Getting started with Airtable Interface Designer

1. Creator - Creating, editing, publishing, and sharing interfaces.
2. End user - Interacting within published interfaces. This can involve viewing, editing, or commenting on records within an interface.

• Repeatability and data consistency
  • Example: Stakeholders who need to review and approve assets to unblock their teams.
  • Example: An interface for working in sprints
• Granular permissions, including access and security to only certain data
  • Example: End users who need to make individual updates to certain information, like statuses
  • Example: Giving access to a set of data that only corresponds to a subset of Airtable users, like a marketing team
• Simplifying collaboration and insights for users across an organization
  • Example: Leadership and cross-functional partners who need to check in on progress updates and results.
  • Example: Processes that involve action items or assigned tasks.

1. Open a base where you want to build the interface. 
2. Click on Interfaces in the top left portion of the screen.
   
3. There are two possible entry points here:
   1. If this is the first interface in the base, then you'll be brought to a screen where you can click Start building. 
   2. Otherwise, you'll be brought to a base's previously built interface. From here, click the dropdown icon at the top left next to the name of the base and select the Edit option. Then jump down to the "Editing previously configured interfaces" section below.
      
4. Give the new interface a name and customize its color and icon to your liking. Then, click Next.
5. Choose a table layout to create. There are 5 options to choose from (list, gallery, kanban, calendar, and timeline). You'll be able to change this later if needed. Then, click Next.
   
6.  Next, you will connect the chosen layout to a specific table in the base. Then, click Finish.
   

After clicking Finish in the initial setup flow, you'll be brought to the draft version of the interface you are building. This editor provides additional features that include:

1. Record visibility - This option allows interface builders to set specific visibility rules related to which records end users will be able to see and interact within the interface.
2. Visualization picker - This option allows builders to set the default way that data will be shown.
3. Visualization toggle - Toggling on this option allows end users to change the way that the data is shown to them. Builders will choose which specific visualizations to set up and allow end users to interact with.
4. Layout options - Here, builders will modify the specific options related to the visualization(s) that have been chosen. This involves setting default sorts, filters, groups, field visibility, appearance, and more. 
5. Default interface actions - These four general settings (filtering, record details, inline record editing, and record creation) will always be available to disable or enable for end users
6. + Add button action - Sometime, builders may want to create additional, customized actions that end users can perform by clicking a button.

Once you are done building, you can click Publish near the top right portion of the screen. You can also click Done to continue building the interface at a later time. 

Once published, the interface can be shared with other users. The first time an interface is published, we'll open up the share dialog where you can invite other users. After that, you'll want to click Share in the lower left corner of an open interface to add more interface users in the future.

In the record visibility section, you can change the source of the records you want to display. Record visibility can be set to the following 3 options:

1. All records - End users will see all records and any records added in the future
2. Viewer's records only- The interface will dynamically filter records to show only those records corresponding with the logged-in user who is viewing the interface. 
   1. To utilize this option, a user field or email field must be present in the table. Airtable will use the information from the user or email field as a cross-reference for record visibility. 
   2. If your table has two or more of these field types, then you can adjust that by clicking the name of the field currently being used as a reference. In the image below, that is the "DRI" user field:
      
3. Specific records - This option allows builders to set conditions or a group of conditions that will filter out records that don't match those specific conditions.

The visualization picker and toggle offer two general options:

1. Picking a single, static visualization for end users to view and interact with. There are 6 visualizations to choose from. Each visualization shares respective similarities with a corresponding Airtable base view. 
2. Choosing two or more visualizations and allowing end users to pick which visualization they want to view in the interface. When the Allow users to switch visualizations toggle is turned on, a dropdown menu will appear in the upper right corner of the layout where end users can pick how they want to see the data. Visualizations will appear in the section below and each visualization will have additional setup options that are discussed in the next section.

Builders will want to set additional options for each visualization that is included in an interface layout. Each visualization type has slightly different options that correspond to the purpose of that visualization type. In general, each set of visualization options includes the ability to configure settings related to the data being displayed, the appearance of that data, and the visibility of fields within that data set. For example:

• Data - This section can include options related to sorting, grouping, images, and date settings.
• Appearance - This section can include options related to coloring, fitting images, row height, and stacking.
• Fields - This section allows builders to choose which fields are shown or hidden in the visualization.

1. Tabs- This option allows interface builders to configure and name tabs that act as pre-defined filters on the interface page. 
   1. For end users, tabs function as quick filters that allow for switching to another "view angle" within the same interface visualization. For example, in a project tracking interface a builder might set a tab that filters records by each individual stage of project tracking that corresponds to a specific status field (i.e. "Todo", "In progress", "Complete").
2. Dropdowns- This option allows end users more flexibility to choose what information they want to see. 
   1. Configuring 2 or more dropdowns will allow end users the flexibility to drill down into the data. 
   2. Supported field types for dropdowns include single select, multiple select, linked record, user, created by, and lookup or rollup fields that format their results in a way that matches any of these types.

• Within the same interface, these record detail pages are reusable. So, if you need to add the same record detail page in multiple places throughout the interface you are building, then you can simply pick a previously configured record detail page and use it again!
• In most cases, we recommend using sidesheets over fullscreen record details since sidesheets offer additional information while still keeping end users rooted in the overarching workflow.

