Airtable sync

Airtable as the source of truth

Keep managing locations in Airtable and let the locator read them. Choose a table, or a view that holds only the records that belong on the map, match its fields to the locator's, and sync by hand or every hour or day. Each record's own id links it to its location, so renaming or re-sorting records never breaks the link, and a record that disappears from the view flags its location for review rather than deleting it.

The engine is the one behind Google Sheets sync: every change is previewed before it applies, and Handled never writes back to the base.

Prepare the table

One record per location, with a name and either a full address or latitude and longitude. Address parts can be separate fields; map each one and the locator assembles them.

• A multiple select or a comma-separated text field for products, services or tiers maps to Categories and becomes the filters. Create the tags in Handled first so the review can match them.
• A formula field that returns an attachment's URL maps to the image. Attachments themselves render as "name (url)" and are not usable directly.
• A view filtered to "Ready for the map" is the cleanest way to keep drafts and closed stores out without deleting them.

Connect

1. 1

   Connect Airtable

   Open Data, find Airtable sync and press Connect Airtable. Sign in, choose the base to share and approve read access. Nothing is written back, ever.
2. 2

   Or paste a token instead

   Where the sign-in button is not offered, make a personal access token at airtable.com/create/tokens with the scopes data.records:read and schema.bases:read and access to the base, then paste it. The token is checked against Airtable and stored encrypted.
3. 3

   Choose base, table and view

   Pick the base, then the table, then a view or Whole table. Press Read fields to see the field names and a few records.
4. 4

   Map fields

   Match your fields to Name, Address, Phone and the rest. The stable id is always the Airtable record id; there is nothing to choose.

Review and schedule

Review sync reads every record and lists what would be created, updated, left unchanged, or held as a conflict. On a first sync into an account that already has locations, records that match an existing location by name and address are linked to it rather than duplicated. Apply the first run by hand; then choose every 15 minutes, hourly or daily.

Limits

• Up to 10,000 records per table.
• Linked records arrive as the primary field of the linked record, which is what Airtable renders. Lookups and rollups arrive as text.
• Territories are not synced from Airtable. Assign them in Handled or through a CSV import.
• Changing the base, table, view or the mapping clears the record links, and the next review links records afresh.