Airtable is a cloud-based platform that combines spreadsheet-style usability with relational data capabilities. Many teams use Airtable to manage projects, CRM pipelines, operations, and content workflows. To analyze this data at scale, you can connect Airtable to Power BI and build interactive reports.

Using the ZappySys ODBC Driver for REST APIs, you can query Airtable API data with SQL and load it into Power BI without writing custom integration code.

This tutorial shows how to create an Airtable ODBC DSN, configure API authentication, preview table data, connect Power BI, and run practical SQL queries.

Steps

Create an Airtable Personal Access Token

1. Sign in to your Airtable account.
2. Go to the Airtable token page and click to create a new token.
3. Grant the minimum required scopes for your scenario, such as

   data.records:read

   and

   schema.bases:read

   .
4. Allow access to the specific base(s) and copy the token to a secure location.
   

   Airtable – Create a token

Get Airtable Base ID and Table ID

1. Open the target table in Airtable.
2. Copy the Base ID and Table ID from the URL or API documentation page.
3. Keep these IDs handy because you will use them in the API URL, for example:
   https://api.airtable.com/v0/{BASE_ID}/{TABLE_ID}

Create a New ODBC DSN Using ZappySys JSON Driver

1. Search for ODBC in the Windows Start menu and open ODBC Data Source Administrator.
   
2. In User DSN or System DSN, click Add.
3. Select ZappySys JSON Driver, then click Continue.
   

Configure Airtable API Connection

1. Enter the Airtable API URL in this format:
   https://api.airtable.com/v0/{BASE_ID}/{TABLE_ID}
2. In Connection Type, select HTTP and click Configure.
3. Set Credential Type to Static Token / API Key.
4. Paste your Airtable Personal Access Token in the token field.
5. Click OK to save HTTP authentication settings.
   

   Airtable – ODBC HTTP Static token connection

6. Set HTTP Request Method to GET.
7. Set JSON Path Filter to:
   $.records[*]
8. Click Test Connection, then click OK to save the DSN.
   

   Airtable – JSON Driver configuration

Preview Airtable Data in ODBC Driver

1. Open the Preview tab in the DSN configuration window.
2. Generate a query and click Preview Data.
3. Confirm rows are returned. If not, recheck token permissions, Base ID, Table ID, and JSON Path Filter.
   

   Airtable – JSON Driver result

Connect Power BI to Airtable via ODBC

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Go to Home > Get Data > More….
3. Search for ODBC and click Connect.
   

   Power BI – Get data from ODBC connection

4. Select your Airtable DSN from the data source list.
5. Optionally enter a custom SQL query in Advanced options.
   

   Airtable – Power BI select driver

6. Click OK, review the preview, and click Load.
   

   Airtable – Power BI preview

7. In the Navigator, select fields or tables you want to import into your model.

Query Airtable Data with SQL

Use custom SQL queries in the ODBC driver or Power BI to shape data before loading, depending on your database; here are some examples for our table.

Example 1: Select Common Airtable Fields

SELECT
    id,
    createdTime,
    fields_Name AS Name,
    fields_Status AS Status,
    fields_Owner AS Owner,
    fields_Amount AS Amount
FROM records

Example 2: Filter Active Records

SELECT
    id,
    fields_Name,
    fields_Status,
    fields_Priority
FROM records
WHERE fields_Status = 'Done'

Example 3: Recent Records (Last 7 Days)

SELECT
    id,
    fields_Name,
    createdTime
FROM records
WHERE createdTime >= <<today-7d,FUN_TO_DATE>>

Example 4: Group by Status

SELECT
    fields_Status AS Status,
    COUNT(*) AS RecordCount
FROM records
GROUP BY fields_Status
ORDER BY RecordCount DESC

Conclusion

Connecting Airtable to Power BI using the ZappySys ODBC Driver gives you a fast, SQL-friendly way to build analytics on top of Airtable API data. You can centralise operational data, model it in Power BI, and publish dashboards for your team without building custom connectors.

Explore the full capabilities of the ZappySys ODBC Drivers to integrate Airtable and other APIs into your reporting workflow.

The post How to get data from Airtable into Power BI appeared first on ZappySys Blog.

Airtable is a cloud-based platform that combines spreadsheet simplicity with database capabilities. Teams use Airtable to manage projects, operations, CRM workflows, and content pipelines. Many organisations need Airtable data in SQL Server for reporting, analytics, and downstream data integration.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to connect to Airtable APIs using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) with the ZappySys SSIS PowerPack. This approach helps you build repeatable ETL pipelines without writing custom API integration code.

Steps

Get Airtable Personal Access Token

1. Sign in to your Airtable account.
2. Go to your developer hub and create a Personal Access Token.
3. Grant scopes required for reading records (for example, data.records:read and schema.bases:read based on your use case).
4. Allow access to the target base(s) and securely copy the token.
   

   Airtable – Create a token

Get Airtable Base ID and Table ID

1. Open the target table in Airtable.
2. Copy the Base ID and Table ID from the URL or API documentation page.
3. Keep these IDs handy because you will use them in the API URL, for example:
   https://api.airtable.com/v0/{BASE_ID}/{TABLE_ID}

Create an HTTP Connection in SSIS

1. Create or open your SSIS project and package.
2. In Connection Managers, right-click and select New Connection….
3. Select ZS-HTTP from the SSIS connectors list.
   

   Create a new HTTP connection

4. Set Credentials Type to Static token/API key.
5. Paste your Airtable token in the token value field.
6. Click OK to save the connection.
   

   Airtable –  Connection configuration

Create and Configure JSON Source

1. In your SSIS package, navigate to the Variables section and create the following variables:
   1. BaseID(String) — Enter the Base ID.
   2. TableID (String) — Enter the Table ID.
2. Drag a Data Flow Task into Control Flow and open it.
   

   Dragging and dropping Data Flow Task into Control Flow

3. In Data Flow, drag and drop the ZS JSON Source.
   

   SSIS JSON Source – Drag and Drop

4. Open the JSON Source editor and enable Use credentials.
5. Select the Airtable HTTP connection you created earlier.
6. Set the API URL. Example to extract records from a table:
   

   https://api.airtable.com/v0/{{User::BaseID}}/{{User::TableID}}

7. Set HTTP Request Method to GET.
8. Set JSON Path Filter to:
   

   $.records[*]

9. Click Preview to confirm rows are returned, then click OK.
   

   Airtable – JSON Source configuration

Configure Destination Component

1. Add an Upsert destination (or another destination of your choice, such as a Trash destination or a JSON/CSV/XML destination).
2. Connect the output arrow from JSON Source to the destination component.
3. Configure your SQL Server connection and target table.
4. Check the options you want to use: Insert or/and Update
5. Map the source columns to destination columns in the Mappings section.
   

   Airtable – Upsert destination

6. Click OK and execute the package.
7. Validate that Airtable rows have been loaded into your SQL Server table.
   

   Airtable – Upsert Destination example

Conclusion

You now have a working SSIS integration to extract Airtable data using ZappySys SSIS PowerPack and Airtable APIs. With this pattern, you can automate extraction of operational records into SQL Server for reporting and analytics.

Explore the full capabilities of the ZappySys SSIS PowerPack to optimise your data integration tasks. By applying this pattern, you can extend your solution to include transformations, data validation, error handling, and scheduling through SQL Server Agent.

The post SSIS Tutorial: How to get data from Airtable appeared first on ZappySys Blog.