• We recommend consulting the interface permissions article to learn how permissions in interfaces can be expected to work. 
• Also, remember that field and table editing permissions set in the backend base will overrule any settings made in the interface you are building. 

• Within the same interface, these record creation forms are reusable. So, if you need to add the form in multiple places throughout the interface you are building, then you can simply pick a previously configured form and use it again!
• Similar to the inline record editing functionality covered just above, interface permissions can affect end users' abilities to add records, and field/table permissions will overrule any setting made in the interface. 
• However, it's worth pointing out that in field permissions, enabling the option to Allow this field to be set in records created through forms will allow users to add information to fields that are otherwise locked for creation and editing.

+ Add button action - This option can be used to add additional buttons to the interface page such as adding a link to another interface page, a link to an external URL, or additional record creation forms. Each button has slightly different settings, but they can all be labeled to provide end users with additional context.

• If you have editor permissions or higher in the base connected to the interface, then you can navigate to the base connected to the interface and then click the Interfaces option. This will take you to a page where you can choose an interface. If you prefer, you can also use the method described below.
• If you have interface-only editor permissions or higher, then you can search for the interface you'd like to edit from the Airtable home screen.

At the top left portion of the screen, you'll find a dropdown menu located next to the name of the underlying base data layer.

Click on All pages shown in the right-side settings menu. Clicking this button will reveal any previously configured interfaces and interface pages. Choose the one you want to edit and use the walkthrough guides throughout this article to alter settings for desired results.

1. Click the All pages button. 
2. Click the ... three-dot icon next to the name of the interface or individual interface page that you want to hide, unpublish, or delete.
3. Choose the option for your use case.

From here you can: 

1. Navigate to the underlying base, so long as you have base access
2. Edit the interface, if you have creator permissions in the base or the interface. Editing previously configured interfaces is covered more extensively in the section below.
3. Navigate back to the home screen.

All of the interfaces and interface pages connected to an underlying group can be shown here. End users can navigate between different pages to accomplish their work. Some interfaces or interface pages may not appear if:

• They have not yet been published.
• They were hidden from the navigation. 
• Only one interface has been published, then only the pages from that interface will appear in the navigation. Once another interface has been published, both interfaces will appear in the navigation.

More details are available here.

You can find more about notifications in this support article.

Details are discussed in this article.

First, open an interface that you can edit. Then, click the dropdown next to the name of the base and choose the Edit option. Now, click the All pages button.

Now, you should see a list of all of the interfaces and interface pages associated with the base. Here you can click and drag interfaces or individual interface pages to reorder them. You'll see the order change in the editor as you modify it. However, you will need to Publish the changes before end-users can see the new order appear. 

• On Pro and Enterprise plans, end users may not necessarily have access to the underlying base. If you haven't already consulted the Interface Designer permissions article, then now may be a good time to do so.
• On Free and Plus plans, only base collaborators can see interfaces on a connected base. More on Interface Designer permissions here.

• Users will be unable to see your new interface outside of editing mode until you publish that interface.
• From the share menu, you can share an interface via email with an individual Airtable user or a user group.

Collaborators with Owner or Creator collaborator permissions on a base can create new interfaces and groups of interfaces.

The key here is understanding the audience that will ideally be interacting with the interface you are building. Since all interface pages in an interface are shared with users who have access, you can use different interfaces to provide granular permissions to the underlying information from a base. If you expect that an interface page would be best used by a different group of people, then that is often a sign you should create a new interface instead. 

Yes. For functional reasons, we've capped the number of interfaces per base at 50. Additionally, there is a limit of 50 interface pages per interface.

While interfaces are available to all customers on all plans, the ability to share interfaces separately from the base is restricted to Pro & Enterprise users only.

Not necessarily. It depends on whether the option to allow access to the base was checked when the invitation was sent. Ultimately, only base collaborators can view the underlying base.

Interface Designer will save the most recent changes to an interface. So, if more than one collaborator is editing the same interface, Interface Designer will reflect the last changes to both collaborators.

No, a base collaborator with Commenter or Read-only permissions on a base can't edit or modify a base’s records through an interface. This also means that commenters and read-only users are not able to fill out form elements in interfaces.

If you made a change to an interface or to the elements contained in an interface itself, you must first publish the changes for that interface in order for other collaborators in a base to see those changes.

Please consult the Interface Designer permissions article. In some cases, this might allow access to users who have interface-only permissions (Pro and Enterprise plans). However, in other cases, the user would not be able to access the interface in question.

We do not support duplicating interfaces into another base. You can think of interfaces as being directly tied to the data held in the underlying base, so duplicating an interface to another base would not work in most cases since the underlying bases would be configured differently.

Field and table permissions set in the base will extend and be respected in Interfaces as well.

All Interfaces users will be able to share the Interface further at their permission level or below. For the Enterprise & Pro plans, if workspace sharing restrictions are turned on, then only workspace owners can share the base. See this workplace restrictions article for more information.

No, sharing an interface will share all published interface pages on that interface.

Supported field types for dropdowns include:

• Single select
• Multiple select
• Linked record
• User
• Created by
• Lookup or rollup fields that format their results in a way that matches any of the types listed above