Airtable can serve as a collection, allowing you to create Dynamic Pages (see Dynamic Content: Dynamic Pages) as well as enhance regular pages. Using a collection on a regular page is similar to how Connected Data is used with the site's Business Info (see Dynamic Content: Collections for Regular Pages). For more information on Connected Data with Business Info, see Dynamic Content: Business Info, Text, and Images.
For an overview on Collections and formatting guidelines, see Dynamic Content: Collections.
Warning
Effective February 1st, 2024, API keys will be completely phased out. At this time, collections that have not had the API key switched to a personal access token may encounter disruptions (for instructions, see the section Update an Existing Collection's API Key with a Personal Access Token in this article).
|
Internal Collections |
Google Sheets |
Airtable |
External |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Collection Number per Site |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
|
A single collection's data |
N/A |
20MB |
20MB |
20MB |
|
Rows |
500 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Fields (columns) |
50 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
|
Collection name character limit |
50 |
50 |
50 |
50 |
|
Field name character limit |
50 |
50 |
50 |
50 |
|
Page item URL character limit |
350 |
350 |
350 |
350 |
|
Text field character limit |
5000 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Inner collection Rows |
Not supported |
Not supported |
Supported |
N/A |
|
Image Collection |
Supported |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Update data |
Site/content library publish |
Automatically |
Automatically every hour |
Automatically every hour |
Note
Airtable made changes to their attachment URL (URLs for images uploaded directly in Airtable) causing them to expire after two hours. Website Builder is not affected by this change since it pulls data from Airtable on an hourly basis.
|
Data Type |
Corresponding Airtable Field(s) |
Examples |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Plain Text |
|
Welcome to my dentist office. |
Standard text, can be used for widgets such as title tags and text widgets. Notes on Airtable fields:
|
|
Rich Text |
Rich Text and Long Text |
Welcome to my dentist office. |
Airtable's built-in rich text formatting is not supported. To include rich text elements, use HTML tags instead. For example, to add bold text, use the <b> tag: <b>Bold Text</b> |
|
Image |
Attachment (when uploading an image in Airtable) OR URL (when using an image's link) |
https://irp.cdn-website.com/tr59jkwo/dms3rep/multi/name.jpg (when using the URL field in Airtable) |
The editor's Data Type, Image, only supports a single image. To upload an image in the editor and obtain its URL:
The image should open in a new tab with it's URL in the browser's address bar. |
|
Link |
URL |
Example: https://goo.gl/maps/F81HPm4CBTQSTsJ5A |
Pages will result in a 404 error if the URL contains a space at the beginning or end. |
|
Number |
Number |
10,000 |
After selecting the Number Data Type, click Format to format the number. |
|
Date & Time |
Text |
2021-10-06 16:12:00 |
Format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:SS For a complete list of date and time formats and how they display, see Class DateTimeFormatter.
This field can be used for sorting when using the filters or sort functionality in the Connected Data pop-up. |
|
Business Hours |
Text |
SAT, SUN: 08:00-20:00; THU, FRI: 08:00-12:00; |
- |
|
Location |
Text |
846 Kerry Way, 90017, CA, Los Angeles, US |
Format: streetAddress, postalCode, region, city, country |
|
Video |
URL or Text |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EsYwAKxAFU |
Vimeo, YouTube, and Dailymotion videos are supported (videos uploaded to the editor, aren't able to be added in Collections). The following formats must be used:
|
|
|
Email or Text |
email@email.com |
- |
|
Phone |
Phone number or Text |
123456789 |
- |
|
Social Accounts |
Value |
email: my@gmail.com; whatsapp: 123456; facebook: Website Builder |
Format must be: name: value; name: value; Supported social networks: email, whatsapp, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, linkedin, yelp, pinterest, waze, vimeo, snapchat, reddit, tripadvisor, foursquare, rss. |
|
Multi-Select |
Multi Select |
- |
After defining the field as Multi Select, click Options to add options. Each row in the collection can be assigned one or more of the options you created. This field can be used to filter the displayed collection in widgets, such as photo gallery, list, accordion, and custom widgets that connect to collections. |
|
Inner Collection |
Attachment |
- |
Images added through Airtable. |
To connect an Airtable collection:
-
In the left panel, click Content, click Collections, and then click + New Collection.
-
Click Airtable.
-
Enter your Airtable Access Token and Example URL provided by Airtable.
