Interface layouts are the design framework within a given interface page, filled with elements. Airtable offers prebuilt layouts containing a set of elements targeted toward certain workflows. Think of layouts as a recipe that you can adjust to fit your individual needs.

In this article, we will cover the record detail layout, which can be used to provide:

• More detail about a specific record like a Project or a Campaign

• An opportunity to work with related data like Tasks or Assets

• A collaborative surface for your team to comment, make edits, and take action with buttons

Introduction

Showing record details in Interfaces

Record detail pages are an important part of most workflows that are powered by Interfaces in Airtable, and allow your users to see more information about and work with specific records (like a project or a marketing campaign) when they click on that record from another page in your Interface. record detail pages allow your users to use your Interface to:

• See more detailed information about that record by viewing more fields.

• Take action in a workflow by editing the record’s data and clicking on buttons.

• Explore and work with related data using linked records (e.g. viewing and adding tasks for a project record).

• Comment on the record to ask questions and keep your collaborators up-to-date.

There are two ways to set up a page in your Interface to allow your collaborators to open record detail pages, and they work slightly differently depending on which layout your page is using.

Managing and reusing record detail layouts

Record detail layouts correspond to a specific table in the Base that is used to store data presented in your Interface. A record detail layout you create to show records in a specific table (e.g. Projects) can be reused on any page in the same interface from which you allow your collaborators to click into record details. 

When you enable collaborators to click into record details from a new page, if a record detail layout has already been created for the table that contains the type of records shown on that page, it will automatically be reused. You can see the different pages where a record detail layout is used in the sidebar when viewing that record detail layout in edit mode.

You can also create different record detail layouts for the same table if you want to display different fields of that record from different pages of your Interface. To manage the different record detail layouts for a specific table:

1. Open a page that shows records from that table in edit mode.

2. You will see a list of the available record detail layouts from the sidebar

3. Create a new layout or duplicate an existing layout as needed.

4. Click on the Customize button to view and edit that record detail layout.

Full-screen and Sidesheet record detail pages

There are two options for how record detail pages are displayed within an Interface:

1. Sidesheet - This option shows the record detail layout in a drawer that slides out from the side of the page on top of the original page, keeping the original page in view.

2. Full-screen - This will open the record detail layout on a new page that takes up the entire screen.

Record detail pages display as a sidesheet by default, but this can be changed at any time, with no loss or change to the contents of the record detail layout. You can toggle between these options in the sidebar when viewing a record detail layout in edit mode.

Adding fields

Record detail layouts allow you to lay out a more detailed view of a record by adding different fields from that record to the page.

A new record detail layout will show up to 10 fields of a record, and any further fields will be hidden. A list of fields that are shown on the record detail page and hidden can be found in the sidebar when viewing the record detail layout in edit mode.

You can show or hide fields in two ways:

1. By hovering over the field in the sidebar and clicking on the Show or Hide icon that is displayed. The field will then move to a different location in the list of fields to indicate that it is now shown or hidden, respectively.

2. By clicking and dragging a field from the Hidden to Visible section within the sidebar or vice-versa.

You can customize the appearance of a field that you choose to show on a record detail layout, as well as make that field editable by other collaborators. For more information on making fields editable, see Making elements editable for collaborators. Sections provide a way to group related fields together and make it easier for your collaborators to navigate a record detail layout with many fields. To learn more about sections, see Using sections later in this article.

Changing the title of the layout

The title, shown at the top of a record detail layout, shows one particular field that is intended to help collaborators identify the record in question. By default, the primary field for the record is used as the title.

To change the field used for the title:

1. Open the record detail layout in Edit mode

2. Click on Title in the sidebar

3. Select a different field to use as the title from the Field dropdown.

Adding button actions

Button actions allow you to add buttons that appear at the top of a record detail layout and are intended to highlight important actions that you expect collaborators to take on the record. You can add multiple button actions at the top of a record detail layout, but button actions beyond the first one will be available in a … menu to make the best use of horizontal space.

Buttons you add here could be used to update records, run an automation, or link to other pages in or outside of Interfaces. For more information on what is possible with buttons, see our Interface element: Button article.

To add a button action to a record detail layout:

1. Open the record detail layout in Edit mode.

2. Click on Actions in the sidebar.

   

3. Click on Add button action.

   

4. The button will appear at the top of the Record Detail layout. Set the Action that will be taken when a collaborator clicks on the button and customize the visual appearance in the sidebar.

   

Button actions can also be added to sections of a record detail layout so that buttons can be grouped with relevant fields and displayed in the appropriate place on the page. For more information about sections, see Using sections below.

Enabling comments

Comments are an important feature of record detail layouts and allow your collaborators to work together on the record in question (e.g. asking for updates on a Project record). For more information on commenting in Airtable, see Commenting on records and @mentioning collaborators.

Comments can be toggled on for a record detail layout, and are off by default. To toggle comments on:

1. Open the record detail layout in Edit mode.

2. Toggle Comments on in the sidebar.

3. The comments panel appears in a fixed location at the bottom of the screen (for Record detail pages viewed as Sidesheet) or the right of the screen (for Record Detail pages viewed Full-screen).

Using sections

Sections are a feature of record detail layouts that allow you to group related fields and button actions together to make it easy for collaborators to navigate the record detail page and find what’s most important to them. Sections are optional, but make sense for most record detail layouts.

Adding a new section

There are two ways to add a new section to your record detail layout. In both cases, open a record detail layout in Edit mode, then either:

1. Click on + New Section in the sidebar which is located between the Visible and Hidden sections.

   

2. On the page canvas, click and drag an existing field to the top or the bottom of the list of fields shown on the page.

   

3. An + Add section area will appear. Drop the field there to create a new section containing that field.

Moving fields to a new section

There are two ways to move fields to a section that you have added. In both cases, open a record detail layout in Edit mode, then either:

1. Click on a field in the sidebar and drag it into the section in the sidebar you want to move the field.

   

2. Click on a field on the page canvas and drag it into the section on the page canvas you want to move the field.

   

Adding button actions to a section

You can also add button actions to a section to place a button action near a related group of fields. Sections can contain multiple  To add a button action to a section:

1. Open the record detail layout in edit mode.

2. In the sidebar, hover over the section name and click on the Options link that appears.

   

3. In the sidebar, click on + Add button action.

   

4. The button will appear within the section. Set the Action that will be taken when a collaborator clicks on the button and customize the visual appearance in the sidebar.

   

Adding a title to a section

You can add an optional title to a section to give collaborators more context on what the group of fields represent, or what they should do with the fields and button actions in that section. To add a title to a section:

1. Open the record detail layout in edit mode.

2. In the sidebar, hover over the section name and click on the Options link that appears.

   

3. In the sidebar, toggle on Show section title.

   

4. The section title will appear on the page canvas. Click on it twice to begin editing the text and click outside of the section title or press Enter when you’ve finished editing to save the title.

   

Adding a description to a section

You can add an optional description to a section to give collaborators instructions on what to do with the fields or button actions in that section. To add a description to a section:

1. Open the record detail layout in Edit mode.

2. In the sidebar, hover over the section name and click on the Options link that appears.

   

3. In the sidebar, toggle on Show section description.

   

4. The section description will appear on the page canvas. Click on it twice to begin editing the text and click outside of the section description or press Enter when you’ve finished editing to save the description text.