How to Display Related Data from Multiple Tables in Airtable

Let's say you have two tables in Airtable.

Your Fund table has one record for each fund, along with information like the fund name, department number, and contact details.

Then you have a Budget table. A new Budget record is created every year, so the same fund might have separate records for 2024, 2025, and 2026.

The relationship looks something like this:

Fund A
Department 101

↓

Budgets

2024 → $100,000
2025 → $120,000
2026 → $135,000

Now you want to see information from both tables together without constantly switching between them.

In Excel, you might solve this with XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP. In Access or another relational database, you might use a join.

In Airtable, you first connect the records with a linked record field. Once that relationship exists, you can use lookups and rollups to bring the information you need across.

Step 1: Link the Fund and Budget tables

Start in the Budget table and add a Link to another record field. Select the Fund table as the table you want to link to.

Each Budget record can now point to the Fund it belongs to.

For example:

2026 Budget → Fund A

When you create this field, Airtable automatically creates a reciprocal linked record field in the Fund table.

That means Fund A can now show all of its Budget records:

Fund A → 2024 Budget, 2025 Budget, 2026 Budget

You don't need to create a second relationship manually. Both fields represent the same connection.

If you're wondering why Airtable automatically adds that extra field, see why Airtable adds extra fields when you link two tables.

If you only have a few records, you can link them manually. If you already have hundreds or thousands of Fund and Budget records with matching department numbers, don't sit there connecting them one by one. Use the shared department number to establish those links in bulk instead.

For an existing dataset, importing updated data into Airtable covers one approach to handling this in bulk.

Step 2: Bring Fund information into the Budget table

Once the records are linked, you can use Lookup fields to show Fund information alongside each Budget.

For example, maybe your Budget table currently contains:

But you also want to see the Fund's contact person and address without opening the Fund record.

Add a new field and choose Lookup.

Select your Fund linked record field, then choose the field you want to bring across, such as Contact Person.

Repeat this for any other information you need.

Your Budget table could now look like:

The important thing is that you're not duplicating that information manually. The lookup displays the value from the linked Fund record.

If the contact person changes in the Fund table, the lookup updates too.

Step 3: Bring Budget information back into the Fund table

You can also go in the other direction.

Because the reciprocal linked record field in Fund contains all of that Fund's Budget records, you can use Lookup, Rollup, and Count fields depending on what you want to see.

Use a Lookup when you want to see the individual values from the linked Budget records.

For example, a Budget Amount lookup might show:

$100,000, $120,000, $135,000

Use a Rollup when you want Airtable to calculate something from those values.

For example, you could create a Total Budget rollup using:

SUM(values)

This would add the amounts from all of the linked Budget records.

Use a Count field when you simply want to know how many Budget records are linked to the Fund.

So Fund A might show:

Budget Records: 3

Which field you use depends on whether you want the individual values, a calculation, or just the number of related records.

What if you only want one year's budget?

You probably don't always want every historical Budget record included.

Maybe your Fund table should show the 2026 Budget rather than a list of every budget from the last ten years.

In that case, you can add conditions to your lookup or rollup so Airtable only includes linked Budget records that match a particular condition.

For example:

Year is 2026

Now the field only pulls or calculates values from the 2026 Budget records.

This is useful when you want fields such as Current Budget, Current Year Spend, or 2026 Allocation while still keeping all of your historical Budget records in the same table.

Show everything together in an Interface

Lookup fields are useful when you want information directly inside a grid, but you don't necessarily need to pull twenty Fund fields into the Budget table just so someone can see them together.

For that, I prefer using an Airtable Interface.

Create a List or Grid Interface page based on the Fund table and enable the option to open individual record details.

On the Fund record detail page, show the Fund information you care about at the top.

Then add the linked Budget field and display those linked records as a view rather than a simple field.

You can now open Fund A and see something like:

Fund A
Department 101
Contact: John Smith

Budgets

Everything is on one screen, but the underlying data is still stored properly in separate tables.

That's usually the setup I prefer. Keep each type of data in the table where it belongs, connect the records with linked record fields, and use lookups, rollups, or Interfaces depending on how you need to see it.

If your data actually lives in two separate Airtable bases rather than two tables in the same base, see how to display data from two Airtable bases in one interface.