# Import Airtable to Baserow - Migrate a Base in Minutes

> Migrating off Airtable? Bring an existing base into Baserow with your tables and data intact, and learn up front which pieces you rebuild by hand.

Source: https://opennix.org/en/docs/baserow/database-builder/import-airtable-to-baserow/


Baserow can migrate an Airtable base in minutes from a single public share link: table structure, data, views, and field types transfer automatically, so there's no need to rebuild the database by hand.

## Before You Import

You'll need a public share link to the entire Airtable base (not to a single view), a Baserow workspace with sufficient permissions, and enough free storage for bases with a lot of attachments.

## How to Import a Base

1. Open your workspace home page.
2. Click **+ Add new** and select **Database**.
3. Switch to the "Import from Airtable" tab.
4. Paste the Airtable share link.
5. Click **Import from Airtable**.

A progress indicator shows during the transfer; for file-heavy bases, enable "Skip importing files" to speed things up. Once it finishes, an import report table lists any items that weren't imported, or were only partially imported.

![Importing an Airtable base into Baserow](/images/baserow/database-builder/baserow-import-airtable-base.png)

### If Airtable Requires Sign-In

If Airtable's organization settings require authentication, you'll need to manually extract session cookies: open the shared base link and sign in, open your browser's developer tools, find the `airtable.com` entry under storage, copy the `__Host-airtable-session` and `__Host-airtable-session.sig` cookie values, and paste them into the import dialog.

## What Transfers Automatically

All tables, field types, table relationships, attachments, views, field properties, and row data transfer automatically. A "link to another record" field becomes a link-to-table field, and numeric fields (number, currency, percent, duration) keep their original formatting - decimal places, separators, and symbols.

Fields that don't transfer and need manual rebuilding: formula fields, lookup fields, rollup fields, collaborator or assignee fields, created-by and last-modified-by fields, button fields, and barcode fields - converting these to text or number fields in Airtable beforehand preserves the underlying data through the import.

## After the Import

Compare row counts and spot-check a few records, rebuild any formulas that didn't transfer (see [Baserow's Core Building Blocks](/docs/baserow/getting-started/baserow-basics/) for the basics), and set up views again to match your workflow - grid, gallery, or form, covered in [Tables](/docs/baserow/tables/).

## Alternatives

If a full migration isn't necessary, start instead from a ready [Baserow template](/docs/baserow/database-builder/add-database-from-template/), rebuild the table structure by hand and import only the data as CSV, or combine both approaches.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How long does an import take?** Small bases import in seconds; large ones (10,000+ rows) can take several minutes.

**Does the original Airtable base change?** No, the import never touches the source base.

**Can I import several Airtable bases in one go?** No, each base is imported separately and creates its own independent Baserow database.

**Can the same base be imported more than once?** Yes, the same share link can be reused as many times as needed - each import creates a new database.

**What issues come up most often?** Invalid share links, links scoped to a single view instead of the whole base, empty formula fields after the transfer, file timeouts, and differences in label color palettes.

Next, read [Delete a Database](/docs/baserow/database-builder/delete-a-database/) to learn how to safely remove a database you no longer need.