🗝 Tips to get started with Baserow, divided by first-day users, experienced builders, and developers

Get started with the Baserow community
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What is Baserow?

Baserow is the open platform to create scalable databases and applications—without coding.

The Baserow platform consists of 3 products:

:star: Database Builder: Structure, visualize, and manipulate data
:star: Application Builder: Create custom applications with your Baserow data
:star: Baserow AI: Use AI capabilities directly within your Baserow workspace

:arrow_forward: Before you start: Learn how Baserow works

Let’s get started with a quick overview of the basics:

Application Builder (Beta)

Create with Baserow’s Application Builder:

→ Internal tools
→ Public portals
→ Directories
→ Intranet
→ Landing pages

Core concepts:

:large_blue_diamond: Design layouts for apps: Elements
:large_blue_diamond: Connect an existing data: Data sources
:large_blue_diamond: Publish and share apps: Domains

Templates:

Application Builder templates are paired with Database Builder templates:

Application Builder Introduction videos

If you’re just starting out with Baserow’s new Application Builder, we’ve got some helpful introductory videos just for you. Dive in and start building smoothly!

Baserow AI

Create with Baserow AI:

:magic_wand: Use AI capabilities directly within your workspace: AI field type to generate creative briefs, summarize information, translate text and more.
:magic_wand: Scan files with AI: File field support for the AI field
:magic_wand: Generate formulas with AI: AI formula generator

Get to know Baserow AI:

:key: Learn how to use your own OpenAI API key
:hammer_and_wrench: Learn how to enable and configure the AI field in Baserow
:robot: Learn how generate formulas with AI in Baserow
:brain: 10 tips for writing effective AI prompts
:briefcase: 5 ways Baserow AI can help you dominate your industry
:bar_chart: How to transform data into actionable insights with Baserow AI

This is just the beginning! There are so many exciting AI features on the horizon. :magic_wand:

Database Builder

First day Baserow users

Experiment with templates

Explore over 100 tried-and-true templates for work and life.

Model your Baserow data like a pro

Follow these guidelines to ensure that your data is structured optimally in your database.

Designate field types for every piece of data

Views allow you to visualize and customize your data in various ways, tailored to each specific table in your database.

:large_blue_circle: Gallery View is best for social media content dashboards, mood boards, employee directories, and other image-centric data sets.
:large_blue_circle: Kanban View is best for bug tracking, release planning, project management, and more.
:large_blue_circle: Calendar View is best for resource management, event planning, monthly scheduling, and other data sets that revolve around dates.
:large_blue_circle: Form View (we have both — Form and Survey modes) is best for online ordering, application submissions, feedback collection, and more.

With Personal Views, you can create individual views with custom configurations (custom filtering, sorting, row coloring).

View configuration options: Exporting view, Duplicating view, Filtering view, Importing a file, Sharing view, Row coloring, Row grouping, Create webhooks.

Add workspace collaborators

Share a specific view: create a private shareable link to a view.

Add a user to your workspace: in Baserow Free and Premium plans, you can add Admins or Members to your workspace, in Baserow Advanced and Enterprise plans, you can assign members one of the following roles: Admin, Builder, Editor, Commenter, Viewer, No Access or No Role. These can be set at the following three levels: Workspace, Database, and Table.

Speed up your workflow with keyboard shortcuts

Navigate Baserow with your keyboard using these shortcuts to quickly move between different areas of the platform.

Open an entire row

Expand a row in one click by clicking on the icon to the left of the row to see all the details about the row.

Learn Baserow formula fundamentals

Maximize your usage of Baserow formulas with these examples and helpful tips.

Set a timezone for your date field types

Select a timezone for your date fields or optionally see the dates in your local timezone. If you want to switch from one timezone to another, Baserow will automatically convert the dates.

Visualize your data stored in Baserow

:art: Highlight key details with colors: use row coloring to group rows by specific criteria.

