I’ve been using Airtable for a couple of months and really appreciate its database structure. However, I often find myself wishing for some features that I’m used to with Excel. After years spent with Excel, there are specific tools and functions that I miss having easy access to.
For those who transitioned from Excel to Airtable, what features do you feel are lacking? I’m interested in both the basic functions and more advanced features that might not have a counterpart in Airtable.
It would be great to hear about any workarounds you’ve discovered or if you find yourself going back to Excel for specific tasks. I’m looking for tips to optimize my workflow between both applications.
The biggest pain switching from Excel to Airtable? No proper pivot tables. Airtable has some pivot blocks, but they’re nowhere near as powerful as Excel’s. I really miss being able to drag and drop fields and create calculated fields instantly. The formulas are weaker too - I need Excel’s advanced array formulas for statistical work, so I end up going back to Excel for anything complex. And don’t get me started on conditional formatting - Airtable’s version is pretty basic compared to what you can do in Excel for data visualization.
I miss Excel’s flexibility the most. Airtable locks you into its database structure, which is fine for organizing stuff but sucks when you need quick what-if scenarios or complex calculations across datasets. In Excel, I can throw temporary calculations in nearby cells and pull data from multiple sheets without thinking about it. Airtable’s charts are pretty weak too - Excel has way more chart types and you can actually customize them. I end up exporting back to Excel whenever I need decent visuals or any real financial modeling. And no macros means I can’t automate the repetitive stuff that takes seconds in Excel.