We plan to have all of our employees use Airtable which includes 1 Director, 2 Assistant Directors, 4 Administrative Assistants, 1 Office Facilitator, 1 IT Assistant, 3 Site Managers, 1 Occupational Nurse, and 8 Instructors. We are a non-profit training school for Construction Craft Laborers so Airtable allows us to keep track of our classes, our schedules, our documentation, and our staff and student information in one place, and it also updates in real time for all of us to see. We rely heavily on the Calendar and Grid views to see and keep track of our data. This platform has allowed us to work digitally rather than in paper files which saves us tons of time and money while incorporating an easier way to communicate and collaborate as an organization.
Pros
Airtable is incredibly customizable. Its vast selection of fields and features almost guarantees its ability to meet any need. The tutorials are also helpful in teaching you how to use these features in a multitude of ways. Airtable is constantly updating and improving these features as well.
Airtable is perfect for collaboration. Airtable's ability to update in real time works excellently for collaborators who frequently edit and update tables. Having the history option also makes it easy to track changes, and it gives you the option to communicate with collaborators within the records themselves. Furthermore, Its notification features alert collaborators to specific records that need attention. You will never lose or overlook information in Airtable.
Airtable is visually appealing. Unlike Excel or any other spreadsheet platform, Airtable makes it easy to change the way the data is viewed so that the information is much easier to read and interpret. The variety of view types enables collaborators with different preferences to see and manipulate the same data at the same time. The colors, fonts, and general look of the tables, bases, and workspaces enhance the experience immensely.
Cons
The Calendar view should include a single-day and a 1-week view options in addition to the 2-week and monthly views. Our organization adds many events over the same dates and we cannot view them for a single date given the current options.
The Calendar view should also include a way to see more information on a single Event. For our purposes, I want to see both columns 1 and 2 displayed in the calendar view so I can see the name of the Event and the staff member we have attached to the Event. It would be nice if we could select how much and which information to display on the Calendar view.
Lists. There should be a Lists field option where you can add multiple new "items" (names for our purpose) and it will add up the number of items on the list and display that information (or have a lookup feature for that information). We would like to then be able to use a function to subtract the number of items on that list from our maximum allowed (in a separate numbers column) to see the number of items (names) we have available.
For the Checklists feature, it would be useful to see how many check boxes in a record have been marked complete out of the number of check boxes there are total. We want to be able to link that information to another table to track how complete a record is and/or how many check boxes have not yet been completed.
I would like it if we could set a default time for dates. For example, most of our Events fall from 8am to 4:30pm. I would like to be able to set a default so that those times are automatically loaded in Events so I don't have to use the incredibly long drop down menu every time I create an Event.
I want the ability to wrap text for the Header row only. I want to be able to see the entire title of the column without having to have a very long column width for the entire table.
I wish collaborators could filter views without effecting everyone else's filters. Each person should be able to create their own views and filters while also having the option for communal views/filters.
I want the option to give a collaborator with Read-Only status the ability to view only records that are looked to that specific collaborator. We use Airtable for scheduling and we don't necessarily want everyone to see everyone else's schedules. This would be the decision of the Owner(s).
Likelihood to Recommend
Airtable works well for us since we are able to each update records from our separate computers/devices and the rest of us can see and track the changes instantly. The communication features are incredibly convenient and efficient, especially since we have many co-workers who travel often. The app for cell phones allows us to keep in contact and have the information available at all times. The attachments option has been very helpful in this instance, since it stores documents that are specific to these records without clogging up everyone's emails. Although, it does link to Slack (which we use as a company) and email, as well.
