How Knack Works

Watch this 3-minute video, read more, or join an upcoming webinar to get started with Knack.

If you want to dive deeper into Knack, receive additional training, or confirm if Knack is suitable for your specific needs, don't hesitate to check out our Office Hours here!

What is Knack?

Knack is used by everyday innovators at thousands of organizations, from non-profits to enterprise teams, to build applications (apps) to run processes, departments, and even entire companies.

At its core, Knack is a powerful online database. Knack provides a secure location for you to collect and manage your data.

Knack makes it simple to design your Live App to put your data to work. With Knack you can:

Display your data with searches, maps, and calendars.
Automate your data with workflows and tasks.
Empower your data with e-commerce and reporting.
Share your data with logins and user permissions.
Connect your data with other online services.

How does Knack work?

In your Knack account, you can have multiple apps. An app is a collection of data and visual elements like forms, tables, pages with logins, and many more.

Each app can be designed and customized using the Knack Builder.

The Builder is where you define what type of data your app will use and how that data will work together. Your app structure and data is managed in the Data and Records section of the Builder.

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The Pages section of the Builder is where you design how your users can interact with your data using tools like forms, reports, maps, and more.

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Your users will access these pages through the Live App where they can view and update the data that you’ve shared with them.

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Knack hosts a version of your app at a unique URL that is fully functional. However, if you already have a website, you can also embed your app directly into an external website.

See how to embed your app here.

Start Building Your First App

First, sign in to your Knack Builder or sign up for a new Knack account.

Once you’re signed in, click the Start App button. You can create a new app from scratch or use one of our template apps:

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The sample apps are great ways to quickly get started or see how certain apps are built. It’s also simple to start from scratch and build the exact app you want.

Step 2: Design Your Database in Knack.

What can you build with Knack?

The best way to show off what Knack can do is to see some examples. Let’s take a look!

Case Studies

View in-depth case studies of how actual Knack users have built apps to help them build their businesses.

Data Management and Client Applications: Medical Healthcare Network Solutions

"We had hundreds of excel sheets that were wasting so much time. Our clients were constantly contacting us with the same issue. Knack has allowed us to reinvent ourselves as a company. We have less paper, spreadsheets, and confusion. This has allowed us to have more clients, revenue, and efficiency across the board."

Event Manager: Kinetic Events

"Knack changed the way I sell; last year we had 3x growth over the prior year. Since we have a large number of repeat clients, we can easily recall prior events, staffing personnel, images, number of attendees; all the data, instead of having to reinvent the wheel with every event."

See more case studies here.

Sample Apps

We have a library of sample apps. These apps are great to see what is possible using Knack. Test out the different workflows and functionality and see how a finished app is built. On each app's page, you'll find helpful guides to build your own!

See more sample apps here.

Learn More

The Learn More section of our Knowledge Base shows how you can use Knack's features to build powerful functionality into your Knack app. Each guide includes many examples and links to how-to articles that will help you set this up in your own app.