Managing and sharing interfaces

There are multiple ways to navigate to an interface depending on where you are in Airtable:

1. From the home screen: Navigate to or search for the interface that you would like to share and open it.

2. From inside a base: Click on the Interfaces button in the upper right portion of the screen. Then, choose the interface you want to share. In general, you can open any interface and adjust which interface(s) to share later.

3. From inside the interface editor: If needed, first click Publish to ensure that the interface(s) are up to date. Then, click the Share button next to the Publish button.

4. From a published interface - On the published interface page you will find the Share button in the lower left corner. Clicking this will open up a share dialog with options to configure.

5. From Admin Panel - Business and Enterprise Scale plans only. Learn more in this article.

Under the "What do you want to share" section, click the dropdown and choose to:

• Share only a single interface

• Share many interfaces

• Share all interfaces

The "Invite by email" option will invite users at the specified permission level as an interface-only collaborator. To invite users/groups by email:

• Begin typing in an email address or group name (Business and Enterprise Scale only). Continue adding more email addresses or groups as needed.

• Next, set which permission level you would like these users to have in the interface.

• You can also optionally choose whether to "Notify people." When this option is on you can also type out a message that will appear as an email to the invitees.

• Click Invite once you are ready to send the invitation.

Alternatively, you can Invite by link:

• Click + Create new link

• Set the permission level

• Choose whether to allow access to the underlying base ( You will not see this option if you are a user with interface-only permissions)

• Set an email domain restriction (1 maximum)

Note

More information on interface permissions is available here

The general access section allows interface builders to set more global, over-arching rules for which visitors can access one or more interfaces. Click the dropdown (sometimes an Edit button will appear) and either:

• Apply a setting to all interfaces

  • Anyone at {your organization} - This option will automatically allow other users across your organization the ability to access the interface at Commentor or Read-only interface permissions. Admins can toggle whether to prevent organization-wide sharing from the "Sharing & data" menu's "Prevent organization-wide app interface sharing" setting in Admin Panel.

  • Only invited users - This is the default option

• Customize access by interfaces

  • This option will open another configuration screen

  • Here, you will be able to find a specific interface to share, set "Who can access" the interface, and see the current "Permission" for that interface if it has been configured to allow "Anyone at {your organization}."

  • When allowing anyone at your organization to access the interface the only options are "Read-only" or "Commenter" interface collaborator permissions. To add users as an interface-only collaborator, use the "Invite by email" option listed in Step 3 above.

Now that you've shared access with other users, you might want to communicate this in other ways. You can either:

• Click the Copy link button from the share menu

• Or copy the browser URL

  • Share links sometimes differ from a unique interface browser URL.  Sometimes, there may be a sidesheet or expanded record open, these will also include the specific record you are viewing. So, not only can you share a particular interface, but you can also share a specific page or a specific record within an interface page via the URL. These URLs are also especially helpful for use in Airtable automations.

In some cases, some hidden data that powers elements on your interface page may be accessible to users who are technical and can inspect your pages closely. This is possible in these scenarios:

• Field values that are used for charts are sent to a client. Consider the dashboard below that shows data for 28 deals in the pipeline. The chart shows the sum of the all the estimated value of each deal per stage. Even though you can’t tell the deal worth for each of the individual deals by looking at the chart, if you inspect the network logs, you could see the individual values for each deal.

  

• Conditionally hidden field values on record detail pages can always be accessed. In the following example, “Estimated Value” is only shown when the opportunity Priority is “Very Low.” However, in the network logs, you can always see the “Estimated Value” for each record no matter what the Priority field is set to.

  

1. Navigate to the base of your choice and click the Interfaces option at the top left portion of the base. You’ll need creator permissions in the base to be able to adjust the share settings described below.

2. Next, click the Share button at the bottom left portion of the page.

3. Click the Share publicly tab within the sharing dialog.

4. Click into the box below the “Which page do you want to share publicly?” section.

5. Choose the interface page that you want to share.

6. Then, toggle on the “Share selected page publicly” option.

7. Since sharing information publicly could potentially expose hidden information, you’ll need to confirm that you understand this potential factor by clicking the blue Enable public sharing button.

