Hello everyone,
We’re excited to announce the Beta release of the Airtable plugin! This latest plugin for Bubble, by Bubble, can be used to pull data from Airtable into your Bubble applications, as well as update Airtable records from Bubble workflows. The ideal use case for this plugin is to supplement your Bubble application with Airtable data, or vice versa. You can create, modify, or delete Airtable records, as well as use Airtable records as data in in your elements or your actions.
Note that this does not replace the Bubble backend. For example, you’ll need to use the Bubble database if you want users to be able to create an account, log in and log out, or want your app to have real-time updates and autobinding. Using Bubble with Airtable will let you add some custom logic and event-based workflows on top of the data that lives in Airtable. For ideas of how you can get the most out of this plugin, here are three (out of many) great ways to take advantage of this latest integration:
Example Use Cases
1. Use Bubble workflow operations to contribute to an Airtable Base
Take all the power of Bubble’s workflow operations, and save the results of your logic to Airtable. If you use Airtable for collaborative projects at work or as a hobby, this could be a great way to automate work, provide a UI for complex operations, and really take advantage of the complexity offered by no-code platforms today!
Here are the actions you can access after installing the plugin:
And how you would create a record:
2. Taking Inventory
The Airtable mobile app allows you to scan barcodes with your phone and load them directly into your Barcode fields. You can then use this information in your Bubble application to take inventory, match products to barcodes, place orders, and more!
3. Merge existing Airtable data with Bubble Things
If you’re new to Bubble but a seasoned Airtable user, or you’ve been a long-time user of both without a way to connect the two, the Airtable plugin provides an easy way to enrich your Bubble data with existing Airtable data. You can pull data directly from Airtable, and save it to your Bubble Things as you see fit.
Getting Started
To get started with the Airtable plugin, follow these steps:
- Install the Airtable Plugin in the Plugins tab of the editor.
- Provide your Airtable API Key. To find this key, log into your Airtable account and navigate to Sign in - Airtable. Your API Key is here:
- Add a base in the Bubble plugins panel. To do so, click “Add another Base” and fill out the Base Name and ID. To find your Base ID, navigate to Airtable Web API and select the Base you want. Once you’re on the Base’s API page, your Base ID can be found here:
There is an option to use a different API Key - this can remain unchecked unless you want to use Bases from multiple Airtable accounts.
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Configure your Table information
a. Fill out your Table name - it must be an exact match with your Table name in Airtable.
b. Make sure your Table has a view in Airtable matching the “View name” field in Bubble.
c. Select the permissions you want to allow for your Table data.
d. Before initializing your Table, make sure that you have at least one filled-out value for each of your columns in Airtable. When we initialize your fields in Bubble, the Airtable API will not return fields where every row is blank.
e. Initialize your Table and confirm that the data types have been configured correctly for each field. If you have linked records in your Airtable fields, you must select which Table the link is for before saving your schema.
And that’s it! You’re ready to use Airtable data in Bubble. If you’re having trouble getting the plugin to work, check out the FAQs on our full documentation. Since this is the Beta release, please file a support ticket here, and we will address it as soon as possible.
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