How to load data from Airtable to Snowflake

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Airtable data into Snowflake within minutes.

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Bespoke pipelines are:
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Furthermore, you will need to build and maintain Y x Z pipelines with Y sources and Z destinations to cover all your needs.
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Start syncing with Airbyte in 3 easy steps within 10 minutes

Set up a Airtable connector in Airbyte

Connect to Airtable or one of 400+ pre-built or 10,000+ custom connectors through simple account authentication.

Set up Snowflake for your extracted Airtable data

Select Snowflake where you want to import data from your Airtable source to. You can also choose other cloud data warehouses, databases, data lakes, vector databases, or any other supported Airbyte destinations.

Configure the Airtable to Snowflake in Airbyte

This includes selecting the data you want to extract - streams and columns -, the sync frequency, where in the destination you want that data to be loaded.

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Check out our interactive demo and our how-to videos to learn how you can sync data from any source to any destination.

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How to Sync Airtable to Snowflake Manually

  1. Access Airtable Base: Log in to your Airtable account and access the base that contains the data you want to export.
  2. Export Data: Airtable allows you to export data in CSV format.
    • Select the view that contains the data you want to export.
    • Click on the “…” (more options) button in the top right corner of the view.
    • Choose “Download CSV” to export the data from the current view.
  3. Save CSV File: Save the CSV file to your local machine or a cloud storage location that you can access from your environment.
  1. Review CSV File: Open the CSV file and review the data to ensure it’s in the correct format and structure for Snowflake.
  2. Cleanse Data: If necessary, cleanse the data by removing or modifying any incorrect, incomplete, or irrelevant data.
  3. Format Data: Ensure that the data types in the CSV file match the corresponding data types in Snowflake (e.g., dates, strings, numbers).
  4. Create a Manifest File (Optional): If you’re planning to use Snowflake’s bulk loading feature, create a manifest file that lists the CSV files to be loaded.
  1. Log in to Snowflake: Log in to your Snowflake account.
  2. Create a Database and Schema: If you haven’t already, create a new database and schema for your Airtable data.
    CREATE DATABASE my_airtable_data;
    USE DATABASE my_airtable_data;
    CREATE SCHEMA my_schema;
    USE SCHEMA my_schema;
  3. Create a Table: Define a table in Snowflake that matches the structure of the data you’re importing from Airtable.
    CREATE TABLE my_table (
       column1 datatype1,
       column2 datatype2,
       ...
    );
  4. Create File Format: Define a file format in Snowflake that matches the CSV format exported from Airtable.
    CREATE FILE FORMAT my_csv_format
    TYPE = 'CSV'
    FIELD_DELIMITER = ','
    SKIP_HEADER = 1
    FIELD_OPTIONALLY_ENCLOSED_BY = '"';
  5. Create Stage: Create a stage in Snowflake where you can upload your CSV files.
    CREATE STAGE my_stage
    FILE_FORMAT = my_csv_format;
  1. Upload CSV File to Stage: Use the PUT command to upload the CSV file from your local machine to the stage you created.
    PUT file://path_to_your_csv_file @my_stage;
  2. List Files: Verify that the file has been uploaded successfully.
    LIST @my_stage;
  1. Copy Data: Use the COPY INTO command to load data from the stage into the Snowflake table.
    COPY INTO my_table
    FROM @my_stage
    FILE_FORMAT = (FORMAT_NAME = my_csv_format);
  2. Verify Load: Query the table to ensure that the data has been loaded correctly.
    SELECT * FROM my_table;
  3. Handle Errors: If there are any errors during the load, address them by reviewing the error logs and adjusting the data or table schema as needed.
  1. Remove Files from Stage: After successful loading, remove the CSV files from the stage to clean up.
    REMOVE @my_stage;
  2. Drop Stage and File Format: Optionally, drop the stage and file format if they are no longer needed.
    DROP STAGE my_stage;
    DROP FILE FORMAT my_csv_format;

Additional Considerations

  • Security: Ensure that any sensitive data is handled securely throughout the process.
  • Automation: For recurring data transfers, consider automating the process with scripts or Snowflake tasks.
  • Performance: For large datasets, consider using Snowflake’s bulk loading features and optimizations.

How to Sync Airtable to Snowflake Manually - Method 2:

FAQs

ETL, an acronym for Extract, Transform, Load, is a vital data integration process. It involves extracting data from diverse sources, transforming it into a usable format, and loading it into a database, data warehouse or data lake. This process enables meaningful data analysis, enhancing business intelligence.

Airtable is a cloud collaboration service.

Airtable's API provides access to a wide range of data types, including:  

1. Tables: The primary data structure in Airtable, tables contain records and fields.  
2. Records: Each row in a table is a record, which contains data for each field.  
3. Fields: Each column in a table is a field, which can contain various data types such as text, numbers, dates, attachments, and more.  
4. Views: Airtable allows users to create different views of their data, such as grid view, calendar view, and gallery view.  
5. Forms: Airtable also allows users to create forms to collect data from external sources.  
6. Attachments: Users can attach files to records, such as images, documents, and videos.  
7. Collaborators: Airtable allows users to collaborate with others on their data, with different levels of access and permissions.  
8. Metadata: Airtable's API also provides access to metadata about tables, fields, and records, such as creation and modification dates.  

Overall, Airtable's API provides a comprehensive set of data types and features for users to manage and manipulate their data in a flexible and customizable way.

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps: 
1. Set up Airtable to Snowflake as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
2. Choose a destination (more than 50 available destination databases, data warehouses or lakes) to sync data too and set it up as a destination connector
3. Define which data you want to transfer from Airtable to Snowflake and how frequently
You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud. 

ELT, standing for Extract, Load, Transform, is a modern take on the traditional ETL data integration process. In ELT, data is first extracted from various sources, loaded directly into a data warehouse, and then transformed. This approach enhances data processing speed, analytical flexibility and autonomy.

ETL and ELT are critical data integration strategies with key differences. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) transforms data before loading, ideal for structured data. In contrast, ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) loads data before transformation, perfect for processing large, diverse data sets in modern data warehouses. ELT is becoming the new standard as it offers a lot more flexibility and autonomy to data analysts.

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

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