8. Once you’ve enabled public sharing for the interface page a share link will be generated. From here you can configure link access settings, require a password, disable the link, or generate a new link as discussed in more detail in this article. Additionally, you can choose to create embed code that can be used to show this interface page on some other web-based surface. Click the link at any time to see how the interface page will appear to end users who access the publicly shared interface page.

Standard interface pages and publicly shared interface pages have different functionality. Some attempts to access unavailable functionality may trigger a sign-up/login flow, since logging in to Airtable and accessing an interface shared with you would reveal that feature or functionality. Learn about those differences below:

• View the main section above for a detailed list of unsupported layout types.

• Only 1 level of record detail pages can be shown on a public interface page. For example, linked records cannot be expanded from within record detail pages even if the “Click into record details” option has been enabled for that linked record field.

• Similarly, cells containing foreign keys (i.e. linked records) cannot be expanded. This most often occurs in grid visualization records/cells or within record detail pages as mentioned above.

• Record detail pages can only be shown as sidesheets. Record detail pages configured as full-screen layouts will be rendered as sidesheets on public interface pages.

• Commenting and revision history are unavailable on public interface pages.

• Charts and numbers will not be shown in public record detail pages.

• Linked records will only reveal the primary field value of the linked record from another table. Other field values will not be shown.

• Linked record visualizations are unavailable on public interface pages. Those users who have access to the underlying interface can click the View data button to view the linked records within the interface which will trigger the sign-up/login flow.

• Interface page buttons that link to a non-public interface page or buttons that would add a record will trigger the sign-up/login flow in order to access that functionality.

• The following button actions are unsupported in public interface pages: Update record, Delete record, Copy link to record, Apply record template, Go to URL in record.

• Search for collaborators by name or email.

• Filter the list of users shown by clicking the "Permission" access level and/or "Interfaces" they have access to.

• See and change the permissions of access for users - Click the "Permission" level of an individual user or group to change it.

  • You can only change permission level access for other interface collaborators at or below your permission level. Otherwise, users with base or workspace access must be changed from those respective locations' share menus.

  • From this menu, you can remove access to an interface for your own user account only when you are an interface-only collaborator. If you are a base or workspace collaborator, you will need to adjust your permissions in those respective locations' share menus.

• Additionally, by clicking Requests you can manage any open requests for access, which is covered in the next section below.

1. Navigate to the interface where you want to apply this setting in Edit mode.

2. In the properties panel on the left side of the page, click the … icon.

   

3. Click the toggle next to the “Prevent external users from seeing each other” option so that it is turned on/green.

4. There is no need to re-publish the interface as the changes will take immediate effect.

5. As a builder:

   • You will still be able to see all internal and external collaborators on the interface even when this restriction is turned on.

   • You can leverage the “Preview” experience to view the interface through the eyes of an external vendor collaborator.

     

Note

This setting is applied on a per-interface basis meaning that if you have multiple interfaces where internal and external collaborators have access, you will need to change this setting for each interface individually. Additonally, this setting cannot be applied on an indvidual interface page basis.

When this setting is enabled:

• External users will have a redacted interface experience. They will only be able to see internal collaborators (from the enterprise in which the base was created) and external collaborators with the same email domain as themselves. Note that external users with free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc) will not be able to see other users and are not considered to be on the “same email domain.”

  • Collaborator list dropdowns (comment mentions, user fields, user filters) - When the visibility restriction is enabled, external users will only see internal collaborators and collaborators on their same email domain.

    

  • Comment authors and mentions - When the visibility restriction is on, external vendors will see all comment authors and mentions, but the collaborator tokens will be redacted (shown as “Unknown”) unless the user is an internal collaborator or on the same email domain.
    

    

  • Manage collaborators in share dialog - When the visibility restriction is enabled for any interface in the app, external vendors will not be able to see/click on the Manage collaborators button on the interface share dialog. This ensures they will not have access to the full list of collaborators.

• Interface builders and internal collaborators will be able to see both internal and external collaborators on all of the surfaces covered above.

