How to Import Records from one Airtable Base to Another

If you are working with multiple Airtable bases, you may find it necessary to copy records from one base to another. In this easy to follow tutorial, we'll show you how to easily achieve this.

To import this data, we'll be using Data Fetcher, an Airtable extension that allows you to easily import data to and from Airtable.

Create Output Base and Table

If you don't already have one, create a new Airtable base and output table for your records to be transferred into.

Install Data Fetcher

Add Data Fetcher to this base from the Airtable marketplace. Data Fetcher lets your import data from other Airtable bases, and dozens of other data sources, for free. Enter a password and click 'Sign up for free' or click 'Continue with Google'. Signing up for an account keeps your details secure. It's separate from your Airtable account.

Import Records from One Airtable Base to Another

On the home screen of the Data Fetcher extension, click 'Create your first request'. Requests in Data Fetcher are how you import data to and from applications or APIs into Airtable.

On the create request screen in Data Fetcher, for Application, select 'Airtable'.

Under Authorization, click 'Authorize'.

You will be taken to a new tab/window where you need to authorize Data Fetcher to access your Airtable account. Add the bases you want Data Fetcher to have access to. We recommend selecting 'All current and future bases in all current and future workspaces' to avoid any unauthorized issues in the future.

For Endpoint, select 'Import all records from a table'.

Give your request a name and click 'Save & Continue'.

For Base, choose the Airtable base you want to import records from.

For Table choose the table you wish to import records from.

If you want to, you can import records from just one Airtable View. (This step is optional.)

For Output Table & View, select the Airtable Table & View you want to import the data into.

Click 'Save & Run'.

Data Fetcher will run the request and the Response field mapping window will open. This is where you can set specific fields to import from one base to another. For any field, you can set whether to map to an existing field or create a new one and choose which field type to create. 

You can use the 'Filter all' button to clear the pre-selected fields, then use the 'Find field' search bar to find the fields you would like to import. For this example, we will import the following fields; 'Id', 'Fields Post topic', 'Fields Copy', 'Fields Status' (map this to a 'Single Select' field, 'Fields Channels' (map this to a 'Multiple Selects' field) and 'Fields Date'.

Click 'Save & Run'.

You'll now see these records have been imported from one Airtable base into another.

If you want to make sure any changes are always synced correctly when the Data Fetcher request is run, you can use any unique field in your table to achieve this. 'ID' is a unique field, as no two IDs will be the same.

In Data Fetcher, open the Advanced settings options and find 'Update Based on Field'. Select your unique field as the Update Based on Field, which in this case is 'ID'.

Automatically Import Records from One Airtable Base to Another

Currently, you'd need to manually run the Data Fetcher request every time you wanted to import any new records from one Airtable base to another. With Data Fetcher's paid version, you can schedule a request to run at regular intervals. To upgrade your account, In Data Fetcher, scroll to Schedule and click 'Upgrade'.

Choose a plan from the different options and enter your payment details.

Back in Data Fetcher, click 'I've done this'.

Under Schedule, switch on Schedule this request.

Select a schedule based on intervals of 'Minutes', 'Hours', 'Days' or 'Months', then Click 'Save'.

Now any new records created will be imported into your other Airtable base automatically on your chosen schedule.

We can also trigger Data Fetcher to run automatically when ever a new record is created using a webhook. To do this, navigate to Webhook, and follow these instructions.