Create Permanent Attachments in Airtable

Make an Attachments Table…

Instead of using attachment fields in every table, just create one table that will contain all your uploaded attachments and reference it into your other tables.

This has many advantages for general media use…

Bulk upload by switching to the gallery view, preload your whole library in one go so that you have a library of all your images ready to use.

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Reuse the same attachment multiple times more easily - especially if the other field contains multiple attachments and you want only one. Just link the same attachment in various places and never have to reupload the same files.

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Add or remove easily, by linking instead of by deleting attachments then reuploading. The attachment doesnt disappear, if you change your mind you only need to relink it.

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Search your library by keyword or title for attachments when adding them and building up the data in your media library instead of opening up a folder on your computer.

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Plus, numerous benefits for using with permanent urls…

You only need one Aeropage Permanent URL in your attachments table, which you can use for the entire base. Just create fields in other tables to choose the image (a linked field) and to get the permanent url (a lookup). Optionally you can add a third field to see the image itself (a lookup).

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You can even switch the same tool to get the media and document mode urls, and copy the formula to two different fields in your attachments table. Then, reference the document (redirect) link when you want to use that method in your other tables.

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Solve the issue of changing cached images. The image mode caches based on the record and field name. This means that deleting an attachment and uploading a different one will not show the new image until the cache expires, which is almost a month. The workaround is usually to copy and paste a new formula, but with this method you don’t need to do that.

Because they are cached, deleting and adding a different image directly in an attachment field won’t work if the permanent url has already been opened, this method solves that problem.

Add extra formulas to include HTML tags, then copy paste into your automation emails. Just by copying the formula below and referencing your permanent urls you can turn it into an HTML library too. Just copy and paste the values directly into your emails.

This is the formula used in the video, for creating the html tags.

"<img style = '" & CSS & "' src='" & {Image URL} & "'/>”

Once pasted in, these images are using permanent urls and so when someone opens an email they will still be visible even after many days.

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