Airtable has its own vocabulary, and it can feel like a lot on day one. Here's the good news: you only need five words to get started. Here's what they actually mean, in plain language.

Table

One list of one kind of thing. A table of donors. A table of events. If you can make a spreadsheet tab, you can make a table.

Field

A column — the details you keep about each thing. Name, email, date, status. Unlike a spreadsheet, each field has a type (like "date" or "checkbox"), so your information stays clean.

View

A saved way of looking at the same table. Want to see only this month's events, sorted by date? That's a view. You can make as many as you like without ever touching the original information.

Linked record

A connection between two tables. Link a donor to their donations once, and Airtable remembers the relationship forever — no more copying names between tabs.

Automation

A little "when this happens, do that" rule. When a form is submitted, email me. When a status changes, notify Sarah. Set it up once and it quietly works in the background.

That's it — five words. Everything else in Airtable is just these ideas, combined. If you'd like a hand learning them with your own information, that's exactly what I do.