg songs) being prepared for a performance? Also I want to create different set-lists for different occasions. Thanks

[@daveict1]

Greg Rochlin, I'm not an Airtable expert but I'm learning fast. I believe the musical file could be stored in a record just like any other file. I think the answer to your question is "yes".

[@kerrykriger]

Organize anything imaginable with Airtable.

[@robmulally]

You can easily fix that formula, Why couldn't you just have a new field with the value , so it's field A X Field B vs field A X 5 ? Why wouldn't that work?

[@ericmakesmusic]

I was about to enter the same comment - should totally work.

[@NicolasMeseth]

@@ericmakesmusic Mee too, that is in my opinion even better because you see directly what the number is multiplied with, and you don't have to go into the formula.

[@Patrickdaawsome]

How would you create a pivot table/summary table?

[@GarethPronovost]

Pivot tables are available in the premium features called APPS. There is a pivot table option there!

[@creative-jammers]

One quick question: how can I separate a multiple line data in one column into multiple row data?

[@GarethPronovost]

Hi Fred, you would need to do this manually I'm afraid - or perhaps build an automation to break it out for you.

[@ProlificOaktree]

I enjoyed your video. Well organized and explained.

[@seplovich1]

Comparing Airtable with Google Sheets is apples to oranges in my.view. How about a comparison against Smartsheets. I just stumbled on Airtable and, so far, all the features you think are exclusive to it are in Smartsheet. I think this is a more apples to apples....Thoughts_

[@GarethPronovost]

Hey Sergio - I haven't used Smartsheets so I'll need to do some research around that. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@curtzeberlein2063]

I've used Smartsheet extensively and I love it, especially for collaboration and you can attach files to rows. It emulates much (if not most) of the things you can do in a spreadsheet system. Its auditing is awesome and sharing sheets with others are free. HUGE Benefit that allows you to share the sheet with others and (with user name and passwords) they can make changes and comments just like a paid user. (of course only in a shared sheet) To me, it's among the best features of SmSht. Not to mention a great viral marketing method for the company. But, when it comes to pure DB functionality, you can't beat Airtable. There are lots of things you just can't do "simply" in Smshts that can be done very easily within Airtable. I've been able to build some great tools in both systems but I tend to fall back on Airtable for most applications I need. In the end, it depends on your needs for which system works the best for you. Of course, you can use Zapier to use both. Question for Gareth, is there a way to allow non-paid identified users to enter or change data in a base while enabling tracking/auditing. There is in the free version, but $24 / month is steep for people that I want to only come in a verify or approve information in a base. Any thoughts or video's you've done on this? Love your Channel BTW. Great stuff!!!

[@BBA1994]

@@GarethPronovost Good clear presentation style - thanks for sharing - by the way you really should do a comparison of smartsheet to airtable - surprised you were not aware of it already as it has been around for quite a long time and is very well established. In particular as a smartsheet user I would like to know the differences between the two as they both are likely to have limitations. Smartsheet has a very strong following so if you do a comparison review it should rank well for you on youtube.

[@daveict1]

Does Airtable have the ability to set user permissions to records like a database does? That would be a critical need if multiple users were using this tool as a database.

[@GarethPronovost]

not at present, but changes to permissions might be coming soon. In the meantime, you might look into stacker.app - these guys built a portal that allows others to log in and access your Airtable database - they have granular permissions that might help solve your need.

[@ilocomocomediaentertainmen7425]

Do you have a course that covers an indepth tutorial on Airtable?

[@kevinkielholz2035]

I think I have a solution for the problem you outline at the end: Just create a field named coefficient and make the formular multiply the date you already have with this new addition field. Seems like a pretty clean solution to me. I even find it cleaner than you 'excel way' because hiding abitrary constants in your formulars seems like an easy way to confuse anyone who's ever going to use your sheet.

[@scottheliker6444]

Hey Gareth. When using this for clients do you create a Workspace for each client and then have their bases within that work space or just create a workspace called clients then have 1 base for each client with multiple tables for their needs within that 1 base? Also, have any templates for coupon redemption for restaurants? Looking to offer deals and have them redeem in FB messenger then API all that info into Airtable and prove RIO on each customer. Appreciate any tips on laying something like that out. Thanks.

[@GarethPronovost]

Hey Scott - glad to be of service! When we work with our clients, most of the time we start a new base inside the "GAP Consulting" Workspace. This is largely due to the fact that each workspace incurs a charge if you want access to 'pro' features, so we build all architecture inside one workspace to access the full functionality available within Airtable blocks. Can't say that I have a template for that exact workflow, but my first reaction would be to create tables as follows: 1. Restaurants (all potential leads and clients in one place) 2. Deals (a deal can be offered to one or more restaurants - this would be a link between the tables) 3. Contacts (another table that links to restaurants that holds data for various points of contact at the different restaurants I think some sort of financial data would need to be tracked in the 'deals' table in order to prove ROI. Regarding the API link via messenger, I would explore how to build that directly to the 'contacts' table and then this data could roll-up into the 'restaurants' table. Hope this helps get the ball rolling!

[@scottheliker6444]

@@GarethPronovost Thanks for getting back. Do you have any ideas on how to make this work? www.useloom.com/share/8999f25d197b451e854302e301e0306b

[@curtzeberlein2063]

@@scottheliker6444 and you just showed me useloom.com, very cool. Thanks

[@nursejoonloves2794]

AMAZING! Thanks for sharing this.

[@imeldaoneill7747]

Thanks! Does Airtable offer calendar alerts for scheduled tasks?

[@GarethPronovost]

Hey Imelda, you're very welcome - thank you for watching! Airtable does not have calendar alerts, unfortunately. However, there is a pretty easy work-around for this. You can create an integration using Zapier (www.zapier.com) to take your events in Airtable and add them to Google Calendar. Google Calendar does have calendar alerts, so that works pretty well - AND it gives you the ability to view your Airtable events next to your other personal calendar.

[@seplovich1]

Smartsheet has all sorts of calendar alerts that are user definable and full integration with Google calendar.

[@katalinarodriguez4881]

Good review. Thank you!

[@GarethPronovost]

Glad you enjoyed it - thanks for watching!

[@jaypo7]

Great review dude, that formula rule is crazy, especially as each record is going to be an individual task?

[@Londya]

great explanation!

[@GarethPronovost]

Thanks Londya! Please let me know if you have any specific things you'd like to see in future videos!

[@billparsons7732]

Age-old question, what if Airtable goes away?

[@GarethPronovost]

Good question. If you're worried about that, you can download CSVs of your data whenever you'd like.

[@billparsons7732]

@@GarethPronovost Thanks Gareth, an obvious solution I overlooked. A pain but better than nothing, thank you.

[@SeasonalParadise]

Hugely helpful thanks.

[@GarethPronovost]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@theyogabios]

Thank you Sir.

[@GarethPronovost]

Happy you enjoyed it!

[@jasocaz]

CAN-BAN Great video, though!

[@GarethPronovost]

Thanks!

[@nobody-u-know]

Ummmm... the biggest difference is that one is ABSOLUTELY FREE, (and more flexible. )

[@GordieGii]

I'm probably the 100th person to say this, but you could add a field called Multiplier.

[@GarethPronovost]

True - although not the same as how a spreadsheet works 🤷‍♂️

[@GordieGii]

@@GarethPronovost Of course. Airtable isn't a spreadsheet. It's a database using a spreadsheet format.

[@GarethPronovost]

@@GordieGii 💯