Creating a project in Airtable

Last modification: 2025-04-23 (View source)

Goal

To understand how a project can be set up in Airtable in a convenient way to track project requests and progress.

Creating linked tables

We will create three tables:

  1. projects – A table to track projects.
  2. tasks – A table to list tasks for each project.

We’ll link tasks to projects so each task is associated with a specific project.

Step 1: Create a New Base

  1. Open Airtable and click “Add a base” (or choose an existing base).
  2. Name it “project_management”.

Step 2: Create the “projects” Table

  1. In the base, rename the first table to “projects”.
  2. Set up the following columns (fields):
    • project_name (single line text) → Primary field
    • start_date (date field, ISO format YYYY-MM-DD)
    • status (single select: “requested”, “not_started”, “in_progress”, “completed”, set _default value* to “requested”).

Step 3: Create the “tasks” Table

  1. Click "+ Add or Import" and choose “Create empty table”.
  2. Rename it to “tasks”.
  3. Set up the following columns:
    • task_name (single line text) → Primary field
    • due_date (date field, ISO format YYYY-MM-DD)
    • assigned_to (single line text or collaborator field)
  1. In the “tasks” table, click the "+" next to the last column to add a new field.
  2. Choose “Linked Record”.
  3. Select “projects” as the table to link to.
  4. Name the field “project”.

✅ Now each task can be assigned to a project!

Step 5: Add Data

  1. Go to the projects table and add some sample projects:
    • “website_redesign”, “marketing_campaign”, “new_product_launch”.
  2. Switch to the tasks table and add tasks, selecting a project from the linked field.

Step 6: View the Linked Data

  • In the projects table, Airtable automatically creates a tasks field showing related tasks.
  • Clicking a project_name in the tasks table opens the linked record.

Bonus: Create a Kanban View for Tasks

  1. In the tasks table, click "+ Add View" → Select Kanban.
  2. Choose “project” as the grouping field.
  3. Now you can visually organize tasks by project!

Bonus: Create a Calendar View for Tasks

A calendar view helps visualize deadlines and due dates for tasks. Follow these steps to set it up:

  1. Go to the “tasks” table.
  2. Click "+ Add View" (on the left panel).
  3. Select “Calendar” as the view type.
  4. Airtable will ask which date field to use—choose “due_date”.
  5. Click “Create” to generate the calendar view.

✅ Now, all tasks with a due_date will appear in a calendar format, making it easy to track deadlines! 🚀

🎉 That’s it! You’ve successfully linked two tables in Airtable using snake_case field names.

Add team organisation to the project

Step 1: Create the “projects” Table

  1. Go to your Airtable Base to update the “projects”.
  2. Add the following fields:
    • “status” (Single select: Options → “Not Started”, “In Progress”, “Completed”)
    • “assigned” (Linked Record → Links to “team_members” table)

Step 2: Create the “team_members” Table

  1. Create another table named “team_members”.
  2. Add the following fields:
    • “name” (Single line text)
    • “email” (Email format)
  1. In the “projects” table, find the “assigned” field.
  2. Click the field type and choose Linked Record.
  3. Select “team_members” as the linked table.
  4. Now, you can assign a team member to each project.

Bonus Step: Create a View to Easily See Which Team Member Has Which Project

To make it easy to distinguish which team member is assigned to each project, follow these steps:

1. Create a New “Team Projects” View

  1. In the “projects” table, click the “Views” button in the top-left corner.
  2. Click "+ Create a Grid View" and name it “team_projects_view”.

2. Group Projects by Assigned Team Member

  1. Click the “Group” button in the toolbar.
  2. Select “assigned” as the grouping field.
  3. Now, projects will be grouped under each assigned team member!

3. Customize for Clarity

  • Hide unnecessary fields (e.g., click the “Hide fields” button and deselect columns that aren’t needed).
  • Sort by “due_date” so upcoming projects appear first.
  • Optionally, color-code projects by “status” to visually track progress.

✅ Done! Now, every project can have an assigned team member and a status to track progress. 🚀

Setting Up a Form for Project Entry in Airtable**

This guide will walk you through setting up a form in Airtable that allows users to submit new project entries, including assigning a team member.

