Airtable

An Airtable step writes each response as a record in an Airtable table: one record per response, one field per answer. It’s available on every plan.

Connect Airtable

Go to Integrations, pick Airtable, and sign in. Airtable then asks which bases Nextforms may use:

• Everything you have access to includes bases you create later.
• Custom access limits the connection to the bases you pick. A base you add later needs a reconnect.

Nextforms can read and write records and fields in those bases. Airtable’s screen says the connection may also delete records; that comes with the write permission, and Nextforms never deletes anything.

One connection per Airtable account is enough for every form on your team.

Add the step

In a workflow, add an Airtable step and pick the connection. Choose the base, then the table:

• Create a new table: name it and it goes in that base. It gets a field for each question, with the right type, and the step is mapped to them.
• Choose existing: pick a table in the base. Questions are matched to fields with the same name.

A new table starts with Response (the response number, like #12) as its first field, and Response link beside it. Airtable’s first field has to be text, so the link has its own field.

Nextforms can create tables, but not bases. If the base list is empty, create a base in Airtable first and click refresh.

Map answers to fields

Each row sends a value to one field of the table. The value can be an answer, a variable (like the response link or number), or text around them.

• A field is remembered by Airtable’s own id, so renaming or moving it in Airtable is fine.
• Not in Airtable yet. Create appears on a row whose field doesn’t exist. Create opens a dialog with the name and type; nothing changes in Airtable until you confirm it.
• Add N missing questions adds a row for every question the step doesn’t send yet. Rows find their field by name.

Nextforms only changes your table when you create it or click Create. Runs only add records. One side effect: if an answer isn’t one of a select field’s options yet, Airtable adds it as a new option, so the response doesn’t fail.

How answers are written

Question	Airtable field
Text Input	Single line text, or Long text for a multi-line question
Address	Long text
Email, Phone, Website	Email, Phone number, URL
Number, Calculated	Number
Rating	Rating (up to 10, starting at 1), otherwise Number
Date	Date, or Date and time when the question asks for a time
Yes/No	Checkbox
Multiple Choice	Single select, or Multiple select when several answers can be picked
Country	Single select, with the country’s English name
File Upload, Signature	Attachment
Database choice	Link to another record, or Single line text with the picked titles

In a new table, or from a row’s Create, a Database choice question that picks from a table in the same base gets a Link to another record field pointing at that table, and each response links the records that were picked. Airtable adds the matching field to that table, so it lists the responses for each record. A question that picks from another base, Notion or Google Sheets gets a text field with the titles, because Airtable only links within one base. You can also map the question to a link field you made yourself, as long as it points at the question’s table: if it points at another one, the row says so, and a run leaves the link off. A link field takes only a Database choice answer.

Any text field can take any answer. Times are read in your team’s time zone, set under Settings → Team, and a date-and-time field created by Nextforms shows times in that zone.

Uploaded files

Files from an upload question, and the image of a signature, are attached to the record. Airtable downloads each file from a private link that stops working after an hour, and keeps its own copy.

A file that’s no longer available, for example because its response was deleted, is left off. The record is still written, and the run shows Left off with the file’s name.

The same goes for a linked record: one that was deleted in Airtable after it was picked is left off, and the run says so.

When a response is edited

A response sent back for changes runs the workflow again. The step can:

• Update its record (the default): the record written for the earlier version gets the new answers. Only the mapped fields change, so anything your team added by hand stays. The Response field shows the new version’s number.
• Add a new record: every version gets its own record.

If the earlier record was deleted, or the step now points at another table, a new record is written.

Offer rows as options

The same connection can feed a form too: a Database choice question offers the rows of an Airtable table as its options, kept up to date. Map it to a Link to another record field and each response is linked to the records that were picked.

Repeating groups

A repeating group goes in as one text value, or as a record per row in a table of its own, linked to the response. Set that up under the group’s name in the step.

When a run fails

The run shows the reason. The common ones:

• The base isn’t given to the connection: reconnect Airtable in Integrations and include the base.
• A mapped field was deleted in Airtable: open the step and pick another field, or create it again.
• A value doesn’t fit the field, such as text in a Number field: change the field type or map another answer.
• The connection needs reconnecting: access to Nextforms was removed in Airtable. The connection is paused and you get an email, and runs wait instead of failing. Reconnect it in Integrations, then release the waiting runs from the workflow’s runs.

After fixing it, retry the step from the run. See Runs and fixing failures.