# Airtable and multiple selects **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [August 1, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730 "2022-08-01T22:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![parisiam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/parisiam/32/83734_2.png) [@parisiam](https://community.glideapps.com/u/parisiam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 10:50am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/22 "2022-08-07T10:50:22Z")
Thank you all for your help and contributions. I am new to Glide too, as @padthai2go, and that’s why I initially faced that problem. I finally came up with 2 solutions, one inside Glide and the other one in Airtable: 1. As @Jeff_Hager explained, a Joined List column will convert the array to a single value that can be used anywhere in glide that only accepts a single value. This is done directly inside Glide (even though the table is in Airtable). ![CleanShot20220807123903](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/c/0/c09e797f04e908e3678b83ad872b7523d7b96e98.jpeg) 2. It’s possible to do exactly the same thing inside Airtable too with a formula. It’s not called Joined List in Airtable and does not allow to change the separator (unless another formula does). ![CleanShot20220807124428](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/6/5/6544130362715f3ecf58ccbc6cc9487957b5e565.jpeg) Now that would have been nice to have a component in Glide that displays directly the result as pills (in a way Glide does it aliready in the data editor). ---
**Author:** ![parisiam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/parisiam/32/83734_2.png) [@parisiam](https://community.glideapps.com/u/parisiam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 11:34am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/23 "2022-08-07T11:34:41Z")
Late answer but the multi-select column from Airtable appears correctly in Glide data editor ![CleanShot20220807133114](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/9/e/9eae21988f11d4ee5ece3fabc08c4c78be45221b.jpeg) It’s just that there is no component that deal with it directly in Glide layouts. It requires a workaround. ---
**Author:** ![parisiam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/parisiam/32/83734_2.png) [@parisiam](https://community.glideapps.com/u/parisiam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 11:48am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/24 "2022-08-07T11:48:50Z")
To continue the discussion, we have solved the first problem of reading and displaying the data coming from an Airtable Multiple select column in Glide layouts. But the second problem remains: How to write in an Airtable Multiple select column from a Glide Add form or a Glide Edit form ? Well, I think it’s impossible. From my tests (but I’m just a beginner with Glide), the only solution I found is: 1. Build an addtionnal table containing the values of the “Multiple select” column (this table is often called Choices in Glide examples) 2. Change the field type in Airtable from “Multiple select” column to “Link to another record” column and link to that new Choices table. Then it will be possible in Glide to read and write to that field. My conclusion: if you are using Airtable with Glide, do NOT use a “Multiple select” column in Airtable IF you need to WRITE in that column from Glide. ---
**Author:** ![pluzgi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/pluzgi/32/56533_2.png) [@pluzgi](https://community.glideapps.com/u/pluzgi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/25 "2023-04-11T15:56:59Z")
Just following this up, is there already any solution on glide to work with “multiple select” columns from Airtable (w/o workaround)? I still have this problem that the data are shown in the data editor but not in the layout/in website. Interesting is that the “Filter by” detects the missing column data (category). > **[FFA-Projektfilm](https://allaboutdata.xyz/dl/nocodetools)** Thanks for help. PS: I read all the workaround above… ---
**Author:** ![numu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@numu](https://community.glideapps.com/u/numu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/26 "2023-04-11T18:40:41Z")
Hi New Glide user here - I also have the same challenge! I have a multi select and single select table base in Airtable. The only fields that Glide picks up are the text only columns from Airtable. Can anyone confirm 1. If Glide supports Airtable single select or multi select fields 2. If yes, please explain like I am 5 on how to set this up in Glide I have read the above but no idea what joined link columns are and the date was 6 months ago so may have changed. Thanks a lot ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/27 "2023-04-12T00:30:17Z")
@pluzgi @numu Can you show us how that “multiple select” column in Airtable shows up in your Glide data view? Is it an array? ---
**Author:** ![pluzgi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/pluzgi/32/56533_2.png) [@pluzgi](https://community.glideapps.com/u/pluzgi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 5:08am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/28 "2023-04-12T05:08:14Z")
@ThinhDinh, here we go: ![Bildschirm­foto 2023-04-12 um 07.07.35](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/e/d/edded6d73141ee1fddd3c4353c1c99c860b89f7c.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![numu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@numu](https://community.glideapps.com/u/numu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 9:38am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/30 "2023-04-12T09:38:36Z")
Heres the Airtable column In the Glide Data, the data is there for the test record but I cant see a way to get this added to the app? It only lets me work with the single text fields It could be that I have no idea what I am doing! Can only upload one image see next post ![AT Drop](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/6/1/6130c95db690604607e3b5d3a0b9a84ef87cf815.png) ---
**Author:** ![numu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@numu](https://community.glideapps.com/u/numu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 9:44am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/31 "2023-04-12T09:44:20Z")
the data in glide ![Glide](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/f/f/ff06fd3ce7729b05c4f832b6255ca45f7fb8f55e.png) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 11:50am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/32 "2023-04-12T11:50:58Z")
I don’t have a solution for this, especially with multi-select, but I suspect this is the issue. Glide sees an array and normally you can’t write to an array. Things get really weird when you try to make Glide work with columns that are highly specific to Airtable and not any of the other types of databases. > [@Troubles with Edit Form](https://community.glideapps.com/t/troubles-with-edit-form/60389/12): > > Ugg, I’m not an expert on how these things work with Airtable. Normally I would have a separate table that lists all of the status options in separate rows. That separate table would be the source table for the choice component, and then your choice component would write the value to your form destination table. That logic makes sense to me. But it seems that Airtable lets you have different column types that serve dual purposes. In this case, it contains the list of options as well as hold… ---
**Author:** ![pluzgi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/pluzgi/32/56533_2.png) [@pluzgi](https://community.glideapps.com/u/pluzgi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 5:51am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/33 "2023-04-13T05:51:21Z")
Thanks @Jeff_Hager. Does it make sense to open a ticket for that? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730/34 "2023-04-13T12:29:01Z")
I don’t know if I would consider it a bug. The multiple select Airtable column is an array column and Glide does not write to arrays. That’s always been the case with Glide. Your trying to mix Airtable specific column types with Glide, and it’s not always going to work. Like I said, I don’t have a solution, and I don’t think it’s a bug. If anything, it would be a feature request because it’s working as expected. If it were me, I would let a multi-select choice component write to a basic text column type in the comma delimited format that it always has written as. Then split that delimited list into an array with a split text column. That’s how Glide works. I wouldn’t use some of those column types that are unique to Airtable. Anytime I use an external data source such as google sheets, I try to use it purely as a database. If possible, I try not to do to anything fancy in the google sheet, because I’m just storing data there. I know that’s not always the case with Airtable, especially if users also interact directly with the Airtable, so that makes it more difficult to have a user friendly interface in Airtable as well as Glide. Ultimately, I personally wouldn’t even use an Airtable multiple select column. I would replace it with a normal text column. Then Glide would be able to see and write to it normally. [Previous page](https://community.glideapps.com/t/airtable-and-multiple-selects/45730.md?page=1)