Another Spreadsheet App?

Are there other options out there? 🤔️️

Google Sheets. Excel.

The two options most folks think about when they want to create a spreadsheet. 🙄But not me. No, no, no.

You see, I’ve been using this platform called Airtable for a month now and I can’t even imagine doing anything in Google Sheets, let alone Excel, any longer. 😊

Airtable is a productivity tool that enables its users to manage spreadsheets.

I know what you’re thinking. 😅

ANOTHER spreadsheet app? What’s the big deal? 👿

To be fair, I’m not in a job that requires the use of either but in terms of organizing data, I have found it useful to utilize spreadsheets in the past to keep track of a variety of different things. However, Google Sheets proved to be far too clunky with a spotty UI for organizing files.

With Airtable, I feel like I can find whatever I need to in a breeze because of how easy it is to access just about any piece of data you’ve stored in it. The interface is seamless across mobile and the web, I can share and export to whatever I want, and I can even sync data with my calendar.

Airtable describes itself as a productivity tool that enables users to > format table rows as tappable cards on mobile; add new columns; attach > files directly to the rows in tables; preview images and documents; > share tables and see changes; connect related data by linking one > record to another; sort, filter, and rearrange columns and rows in a > table; and integrate with existing systems or build additional > functionalities.

So far, I’ve been using Airtable to keep track of deadlines, college courses, mentoring sessions, job applications, test scores, awards, all sorts of things! 🛠

My favorite aspect of Airtable is how easy it is to share everything. If I’m working on a table that involves deadlines, I can send someone a calendar view or just sync my calendar so I know exactly when everything is due (very handy for job apps). 📆

I can send a stand alone link to just view the specific table I’m logging in or all of them at once. Despite the complexity involved throughout the app, the UI makes it easy to navigate and do just about anything without having to reference documentation.Plus, there are so many base templates to choose from! 😲

But what I find interesting about Airtable is that they were able to break into a seemingly boring and crowded market (spreadsheets) and still get tons of users on board because they put the experience of their users first.That’s why Airtable has been able to raise - get this - 10.6M in 3 Roundsfrom 18 Investors. For just some spreadsheet app, that’s quite a bit of moolah. 💰💰💰Now, no app is perfect. I’ve found that in my experience with Airtable that formula-heavy projects probably wouldn’t be suitable for it and I’d be better off using something else.Ergo, if the main purpose of your project is to run calculations (with accounting for example) or test hypothesis (for a business model), then Airtable is probably still too minimal for that kind of work.But for anything else, Airtable powers over the rest every time and remains my tool of choice for anything spreadsheet related! 😉

So stop stressing out over formatting and cell management & just Airtable! 🎉