Watch Column Events - Simplified Webhooks

Column events let you react to changes at the field level in your Airtable base—when columns are created, renamed, have their type changed, or are deleted. This is separate from record events (which track data changes) and table events (which track table structure).

Overview

Event	Triggers when
column_create	A new column has been created in a table
column_update	A column’s name or type has changed
column_delete	A column has been deleted from a table

Setup

You can register column event webhooks via:

Dashboard: Add a new webhook and select “New Column”, “Updated Column”, or “Deleted Column” as the event type
API: Use the Register Webhook endpoint with event: "column_create", "column_update", or "column_delete"

For all column events, you can optionally specify which tables to watch. Leave the selection empty to watch all tables in the base.

Watch New Columns (column_create)

Triggers when a new column is created in a table.

Payload example

{
  "id": "0abce289-4d03-46ef-80b5-16744c1798a4",
  "event": "column_create",
  "tableId": "tblL70CrLtnGYjKCV",
  "baseId": "appatVcKk6xNFwPej",
  "column": {
    "id": "fld7o1z7xd2KbA3w2",
    "name": { "current": "Text Column" },
    "type": { "current": "singleLineText" }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "client",
    "occurredAt": "2025-07-27T15:19:59.328Z",
    "user": {
      "id": "usrnwwJUfsBR6EMXl",
      "name": "Richard Ahrend",
      "email": "richard@simplified-webhooks.com"
    }
  }
}

Key components

Field	Description
`event`	Always `"column_create"`
`tableId`	The ID of the table containing the new column
`baseId`	The base containing the table
`column.id`	The ID of the newly created column (field)
`column.name.current`	The column’s name
`column.type.current`	The column’s Airtable field type (e.g. `singleLineText`, `number`)
`meta`	Source, timestamp, and user who made the change

Watch Updated Columns (column_update)

Triggers when a column’s name or type is changed.

Payload example (renamed column)

{
  "id": "0abce289-4d03-46ef-80b5-16744c1798a4",
  "event": "column_update",
  "tableId": "tblL70CrLtnGYjKCV",
  "baseId": "appatVcKk6xNFwPej",
  "column": {
    "id": "fld7o1z7xd2KbA3w2",
    "name": {
      "current": "Text Column3",
      "previous": "Text Column2"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "client",
    "occurredAt": "2025-07-27T15:41:06.049Z",
    "user": {
      "id": "usrnwwJUfsBR6EMXl",
      "name": "Richard Ahrend",
      "email": "richard@simplified-webhooks.com"
    }
  }
}

Payload example (type changed)

{
  "id": "0abce289-4d03-46ef-80b5-16744c1798a4",
  "event": "column_update",
  "tableId": "tblL70CrLtnGYjKCV",
  "baseId": "appatVcKk6xNFwPej",
  "column": {
    "id": "fld7o1z7xd2KbA3w2",
    "type": {
      "current": "multilineText",
      "previous": "singleLineText"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "client",
    "occurredAt": "2025-07-27T15:50:21.177Z",
    "user": {
      "id": "usrnwwJUfsBR6EMXl",
      "name": "Richard Ahrend",
      "email": "richard@simplified-webhooks.com"
    }
  }
}

Key components

Field	Description
`event`	Always `"column_update"`
`tableId`	The ID of the table containing the updated column
`baseId`	The base containing the table
`column.id`	The ID of the updated column
`column.name`	`current` and `previous` values when name changed
`column.type`	`current` and `previous` values when type changed
`meta`	Source, timestamp, and user who made the change

Only fields that actually changed are included in column. If only the name changed, type will be omitted, and vice versa.

Watch Deleted Columns (column_delete)

Triggers when a column is deleted from a table.

Payload example

{
  "id": "0abce289-4d03-46ef-80b5-16744c1798a4",
  "event": "column_delete",
  "tableId": "tblL70CrLtnGYjKCV",
  "baseId": "appatVcKk6xNFwPej",
  "column": {
    "id": "fldDBcCb3o1gVRYMG"
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "client",
    "occurredAt": "2025-07-27T15:31:36.055Z",
    "user": {
      "id": "usrnwwJUfsBR6EMXl",
      "name": "Richard Ahrend",
      "email": "richard@simplified-webhooks.com"
    }
  }
}

Key components

Field	Description
`event`	Always `"column_delete"`
`tableId`	The ID of the table the column belonged to
`baseId`	The base containing the table
`column.id`	The ID of the deleted column
`meta`	Source, timestamp, and user who made the change

When to use Column Events

Sync schema changes to external systems when columns are added, renamed, or removed
Audit column renames and type changes
Notify your team when someone modifies the base structure
Maintain documentation that reflects the current table schema
Trigger migrations when column types change (e.g. singleLineText → multilineText)

​Overview

​Setup

​Watch New Columns (column_create)

​Payload example

​Key components

​Watch Updated Columns (column_update)

​Payload example (renamed column)

​Payload example (type changed)

​Key components

​Watch Deleted Columns (column_delete)

​Payload example

​Key components

​When to use Column Events

Overview

Setup

Watch New Columns (column_create)

Payload example

Key components

Watch Updated Columns (column_update)

Payload example (renamed column)

Payload example (type changed)

Key components

Watch Deleted Columns (column_delete)

Payload example

Key components

When to use Column Events