Hey everyone! I’m trying to streamline my workflow for saving events and news articles. Right now I’m using Readwise to save stuff, but then I have to manually copy the info like titles, dates, and URLs into my Airtable database. It’s getting pretty tedious.
I was wondering if anyone knows a good way to automate this process? I’ve heard about tools like Pipedream and Zapier that might be able to help, but I’m not sure how to set them up or if they’re the best option.
Has anyone successfully automated their Readwise-to-Airtable workflow? What tools or methods did you use? I’d love to hear about your experiences or any tips you might have. Thanks in advance for any help!
hey, i use n8n for this. its open source n pretty flexible. set up a workflow that pulls from readwise API n pushes to airtable. took some fiddling but works great now. bonus: you can host it yourself if ur worried bout data privacy. give it a shot!
I’ve actually tackled this exact challenge recently. After some trial and error, I found Zapier to be the most straightforward solution. Here’s what worked for me:
Set up a Zap that triggers whenever a new highlight is added in Readwise. Then configure it to create a new record in your Airtable base, mapping the Readwise fields to your Airtable columns.
The key is to spend time getting the field mapping right. Make sure to include the article title, author, URL, and highlight text at minimum. You might also want to add tags or other metadata.
One tip: Use Zapier’s formatter steps to clean up or modify data if needed before it hits Airtable. This can save you a lot of manual work later.
It took some tweaking, but now my system runs smoothly. The time saved is significant, and my Airtable database stays current without any manual input.
As someone who’s been in your shoes, I can totally relate to the tedium of manual data transfer. I actually solved this using Make (formerly Integromat), which I found more flexible than Zapier for my needs.
Here’s what worked wonders for me:
I set up a scenario that checks Readwise for new highlights every hour. When it finds new ones, it automatically creates records in my Airtable base. The beauty is in the customization - I could format the data exactly how I wanted it in Airtable.
One game-changer was setting up filters in Make to only transfer specific types of content. This kept my Airtable clean and relevant.
There was a bit of a learning curve with Make’s interface, but the time invested in setting it up has paid off tenfold in productivity. Now my system runs like clockwork, and I can focus on actually reading and analyzing, rather than data entry.
Just a heads up - Make’s free plan was enough for my needs, which was a nice bonus compared to some other automation tools.