Should You Store Documents in Airtable or Google Drive

You run a nonprofit that delivers contracted training programs. You manage your full process inside Airtable, starting from the initial inquiry all the way to completed training.

You have built automations to keep everything consistent and reduce manual work.

You use Fillout to collect official training information from the organization contacting you. That data flows directly into your Airtable base.

You then use DocsAutomator to automatically generate the contracts based on the submitted form details. At this point everything is streamlined.

Now you are deciding where to store the generated contracts. You want to know whether it is safer to attach the contract files directly into Airtable or save them in Google Drive and store only a link in Airtable.

Your main concern is not losing your documents.

Understanding the Storage Options

When you attach files directly inside Airtable, the files are stored safely and remain accessible to anyone who has access to your base.

Internally this works very smoothly. You click the attachment and it opens instantly inside Airtable without going to a different tab.

There is one limitation. The direct URL of an Airtable attachment expires after a short period of time. If you share that link with someone outside Airtable without giving them access to the base, the link will stop working later.

That is the biggest drawback of storing attachments directly in Airtable when external sharing is required.

You also need to consider storage limits. Airtable has an attachment storage capacity based on your pricing plan. If you store a large number of contracts, you may eventually reach that limit and you will not be able to upload more files.

If you need a large amount of storage or you share files externally on a regular basis, storing the contracts in Google Drive and saving the link in Airtable is the better approach. It avoids storage limits and keeps external sharing simple.

I have written a detailed article on how to set up an automation that picks up attachments from a record, uploads it into Google Drive, gets back the shareable link, and stores it automatically inside Airtable.

To summarise, both options are safe. You will not lose your documents in either case. Airtable attachments are reliable for internal use, and Google Drive is ideal for high volume storage or external access.

Choose the option that matches how you share documents and how much storage you require.