-
Click Import Fields.
-
Define the correct data type for each field.
-
Click Connect Spreadsheet.
-
Define the correct data type for each field.
-
Click Continue.
Note
Due to API limitations, Website Builder will not import fields that do not have content in the first 10 rows.
To obtain a Personal Access Token:
-
Visit Airtable's page, Personal access token (if you are not already signed into Airtable, you will be prompted to do so).
-
Once on the Personal access tokens page, click Create token.
-
Enter in a name for the token.
-
In the Scopes section, click + Add a scope and select data.records:read (See the data in records).
-
In the Access section, click + Add a base and select the All current and future bases in all current and future workspaces option located under All Workspaces.
-
Click Create token.
-
Click the copy button located next to the token.
-
Return to the editor and paste the token into the Access Token field.
To obtain the collection's Example URL:
-
Visit Airtable's page, API Reference (if you are not already signed into Airtable, you will be prompted to do so).
-
Once on the API Reference page, scroll down and select the desired collection.
-
In the side panel, click Authentication.
-
In the Curl tab, copy the link under EXAMPLE.
-
Return to the editor and paste it in the Example URL field.
-
In the side panel, click Content, then click Collections.
-
Click to open the Airtable collection.
-
Click +Add Field.
-
Select the data type from the Data Type drop down menu and type the name of the field in the Field Name space.
-
Click Refresh Data.
The new column appears in the available fields when connecting a widget.
When using Airtable collections, the row order may appear random due to an API limitation on Airtable's side. Filters and sorting in Airtable are not recognized.
To manage the display order of collections in the editor, you can use the following methods:
-
Filter & Sort Function: Utilize the Filter & Sort function within the Collection Display Widget (such as the Photo Gallery Widget or List Widget) to sort by Ascending or Descending order. For detailed information, see the Filter & Sort Function.
Note
Collections can only be sorted in Ascending or Descending order. For this method, the Airtable collection would need to have a column or field that can be sorted in this way. If it doesn’t, this method will not work, and adjusting the example URL will be necessary to maintain the desired order.
-
Adjust the Example URL: If the records will be listed in the navigation, you can specify the Airtable View name in the example URL to maintain the desired order. This adjustment will also ensure the records are in the desired order for Collection Display Widgets. For more information, see Airtable Support or the section below, Adjust the Example URL
When connecting to a Collection Display Widget (such as the Photo Gallery Widget or List Widget; see Collection Display Widgets for more information), you can sort the collection to display in Ascending or Descending order.
To sort:
-
If the desired Collection Display Widget is not already placed on the site, add it to the page where you want it to exist.
-
Right-click on the widget to open the settings menu, and click Connect to Data.
-
If the widget already exists: right-click on the widget, hover over Connected Data, and select Change Connection.
-
-
If adding a new widget, select the collection from the Connect to drop-down menu. (Skip this step if the widget already exists.)
-
To sort:
-
Click +Add sort.
-
Click into the Sort by drop down list to select the field/column to sort by.
-
Click into the Order drop down list to select the order (Ascending or Descending)
The following are other options available as well:
-
Display. Select the number of items you want to display (for example, All, or 2).
-
Fixed Filters. The fixed filter will filter will display the records from the connected connection with the exact term entered.
-
Dynamic Filters. The dynamic filter maps 2 fields from 2 different collections (Dynamic page & Widget) to dynamically present the widget content.
-
To add the view, after the example URL is added, add ?view=View Name. The view name is case sensitive and should be typed exactly how it's written in Airtable.
Warning
Deleting or changing the view name after importing the collection will break the connection.
The following is an example of the URL before adding the view name:
https://api.airtable.com/v0/appbiL1pCyvFcW8WG/Feedback%20Session?view=Main%20View
The following is an example of the URL after adding the view name:
https://api.airtable.com/v0/appbiL1pCyvFcW8WG/Feedback%20Session?view=Main View
For more information on adding the view name to the URL, see the video below:
To update an existing collection’s API with a Personal Access Token:
-
In the left panel, click Content, click Collections, and then the desired Airtable collection.
-
Click Collection Settings located towards the bottom.
-
In the Access Token field, replace the API Key with a personal access token. The step can be found in the editor; for detailed instructions see the Personal Access Token section in this article.
-
Select the data type from the Data Type drop down menu and type the name of the field in the Field Name space.
-
Click Refetch Collection.
-
Click Done.