I have 1 table in Artable that is connected to 2 different apps in Glide. The data is being synced between these apps perfectly, but not when it comes to files.
I want my users to be able to upload multiple files. Apparently, Airtable doesn’t support this feature, so I created a Multiple files column in Glide. Users can now upload and see these files in one app, but they don’t appear in another one.
The table in another app does have a Multiple files column, but there is nothing in the cells, they’re just empty.
I tried to create a built in Glide table with the same column and sync it between the apps, but the files don’t sync there either.
Are the files supposed not to be synced between different apps or I’m doing something wrong?
When you create a Multiple Files column on top of an external database, it becomes a user specific column for some reason, so it’s only useful if you want each user to only view their own specific set of files. To avoid the column being forced as a user specific column, you have to create it on top of a glide table.
How regarding multiple apps, I’m not sure. I can definitely see the user specific thing getting in the way between apps, but I’m not sure about your case where you created a separate glide table. I can only assume that you did not create the column as a user specific column n that glide table.
The Multiple Files and Multiple Images columns are kind of a new hybrid type of column. They function like a basic column that stores data, but they also function like a computed column that turns that data into an array. The fact that it’s a somewhat computed column that only lives in Glide leads me to believe that it may not sync outside of the app. It’s not something I’ve actually tested.
When you created the Multiple Files column in one app, did the column automatically show up in the data in the other app, or did you have to create the column in the other app as well?
Thanks Jeff! Now I know that I can’t upload files to external DBs. I created a new Glide database and synced it between the apps and now it works. I don’t know why it didn’t work the last time, but now it is all good (though, it’s not the optimal solution).
If you create a Multiple Files column in a shared native table, then the column will appear in all Apps that share the table, and data changes made in any will be reflected in all.
If the column is User Specific, then it will appear as User Specific in all Apps that share the table. Which of course means that Users will only see data that they have added. eg. User A adds some data in App B - User A will see that data in all Apps, but no other users will see the data in any App.
For what it’s worth (may or may not be applicable to this use case), I recently had to deal with a situation where I needed the multiple file upload capability, but the resultant files needed to be available via the Glide API. The Multi-File/Image columns aren’t available via the API, so I settled on a hybrid solution. Files are uploaded to a User Specific Multi-File column via a Custom Form, and then a joined list of URLs is written to a Basic Text column when the form is submitted.