How to Group by a Field with Multiple Linked Records in Airtable

You have an "Events" table set up that includes detailed information like the date, description, and more.

The Events table also has a field that links to a “Topics” table, allowing you to tag events with topics like “coworking”, “consulting”, “affordable housing”, etc.

The issue is when you try to group events by topic. If an event is tagged with multiple topics, like both “coworking” and “consulting”, it shows up in its own combined group instead of appearing separately under each topic.

If you try to view things from the Topics table instead, you can see which events are linked, but it's limited, you can't sort the events by date or view all their details in one place.

So, is there a way to have events appear under each individual topic instead of being grouped into a combined category?

The solution is to create another table that acts as a junction table between Events and Topics. Think of this junction table as the middleman that connects the two.

Instead of linking Events directly to Topics, you'll link both the Events table and the Topics table to this new junction table. So now, both Events and Topics will feed into one shared table.

Each record in the junction table represents a single combination of one event and one topic. For example, if "Event A" is related to 8 different topics like "Topic 1", "Topic 2", "Topic 3", and so on, then you’ll create 8 separate records in the junction table. Each one will link to "Event A" and one of the topics.

This setup allows you to group, sort, and filter your data in a much more flexible way, right inside the junction table.

If you need to see details from the Events or Topics tables while working in the junction table, you can use lookup fields to bring that information in.

Not sure how to set up a junction table? This article can help.