How to create online databases without coding?

Not everyone has to know how to code - and many people can't even answer questions like "what are databases?" or "what are databases used for?". After all, why do we need databases anyway, right?

Everyone needs to manage their data. While today's technologies make our lives so much easier, you no longer need to know coding to create online databases!

In this comprehensive guide, we will empower you to break free from the constraints of coding and dive into the world of online database creation without any programming knowledge. Whether you're a small business owner, a non-technical professional, or simply someone eager to manage data effectively we will help you to create online databases without coding! Get ready to unleash your data management potential and streamline your workflows, all without writing a single line of code.

Let's embark on this coding-free journey and discover the art of creating online databases with ease!

Table of contents

• What is an online database?
• Common use cases for online databases
• Choosing the right database platform
• Planning your database structure
• Building your online database
• Creating tables and defining fields
• Setting up relationships and linking data
• Designing user-friendly forms and views
• Configuring access permissions and roles
• Enhancing user experience with automations
• Importing and exporting data
• Implementing data filters and sorting
• Regular backup and disaster recovery
• Conclusion
• Frequently asked questions about creating no code online databases

What is an online database?

Let's start with the core part and understand what is an online database. Basically, an online database is a digital repository of structured data hosted on a cloud, accessible via the internet connection from any device. The online database provides centralized data storage, organization, and retrieval of data, allowing multiple users to access and control the data simultaneously. Online databases offer convenience, collaborative capabilities, and user-friendly interfaces for managing data without the need for extensive coding or technical knowledge.

Common use cases for online databases

Unlike traditional databases, you can use online databases not only to host your data but also to create business applications with your data. Thus, your database can become not only a data repository but also a functional application for you. Online databases can be applied to various industries and use cases. Some common use cases for online databases include:

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Online databases are widely used for managing customer data, tracking interactions, and improving customer relationship management. They allow businesses to store customer information, track sales activities, and personalize customer experiences.
2. Project Management: Online databases are valuable for organizing and tracking project-related information. They enable teams to collaborate on tasks, manage project timelines, track progress, and store project documentation in a centralized and accessible manner.
3. Inventory and Supply Chain Management: Online databases are effective for inventory management, tracking stock levels, and streamlining supply chain processes. They help businesses monitor stock, manage orders, and track product movements to ensure efficient inventory management.
4. Event Planning and Registrations: Online databases simplify event planning by storing attendee information, managing registrations, and sending automated confirmations and reminders. They facilitate efficient event organization, attendee tracking, and data analysis for future planning.
5. Online Forms and Surveys: Online databases allow businesses and organizations to create and manage online forms and surveys, collect responses, and store data for analysis. They streamline data collection processes and provide insights into customer feedback, market research, and user preferences.
6. Research and Data Management: Online databases support researchers in storing, organizing, and analyzing large datasets. They provide a structured framework for data storage, retrieval, and analysis, enabling researchers to draw meaningful conclusions and insights from their data.
7. Educational Institutions: Online databases are utilized in educational institutions for student information management, grading systems, and course registration. They simplify administrative tasks, provide a centralized platform for student data, and enable efficient communication between students, teachers, and administrators.
8. Marketing Management: Online databases play a crucial role in marketing management by storing and organizing marketing data. They help track marketing campaigns, manage customer segmentation and targeting, analyze campaign performance, and facilitate data-driven decision-making in marketing strategies.

These are just a few examples of the wide range of use cases for online databases and benefits of databases. Their flexibility and scalability make them applicable to diverse industries and organizational needs.

Choosing the right database platform

There are countless online database management tools on the market now, but each one is almost focused on specific use cases. To choose the best online database management tool for your business, there are some critical factors to consider. These factors may vary depending on your business needs. Here we have listed the most essential factors that everyone should consider as inside database information:

1. Ease of Use: Look for a database platform that offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools.
2. No-Code Capabilities: Ensure that the platform is designed specifically for no-code or low-code database creation. It should provide a visual interface that eliminates the need for writing complex code or programming knowledge.
3. Scalability: Consider the scalability of the database platform. Determine whether it can handle growing data volumes and accommodate increasing user demands. A scalable platform ensures that your online database can expand and adapt as your business or project grows.
4. Integration Options: Evaluate the platform's integration capabilities. Check if it can seamlessly connect with other software applications, tools, or services you currently use. Integration capabilities allow for streamlined data flow and facilitate automation between different systems.
5. Security and Data Privacy: Prioritize a database platform that offers robust security measures to protect your data. Look for features such as data encryption, access controls, user authentication, and regular backups. Ensure that the platform complies with relevant data privacy regulations to safeguard sensitive information.
6. Collaboration Features: If you require collaborative work on the database, consider platforms that support multi-user access, role-based access and collaboration features. Look for features such as permission settings, role-based access control, and real-time collaboration capabilities to ensure efficient teamwork.
7. Support and Documentation: Assess the level of support and documentation provided by the platform. Look for resources such as user guides, tutorials, and a responsive support system. A reliable support system can assist you in troubleshooting issues and provide guidance when needed.
8. Pricing and Cost: Consider the pricing structure of the database platform and determine if it aligns with your budget. Evaluate the cost based on factors like storage capacity, number of users, and additional features. Additionally, consider any ongoing maintenance or subscription fees associated with the platform.