:bar_chart: Build charts: generate charts from Baserow using this community-powered app: Baserow Explorer.

:receipt: Build PDF files: create PDF files with Baserow data using the Baserow PDF Generator app in Appsmith or this community-powered app: Baserow PDF generator.

Protect yourself against accidental data loss

Baserow provides four ways to protect against data loss:

Small tricks and hacks to achieve more with Baserow:

Row identifier: use the row_id() formula to return the unique identifying number of a row.

Delete multiple rows in bulk: if you need to delete 200+ rows simultaneously you can use this workaround.

For experienced users

Get step-by-step guides

Dig into dozens of articles to help you learn Baserow. Here are the most viewed ones:

Connect Baserow with tools you use every day

We offer official integrations with:

Internal app builder: ToolJet.

Automation: n8n, Zapier, Make, Pipedream, SureTriggers, ActivePieces.

Alternatively, you can use our advanced API to integrate Baserow into your current tech stack. Here are some examples of how to connect Baserow with other tools:

:link: AppSmith
:link: Retool
:link: Bubble
:link: Webflow
:link: Flutterflow
:link: Softr
:link: UI Bakery
:link: Mailchimp
:link: Documint
:link: Google Docs

Trigger actions with Baserow webhooks

Receive real-time notifications about all changes that are made in your database by setting webhooks.

Stay up-to-date with Baserow updates and changes

Find out what’s new and what’s changed in Baserow by checking out the changelog or reading the release blog posts.

Check your current Baserow version with one click

Determine the version of Baserow you’re currently running by opening the API spec docs.

Small tricks and hacks to achieve more with Baserow:

Strong primary field: ensure that your primary field is informative and unique. Turn it into a formula field and pull together a set of data in it.

Computed fields: reference the latest information from linked records, create custom calculations, and more with Last Modified and Created On field types.

For developers

Submit technical questions using this guide

To receive assistance quickly, please answer the following questions when opening a new technical help topic.

Easy way to debug any Baserow issues you might be having

Baserow 1.17.0 onwards has an admin Health Check page to help you debug issues. Additionally, there is an Email Tester feature that shows detailed errors if your Baserow is not configured to send emails correctly.

Debugging connection Issues

If you encounter the error message “Backend URL mis-configuration detected” when launching Baserow, or if you are having trouble connecting to your Baserow server, this tutorial explains why this error can occur and how to fix it.

Check out Baserow Formula technical guide

This guide explains the inner workings of Baserow formulas for developers.

Contributing code

If you’re a developer looking to contribute to the Baserow code, check out this list of good first issues.

API deprecations

To ensure that your application runs smoothly and without downtime, use this page to check out the latest API integrators. It lists which features are deprecated and how long we’ll continue to support compatibility for them.

Baserow as a backend

If you are interested in learning how to build your own Baserow app, this step-by-step guide, from a Baserow Developer Challenge winner, on creating a PDF generator with Baserow, is a great starting point.

Community activists

If you need urgent help, you can tag some of our community activists or @olgatrykush in your question. Here is an overview of what our activists are most skilled at:

  • @Peter is one of our first community members and is knowledgeable about how things are set up in Baserow. Feel free to contact Peter if you have any general questions.
  • @lucw built the first community-powered plugin and is an expert in this area. If you are working on the same project, feel free to ping Luc for advice.
  • @frederikdc is a no-code expert who can help with formulas, relations, and automation.
  • @joffcom is our technical leader and can troubleshoot questions related to self-hosting, API, or n8n (Jonathan is a part of the n8n team).

Don’t hesitate to message me in case of any questions or issues :raised_hands:

Switching to Baserow from Excel? How to transform any Spreadsheet into a Database!

Switching to Baserow from Airtable? How to Migrate from Airtable to Baserow in one Click.

Links to save:

→ Baserow videos
→ User docs
→ Tutorials
→ Templates
→ Roadmap
→ GitLab

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