I’m building an Airtable system for tracking job applicants and I’m stuck on something with the interface setup.
My Current Structure:
Applicants table: Main records for people applying
Workflows table: Different hiring processes we use
“Applicant Progress” linking table: Connects applicants to workflows with a “Phase” field that drives my Kanban board
The Issue:
I need to handle two different workflow categories with different phases:
Internal Process phases: “Initial Contact” → “Screening Complete” → etc. External Process phases: “Candidate Approved” → “Company Meeting” → “Position Filled” → etc.
The Headache:
Both workflow types share the same “Phase” field, so my Kanban interface displays EVERY phase as columns, regardless of which workflow I’m looking at. This means tons of empty columns that don’t apply.
What I’m After:
How do I set up the interface so it only shows relevant Kanban columns for each workflow category? Like:
Internal workflows: display only “Initial Contact”, “Screening Complete”, etc.
External workflows: display only “Candidate Approved”, “Company Meeting”, “Position Filled”, etc.
Can this be done with interface settings or do I need to change how my tables are organized?
Had this exact problem when managing different product launches at my company. Each line had different stages but we wanted one system.
Create separate interfaces for each workflow category. Don’t try cramming everything into one interface - it gets messy.
What worked:
Set up two Kanban interfaces. Filter each one to show only the workflow category you want. Interface 1 shows “Internal Process” workflows, Interface 2 shows “External Process” workflows.
When you create the Kanban view, Airtable only shows columns with actual records. Since your filtered records only use certain phases, empty columns disappear.
You can customize column order and hide phases in each interface’s settings too.
Keeps everything clean and your team won’t see irrelevant stages. Plus you can set different permissions for each interface if some workflows are sensitive.
I’ve used this setup for 2 years - scales great when adding new workflow types.
You’ll need separate interfaces for each workflow since Airtable can’t dynamically filter columns based on record values in a single kanban view. I hit this same wall managing different project types last year. Set up two interfaces - one for Internal Process workflows, another for External. In each interface, manually pick which phase columns to show in the view settings. Use the workflow category field to filter each interface. Someone opens the ‘Internal Process’ interface? They only see internal workflow applicants with those phase columns. You could split the Phase field into Internal_Phase and External_Phase instead, but that messes up your automations and formulas. Dual interfaces keep your current setup while fixing the display problem.
totally get it! u’ll have to make different views for each workflow, and sorta section them off. airtable can be tricky like that, but once u set it up, it’s nice to keep track of things!
Airtable interfaces can’t handle dynamic column filtering like this. You’ll hit walls trying to make it work smoothly in Airtable alone.
I’ve faced similar workflow challenges. The real solution? Automate data flow between systems instead of cramming everything into one rigid structure.
Here’s what works: Set up automation that routes and displays workflow data based on your actual business logic. Pull from Airtable, apply conditional logic to show only relevant phases per workflow type, then push that view to whatever interface your team prefers.
I’ve built systems where different workflow categories automatically trigger different dashboard layouts and column setups. The automation handles all the conditional display stuff Airtable can’t do.
Bonus: you can add new workflow types later without redesigning your entire Airtable setup.
Latenode makes this conditional workflow automation pretty straightforward. Set up triggers based on workflow category and auto-generate the right interface view for each type.
Had this exact problem last year with a project management setup. Airtable interfaces won’t let you dynamically hide columns based on field values - it’s super frustrating.
Here’s what worked for me:
Make separate Phase fields for each workflow type. Skip the single “Phase” field and create “Internal Phase” and “External Phase” instead. Use a formula field to show the right one based on your workflow category.
Create two Kanban views - one grouped by Internal Phase, one by External Phase. Embed both in your interface so users can just switch between them.
Yeah, you’re maintaining two views, but it beats scrolling through 10+ empty columns every time.
Or split into separate bases entirely if the workflows are really different. I did this with client work vs internal projects and it simplified everything.
The formula approach is probably your quickest fix though.
Had this exact issue a few months ago with a project management setup. Cleanest fix? Create separate interfaces for each workflow category instead of trying to filter one dynamically. Airtable interfaces can’t do conditional column visibility based on field values - it’s annoying but that’s how it works. I duplicated my Kanban interface and set filters at the interface level. One interface shows only ‘Internal Process’ records, another for ‘External Process’. Each interface then only displays columns with actual data. You could create separate phase fields for each workflow type, but that gets messy with automations and formulas down the road. Multiple interfaces keeps your data structure clean and fixes the visual clutter. Takes about 10 minutes to set up and your users will love the cleaner view.