How to Do a One Way Sync in Airtable While Keeping the Destination Table Editable

You want to create a central calendar for the entire organization in Airtable.

Some teams are already using Airtable. Each team has its own calendar table where they manage their events.

At the same time, there are teams that are not using Airtable. These teams do not have their own calendar tables.

For teams that are already on Airtable, you want their calendar tables to sync into a central calendar. These teams should continue using their own tables as usual, and their events should automatically appear in the main calendar.

For teams that are not on Airtable, you want them to be able to add events directly to the central calendar. Their events should exist only in the main calendar and should not appear in any other team’s calendar.

To achieve this, you tried using Airtable Sync.

However, you quickly ran into a limitation. Synced tables are read only, which means you cannot add records in the destination table.

Because of this, teams that are not on Airtable cannot add events to the main calendar.

So the question is: how should you approach this setup?

How Airtable Sync works

When using sync, you cannot add or edit records directly in the destination table. If you need to add new records, you must add them to the source table.

Those records will then automatically appear in the destination table through the sync.

For your use case, you can choose one of the options below.

1. Create a separate input table

One effective approach is to separate data entry from viewing.

Create a dedicated table for teams that are not on Airtable. These teams add their events to this input table.

Teams that already have their own calendar tables can continue using their existing setup without any changes.

Next, sync all of these tables into a single central destination table.

To make this even easier, teams that are not on Airtable can submit events using a form. This way, they do not need to access Airtable or know about the underlying table structure.

Once everything is synced into the central table, everyone views the same calendar. Data entry happens in different places, but all events appear in one unified calendar.

2. Use automations instead of sync

If you need the destination table to remain editable, do not use sync.

Instead, use automations to copy data.

When a record is created or updated in a source table, an automation copies that data into the destination table.

You can use an external automation tool like Make. Set up a webhook so that whenever a record is created or updated in a source table, the automation copies the data to the destination table.

Use a unique field to track which records have already been copied or updated, so the automation knows what needs to be synced.