Planning your database structure

Planning your database structure is one of the most crucial steps to creating an effective online database after understanding what is a database software. If your data structure is properly planned, it becomes very easy to manage and scale this data. Whether you use a traditional database or an online database, it is critical to plan your database structure well. While planning your database structure, you should definitely consider the relationships between your data, data categories and data types. Here are a few examples for you;

Identify your data categories:

Start by identifying the different data categories or data types you need to store in your database. For example, if you're building a customer management database, you may have categories such as customer information, purchase history, and contact details. Data categories are especially important for getting the most out of unstructured data. Data categorization also helps identify duplicate copies of data. Eliminating redundant data contributes to the efficient use of storage. You can also easily define which data serves what purpose by classifying your data correctly.

Here is an example of categorized data:

Select your data types:

It is very important to determine your data types while creating your online database and to manage your data in accordance with these data types. For example, if you have email data, your online database should know that it is email data, or if you have phone number data, you should tell your online database that it is phone number data. Choosing the right data types for your online databases not only improves your performance by providing the right data management plan but also improves your data integrity by ensuring the right data is stored in a database.

Here are some data-type examples for you:

Consider the relationships between your data:

Understanding the data relationship in your online databases is critical as it allows you to get data from multiple tables simultaneously and helps ensure that the data in databases is consistent and up-to-date. Establishing relationships between data ensures that any changes you make in your data are reflected in real-time in other relevant data tables. So you can always work with consistent and up-to-date data. The best way to relate data is to have databases with reference and look-up features. Thanks to these features, you can give references to data from more than one table in different tables. For example, you may need the name of your employees in more than one table. If you have a table where you keep the information of your employees, you can refer to the data in your main table in other tables where you need this information.

If you need more detailed information about this, you can take a look at the detailed guide we have created about reference data.

Also, we have a Youtube video to explain the steps better! 👇🏻

Building your online database

Creating your own online database may sound difficult, but once you have the right tool that helps you understand how do databases work, it's pretty easy - and the benefits of using a database are vast. Let's check the steps to building your online database without coding!

Choose the right online database tool

‍Choosing an online database platform that fits your needs, without code, is the first step in this business. You should consider your own business needs when choosing this platform. In addition, ease of use and security measures are also very important. With so many online database software options available, it's important to know what to consider when making your decision. Here are the key things to consider when choosing your online database tool:

• Ease of Use
• Scalability
• Security and Privacy
• Collaboration and Sharing
• Integration Capabilities
• Customization and Flexibility
• Reporting and Analysis
• Support and Documentation
• Pricing and Cost

Creating tables and defining fields

Databases consist of tables, tables consist of fields, and these fields consist of data. Therefore, creating your tables and fields while creating your online database is one of the most important steps you need to complete before adding your data to your database.

Once you have chosen your online database tool, you can start by creating a new table and giving it a descriptive name. In each table, define the fields to store your specific data. Name each field appropriately and assign its corresponding data type such as text, number, and date. If there are relationships between your tables, make sure your online database tool allows these relationships to be established. After defining all the required fields and relationships, save your table. Make sure you have effectively structured your fields to organize your data and repeat this process for every table you need in your online database.

Setting up relationships and linking data

Setting up relationships between data is a crucial step in designing a relational database. When working with an online database tool, you can establish relationships between data by following a few important steps. First, you must define the relevant tables in your database. Next, you should make use of the reference column type to link tables. The reference column uniquely identifies the records in the main table, while the lookup columns refer to the reference values in the referenced table. Establish relationships between tables by selecting the relevant reference and lookup fields using the features provided by your online database tool. By establishing relationships and effectively linking data, you can ensure that interconnected information is properly organized in your online database.

Designing user-friendly forms and views

Unlike traditional databases, online database tools allow you to view your data in various views. Thanks to online databases, you can have not only grid views but also smarter and user-friendly data views created with your data. Some of those;

• List view
• Kanban view
• Card view
• Calendar view
• Map view
• Chart view
• Form View

Not all online database tools offer this much variety of views. That's why you should pay attention to the view features when choosing your online database tool. Now we will answer the question of "what are examples of databases", and show you some examples of different smart data views of Retable.

List View:

List view is very effective especially for mobile users. It helps you to see your column names above each row.

Kanban View:

The Kanban view is a widely used view especially for task and status tracking. You can turn your data into a project management application thanks to the Kanban view, and you can easily change the status of your tasks thanks to the drag and drop feature.

Card View:

Card view is one of the most effective ways to visualize data. Thanks to the card view, you can see all your rows as cards. Especially if you have columns such as QR or image, you can have a more readable data view by highlighting them in card view.

Calendar View:

If you have date data in your database, you know that seeing these dates in grid format is not efficient. The best way to view dates is to have a calendar view. Thanks to the calendar view, you can view all your date data in a calendar format. So you can use your online database tool as a meeting calendar or task tracking calendar.

