How to Comment in Airtable

Making comments in Airtable allows for effective communication on changes, issues, and effortless collaboration with others. If you need to know how to comment directly and indirectly on records and attachments, you’ve landed on the right page.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add comments to records via desktop and mobile, comment on attachments, and how to receive comment notifications on any records you’re following.

How to Comment on Airtable

First of all, to be able to make comments you need to be a collaborator on a base with either commenter, editor, or creator permissions. Follow the steps below to add a comment to a conversation.

To leave a comment on a record, from the Airtable dashboard:

1. Access the applicable base, then go to the record you want to comment on.
   
2. At the top left-hand corner of the record entry, you will see either:
   • A circled number of the total number of comments inside that record.
     
   • Or an expand icon when there are no comments.
     
3. Click on the number/expand icon to access the details in the record.
4. On the right-hand side, at the bottom of the Activity Feed, begin typing in the comment box, then hit Enter to add your comment.
   
   

To add a direct comment:

To @mention (alert) your fellow collaborators, repeat the steps above, then at the comment box:

• Either select the @ symbol found at the bottom right-hand corner or type it.
• Select the person you wish to send the comment to from the list displayed.
• Type your message, then hit Enter to send.

A cool thing about @mentioning is not only will the person be notified that you tagged them, but they’ll also know about any other comments you’ve made on that record even without mentioning them.

To delete or edit a previously made comment:

1. Go to the record where the comment you wish to delete or edit resides.
2. Click on the number/expand icon to access the details in the record.
3. At the Activity feed, select the three dots to the right of the comment, then:
   • To edit select Edit comment, type what you wish then Save.
   • To delete select Delete comment, then confirm the deletion.

Commenting on a Record Using Airtable for Mobile

Currently, this feature is only available via IOS. The records in the mobile view are cards as opposed to looking like spreadsheet entries as shown via the desktop view. To comment on one of them:

1. Access the Airtable app and select the base.
   
2. Tap on a record to expand it.
3. Click on the Record Activity icon (two heads and shoulders icon) in the top right-hand corner.
   
4. Tap inside the dialogue box at the bottom where it says Add Comment.
   
5. Begin typing your comment then Send.
   

Again, here you’d send your comment directly to someone by either tapping the @ symbol or typing it, to bring up the collaborator’s name list before typing your comment.

Commenting on Attachments

Adding comments on attachments allows for separate conversation and feedback etc. per attachment. Comments can be made on any file type.

To add an attachment comment, do the following:

1. Access the applicable base, then go to the record.
   
2. At the Attachment column, click on the attachment you wish to comment on to enter the attachment preview.
   
3. The comment box is found at the bottom right-hand corner of the attachment preview.
   
4. Begin typing your comment, then hit ‘Enter’ to send.
   

Just like with record comments, you can send a direct message to someone by entering the @ symbol to add the name[s] before sending the comment. They will be notified of your comment.

Attachment comments are viewable via Airtable Mobile; however, adding a comment is not currently available.

How to Receive Comment Notifications

To receive comment notifications whenever someone comments on a record you’re interested in, you’ll need to set that record to Watching comments. If you only want to be notified whenever someone tags you, there’s no need to do anything. Do the following to set up comment watching:

1. Access the base, then expand the applicable record.
2. At the Activity feed click on the WIFI/RSS feed icon on the right.
3. Select ‘Watching comments.’

Additional FAQs

Is Airtable Free?

There are free plans available with Airtable. For free, you can add as many collaborators and bases as you like, as long as each base doesn’t exceed the record limits (details outlined in the pricing); or you’ll need to upgrade that particular workspace to the paid versions.

What Is an Airtable History?

The record level revision history provides an overview of the changes made to each record, by which user and when overdue; it’s shown in the activity feed of the record.

How Do I Add a Column in Airtable

In Airtable, a column is referred to as a Field. There are two simple ways to add a Field to your base:

• Scroll to the right of your base.

• Click on the ‘+’ button next to the last field.

Then you’ll be able to enter the name of the column and choose the type/style from a list of options e.g. if the field will store attachment files only, select Attachments.

Or:

• Click on the downward icon inside the field name cell.

• Then select ‘Insert right’ or ‘Insert left’ to add a new field to the right or left of that column.

How Do I Use Airtable Filters?

For a simple way to hide records that aren’t relevant to what you want to focus on, follow the steps below based on a fictitious scenario:

From our Job-Hunting base, we want to focus on job leads where the [Action Date], [is after…], [a week from now]. To set a filter like this:

1. Open the applicable base, then select the Filter option.

2. Select Add Filter; here you’ll set the options to filter by.

3. Next to Where; the first field name of the base will be shown click on the downward icon next to that.

4. Select the field name of the column to filter by, in this case, its Action Date.

• Now the ‘Is’ option will be available, select the downward icon and select is after… from the list.

• At ‘Exact Date,’ click on the downward icon to select one week from now.

Those records will display automatically.

How Do You Tag Someone on Airtable?

Tagging/notifying someone can be done by commenting on a record or attachment. By typing or selecting the @ symbol in the comment box. Steps on how to get to the comment box are explained in the add a direct comment section towards the beginning of this article.

How Do I Share a Database in Airtable?

One way would be to create a base share link or read-only view share link.

Note: The share link uses a randomly generated, private URL. Anyone with access to the link will be able to view your content, so use this feature cautiously.

To create a share link for the entire base, including all the tables, do the following:

• Access the applicable base, then click on Share, found towards the top right-hand corner of the screen.

• In the base share dialogue, select Create a shared link to the whole base, found under Shared base link.

• In the drop-down menu, select the Private read-only link option to generate the share link to the base.

When creating a view share link for only a specific view of a table within a base, viewers will not be able to make edits to the records, nor will they see hidden records. Once any changes are made to the information in the records/fields, records/fields are added, or changes made to what’s visible in the view; the viewer will need to refresh their page to see the changes.

To create a view for sharing:

• Access the slide-out menu by clicking on the view switcher; found towards the top left-hand corner, beneath the base tabs.

• Then select Grid under Create a view.

After creating your new view, you’ll have the option to name it, order the records manually or by sorting, show or hide fields and filter out records.

• With your view selected, click on the Share button towards the top right-hand corner.

• Then, click the Share view link button in the view bar to bring up the type of view link options.

Airtable Brings You the Best of Both Worlds

Airtable marries the best of spreadsheets with databases, making it a powerful project management and collaboration tool. Commenting on records and attachments is made easy via its colorful and intuitive layout reminiscent of Excel spreadsheets.

Now that you’ve learned how straightforward commenting in Airtable can be, what do you think about the commenting feature in general? Can you think of any additional places where comments could be useful? Let us know in the comments section below.