Step 1: Create a New Form

On the top or Airtable, next to the project name, are four tabs:

  • Data (where the tables are)
  • Automations
  • Interfaces
  • Forms

Step 2: Add a new form

Click on the little + sign in the left sidebar to initiate a new form.

Step 3: Connect form to table

Connect the form to the projects table, and give the form a name. “Request for new team project”.

Step 4: Add and Configure Fields

Airtable will automatically include all fields from the “projects” table in the form. You can customize them as follows:

Project Name

  • Ensure the “project_name” field is visible.
  • This field will capture the name of the project.
  • Formulate the field as a question, rather than the field name as we see it in the data.

Start Date & Due Date

  • The fields “start_date” and “due_date” fields are for internal tracking, and should not be in the form.
  • Delete them from the form.

Status

  • “status” is also an internal tracker.
  • If it’s a single select field, users can choose from options like:
  • Delete if from the form.

4. Assigned Team Member

  • “assigned” is also for internal tracking.
  • Delete if from the form.

5. Project Description (Optional)

  • Add a “long text” field for additional details about the project.
  • This helps users provide a brief project summary.

Step 4: Customize Form Settings

  1. Click on each field to edit its label (if necessary) without changing the field name.
  2. Toggle “Required” for fields that must be filled in before submission (e.g., project name, due date).
  3. Reorder the fields by dragging them to match your preferred layout.

Step 5: Share the Form

  1. Click “Share form” at the top.
  2. Copy the form link and share it with your team.

Bonus step

Try requesting a new project through your own form, and see what happens.

✅ Done! Your New Project Submission Form is now ready! Users can enter new projects and assign them to team members with ease.

Automating Random Team Member Assignment & Email Notification in Airtable**

This guide will help you set up an Airtable automation that does the following:
✅ Assigns a random team member to a new project when a form is submitted.
✅ Sends an email notification to the assigned team member.

Step 1: Open the Automations Panel

  1. Go to your Airtable base where the “projects” and “team_members” tables exist.
  2. Click "+ Create automation" and rename it to “Auto-Assign Team Member”.

Step 2: Set the Trigger (When a New Form is Submitted)

  1. Click “Choose a trigger” and select “When a form is submitted”.
  2. Select the form view you created for project submissions.
  3. Click “Test trigger” to confirm Airtable detects a new submission.

Step 3: Find a Random Team Member

  1. Click "+ Add action" and choose “Find records”.
  2. Select the “team_users” table.
  3. Set filter conditions:
    • Ensure all active team members are considered (e.g., if you have an “active” field, filter for active members).
  4. Under “Sort by”, choose “Random” (Airtable will return a random record).
  5. Limit results to 1 record to select a single random team member.
  6. Click “Test action” to confirm a random team member is retrieved.

Step 4: Update the Project with the Assigned Team Member

  1. Click "+ Add action" and select “Update record”.
  2. Choose the “projects” table.
  3. Under “Record ID”, insert the record from the form submission (Step 2).
  4. In the “assigned” field, insert the record ID from the random team member (Step 3).
  5. Click “Test action” to confirm that a team member is assigned.

Step 5: Send an Email Notification to the Assigned Team Member

  1. Click "+ Add action" and select “Send an email”.

  2. In the “To” field, insert the email of the assigned team member from Step 3.

  3. Customize the subject:

    • “You’ve been assigned a new project!”

  4. Customize the message:

    Hello {team_member_name},

You have been assigned a new project: "{project_name}".

Start Date: {start_date}
Due Date: {due_date}
Status: {status}

Please check Airtable for details.

Thanks,
The Team

    Where you see the {} you should enter dynamic input from the data. You do this by clicking the blue + button in the message field, and navigating to the information you want to enter.

  5. Click “Test action” to confirm that an email is sent.

Step 6: Enable the Automation

  1. Click “Turn on automation”.
  2. Submit a test form to ensure everything works!

Try submitting another request and see if your automation works.

✅ Done! Now, every time a new project is submitted, a random team member will be assigned and notified automatically. 🎉