Linked records in Airtable overview

Linked records connect records so you can have the right context within a table or across various tables within a base. They’re how you model relationships between tables without losing sight of what’s connected. You can learn more about linked records here.

Views help you work with the same table in different ways. In a task tracker, you might use one view for everything due this week, another for completed work, and another for overdue items.

What “Limit record selection to a view” does:

• When you turn on Limit record selection to a view, you’re narrowing which records people can pick when they link rows—usually in the linked record picker, and in forms when selection is limited there too. That keeps choices focused and makes picking faster, especially in shared bases or public forms.

• It doesn’t replace base permissions. If someone can read a table, this setting doesn’t hide linked record data from them everywhere—it changes selection, not visibility across the whole base.

A few important notes:

• Picker-first: The setting limits record selection in the picker (and related form behavior). It doesn’t cap how many links a cell can hold, and other workflows can still change links depending on your setup (for example, some automation or copy and paste cases—similar to what we cover in the FAQ on multiple links).

• Order and layout: When a view limit is on, the view you choose can affect which records appear, their order, and the fields shown in the picker. When it’s off, the picker’s default layout and ordering for that table usually follow the first grid view in the linked table—not whichever grid you happen to have open. In Interfaces, record picking can follow different rules, so what you see there may not match the base grid.

• Not a cross-table display filter: This setting doesn’t control how linked records look in your table based on another table’s view, and it doesn’t restyle or “filter away” linked records in cells based on a different view’s configuration.

• Where the setting lives: Linked record fields can limit selection to a view, or filter it by a condition. Both settings apply everywhere the field is used. A form view can choose a different view from the form designer, which replaces the field's view for that form. Conditions can't be overridden in a form view. In interfaces, builders can't override either setting, but they can narrow selection further on each element with Specific records conditions, which add to the field's settings.

Limiting linked record selection to a view in Airtable

1. Open your Airtable homepage.

2. Open the base that you want to update.

3. Create a view in the original table—hosting the linked records—with a filter that only displays the options you want visible as linked record field options when looking at the secondary table.

4. Edit the linked record field.

5. Toggle on Limit record selection to a view.

6. Click the ˅ "Select a view" icon and select your newly created view.

7. Click Save.

   1. After updating your filters, only records in that view are visible when collaborators try to add any to the table’s linked record field.

Limiting linked record selection to a view setup example

In this example, a small start-up company is tracking some bugs in an "Issues" table. The base contains another table where employee information resides. We want to assign an engineering employee to each issue that is filed via a linked record field, but currently, all of the employees show up in the record picker.

1. Create a filtered view - This filtered view in the "Employees" table will be used to limit the record selection in the "Issues" table.

2. Turn on the "Limit record selection to a view" option - Now, we need to limit the record selection to the view we just created in the "Employees" table.

3. Linked record options limited to selected view - The record selection picker will now only show employee records that reside in the "Engineering" view on the "Employees" table.

Using a different view limit on each form

If you build more than one form on the same table, each form can limit the same linked record field to a different view. Set the limit from the form designer rather than from the field configuration — a limit set on the field applies everywhere that field appears, so changing it in one place changes it for every form.

1. Open the form view you want to change.

2. Click the linked record field in the form to expand its settings.

3. Toggle on Limit record selection to a view. If the field already has a limit set in its field configuration, this option reads Limit record selection to a different view.

4. Click Select a view, then choose the view you want this form to use.

5. Repeat for each form, choosing that form's view each time.

A view chosen in the form designer applies to that form only, and it takes precedence over any limit set on the field. A form that doesn't set its own view falls back to the field's limit, or to no limit if the field doesn't have one.

Linking limitations with synced tables

If the table you link to is a synced table, check the following before you limit record selection:

• Synced on-demand tables don't support a selection limit. When the linked table is a synced on-demand table - the table type created by on-demand sync, where records appear in the table only once something links to them - Airtable disables both "Limit record selection to a view" and "Filter record selection by a condition" for that field and shows the message "You can't filter or limit record selections on links to synced on-demand tables." The same restriction applies to linked record elements in interfaces.

• A limited view can only offer the records the sync brings in. When you limit selection to a view of a synced table, collaborators can only pick records that the sync has already added to this base. If the sync's configuration excludes the records your view filters for, the view is empty, and collaborators see nothing to select - the field cannot be filled at all.

If collaborators can't select any record in a linked record field that points at a synced table:

1. Open the view you limited selection to and confirm it still contains records in this base.

2. If it's empty, widen the view's filter, or adjust the sync so that the records you need are included.

3. If the records you need can't be brought into the base, add a second linked record field with no selection limit for the cases the limited field can't cover, or use an automation to set the link. Automations don't evaluate selection limits, so a "Find records" action paired with an "Update record" action can write a link the record picker wouldn't offer.

To filter a linked record field by a condition instead of a view, see Dynamic filtering in linked record fields. A selection condition can only be set on the field, so every form and view on that table shares it. To give each form its own set of options, limit each form to its own view instead.

FAQs