NYACC 2025-03-13 - Grist: free open-source point-and-click database system

Presenter: Brendan Kidwell
Presentation notes and example files: https://1drv.ms/f/c/96508a9eab95409b/Etc5yte6m7RHlzIC45lBZlIBMFYEgoKW0TY72q0ilPqcWw?e=62IkZO
Forum thread: https://nyacctalk.glump.net/d/86-2025-03-13-grist-free-open-source-point-and-click-database-system
NYACC web site: https://nyacc.org/

Have you ever been frustrated with your spreadsheet program, fighting with cell formats when you just want to enter data, or not understanding how to link two spreadsheet tables to each other? Did you use Microsoft Access in the past, and don’t want to use it now because it hasn’t been updated in decades and doesn’t run on Linux?

In this presentation we’ll take a look at Grist, a “low-code” database product that anyone can use to organize hobby, home, or business work. We’ll cover:

- What is a relational database and why would you want to use one?
- Differences between spreadsheets and relational databases.
- How to install Grist.
- What kinds of projects can be done in Grist, and when would you want to use a more advanced system instead?
- Building a solution with Grist: “my home media collection”

If you want to check it out before the presentation: See Grist’s web site ( https://www.getgrist.com/ ), the Documentation ( https://support.getgrist.com/ ), and download the all-in-one Desktop build of the application for your platform ( https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-desktop/releases ).

Captions generated by OpenAI's Whisper AI.