Map View:

Although map view is a rarely encountered data view, the benefits are unbelievable. Thanks to the map view, you can view the location data on a map and have density maps of the locations. Locations can be very important, especially for logistics tracking, warehouse management or customer management operations, and being able to view these locations in a smart map view takes your data management one step further.

Chart View:

Chart view is the easiest way to generate reports from your data. If you cannot report your data, it is very difficult to get insights about them and plan your action steps. With Chart view, you can get meaningful insights from your data in your online database.

Form View:

Form view, or online forms, is the safest way to enter data into your database. With online forms, you can enable people to enter data into your tables without giving access to your database.

Configuring access permissions and roles

Data security is everything! Configuring access permissions and roles is critical to maintaining data security and controlling user access to your online database. You should use a data management and online database tool that allows you to define different user roles and their associated accesses. You can include your teammates in your online database with powers such as owner, editor and viewer. You should regularly review and update access permissions.

Enhancing user experience with automations

Improving the user experience with automations is a powerful way to streamline processes and increase efficiency in your online database. By automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks, you can save users valuable time and effort. Take advantage of the automation features provided by the online database tool to achieve this. For example, you can create automated workflows that trigger actions based on specific events or conditions. This may include sending automatic notifications or emails, automatically updating fields or records, or generating reports on a scheduled basis. By incorporating automations, you can create a more intuitive and seamless user experience, freeing users to focus on higher-value tasks and increasing overall productivity in your online database.

Importing and exporting data

Importing and exporting data is a core capability for efficient data management in your online database. The data import feature allows you to quickly populate your database with available information from various sources, such as spreadsheets or CSV files. The online database tool should provide user-friendly import options that allow you to map fields and match data accurately during the import process. This ensures accurate and consistent data entry. On the other hand, exporting data allows you to extract information from your database in a format that can be used in other applications or shared with stakeholders. The tool should support various export formats such as CSV or Excel and allow you to select specific datasets or apply filters for targeted exports. This makes data analysis, reporting and sharing easy. With the ability to seamlessly import and export data, you can easily integrate external data, maintain data consistency, and leverage your database information in a flexible and accessible way.

Implementing data filters and sorting

Implementing data filters and sorting in your online database allows you to easily search, analyze, and organize information based on specific criteria. Filters enable users to narrow down data based on conditions, while sorting allows arranging data in a desired order. These functionalities enhance data exploration and retrieval, enabling users to find relevant information efficiently.

Regular data backup and disaster recovery

Regular data backups and disaster recovery are vital for protecting your online database. By regularly creating backup copies and implementing a recovery plan, you can minimize the risk of data loss and quickly restore operations in case of system failures or unexpected events. Test and validate your backup and recovery processes to ensure their reliability, and store backups securely to safeguard your data. For example, Retable has a snapshot feature that allows you to get quick data backups.

Conclusion

To sum up, if you're ready to create your own online database without coding, we recommend giving Retable a try. Retable is a powerful and intuitive no-code online database tool that simplifies the process of designing, managing, and collaborating on databases. With Retable's user-friendly interface, you can easily create tables, define fields, set up relationships, and customize forms and views to suit your needs. Whether you're a small business owner, a project manager, or an individual looking to organize your data, Retable offers a seamless experience for creating online databases. Take the next step and visit Retable's website to explore their features and start building your no-code online database today. Empower yourself with Retable and unlock the potential of efficient data management.

Frequently asked questions

Let's answer the most frequently asked questions about what is the purpose of a database:

Can I create complex databases without coding knowledge?

Absolutely! No-code online database tools are designed specifically for users without coding expertise. They eliminate the need to search for "databases definition" or "purpose of database", and instead, allow you to focus on the data itself. These tools provide intuitive interfaces and drag-and-drop functionality to create and manage databases easily. You can define tables, fields, relationships, and even implement automations without writing a single line of code. This way, you don't need to know how do database work, and instead, just focus on the outcomes.

Are no-code online databases secure?

Yes, no-code online databases prioritize data security. They typically offer various security features, including role-based access control, encryption, and regular backups. You can configure access permissions and roles to ensure that only authorized individuals can view or modify sensitive data. It's important to choose a reputable and trusted no-code platform that prioritizes data privacy and provides robust security measures.

Can I collaborate with others on my no-code online database?

Yes, collaboration is often a key feature of no-code online database tools. You can invite team members or collaborators to access and work on the database together. Depending on the tool, you can assign different roles and permissions to control what each person can do within the database. This facilitates teamwork, data sharing, and ensures that everyone stays on the same page when managing the database.

Remember, it's always advisable to consult the specific documentation or support resources provided by the chosen no-code online database tool for more detailed and platform-specific answers to your questions.

If you need to know more about online databases check these, too! 👇🏻

• ‍Smart online data management tools: streamline your business processes
• How online data management tools are revolutionizing teamwork
• Top 10 best no-code data management tools of 2023
• Why online spreadsheets for data management?
• How to create a database from a spreadsheet?
• How to use retable to convert spreadsheets to databases?
• What is a relational database software? A comprehensive guide