• When this toggle is turned on, only users with base access are able to share the interface with other users.

  • Users with interface-only access will not be able to share the interface with other users.

  • Users with interface-only access can still request access for other users and the workspace owner(s) will ultimately decide if access to the interface is granted.

  • This feature is on a per-interface basis. For bases that contain multiple interfaces, this option will need to be configured for each separate interface.

  • Creators will also be able to invite new users by email. However, to limit new users from getting access without approval, they will no longer be able to view or manage invite links. The Invite by Link tab will be disabled in the Share dialog.

• When this toggle is turned off (default), users with interface or  base access are able to share the interface with other users.

  • This means that a user with interface-only access can grant interface-only access to other users at or below their permission level.

• If a workspace has workspace sharing restrictions enabled, sharing will always be disabled for all bases and interfaces within that workspace.

• This feature is only available to Creators/Owners with base access on paid plans.

1. Navigate to an interface in "edit" mode. Then click the Pages button on the left side of the page if the sidebar isn't already open.

2. Hover over the interface that you would like to restrict.

3. Click the ... icon.

4. Toggle on/off the Restrict interface sharing setting.

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

From "Edit" mode in an interface:

1. Click the Pages button in the upper left corner of the screen if the left sidebar isn't already open.

2. Find and hover over the interface page you want to perform an action on. This will reveal new icons.

3. Click the eye icon to show or hide and interface page from end user's navigation menu.

4. Click the ... icon to open a menu where you can Rename, Duplicate, Delete, Clear unpublished changes, or mark the interface page as a draft by toggling the Keep as draft option.

You'll also see when the page was last published, if it ever has been published

If you made a change to an interface or layout, you must first Publish the changes for that interface in order for other collaborators in a base to see those changes. Keep in mind that interfaces marked as a draft cannot be published until that option has been toggled off.

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. More on sharing bases with users is available here.

Yes. Learn more about that feature here.

If you share an interface URL with someone who is not an invited collaborator, they will not be able to see the contents of the interface. They will have the ability to request access to see the interface, but their request will have to be approved by a base creator before they are able to access it.

Yes, interface creators can duplicate an interface and all of its pages or even individual pages. In edit mode, click the ... icon/spillover menu next to the name of the interface or specific page that you want to duplicate. When the spillover menu opens, you'll see the option to Duplicate appear. As mentioned below, it's only possible to duplicate the interface or interface page in the same base not to another base.

We do not support duplicating an interface or an interface page into another base because an interface’s configuration options rely on the underlying base’s structure (field names, source tables, etc.) to build the interface layer.

Any changes made to an interface in editing mode will automatically be saved. So you can choose to publish changes to an individual interface whenever you are ready.

Yes, customers on Business or Enterprise Scale plans can set up an individual interface page to be shared publicly and then configure embed code to use outside of Airtable.

For Free and Team plan users, bases and share view embeds are the best Airtable features for embedding Airtable content in external locations.

Users on all plan types can embed standalone forms as covered in this article.

This is usually due to that page being in a "Draft" state. To remedy this, hover over that page in edit mode, click the ... icon and toggle the "Keep as draft" setting off. Then republish the interface by clicking Publish.

Changes made to an interface page can be reverted up until the page is published. If you wish to revert the configuration edits that were made prior to publishing, click the three dots ... next to the page name and then click the Clear unpublished changes option. Note: 

• The current published version of the page and the version in the interface building editor will now match until new edits are made. 

• Unpublished changes will only clear from the main interface page you're editing. Changes made to other interface pages or record detail pages within this interface page will not be cleared.

The last remaining page on an interface cannot be deleted. Either the entire interface must be deleted or a new page must be added to the interface in order to delete the undesired page.

Each interface is allowed to have a maximum of 5,000 collaborators. If you attempt to add a collaborator or a group of collaborators and that exceeds the limit, you will receive an error message.

Sharing an interface will share all published interface pages on that interface. Consider creating a different interface containing just that single interface page to accomplish your intended goal of just sharing that individual page.

Interfaces connected to workspaces on our Business or Enterprise Scale plans can share individual interface pages publicly

While interfaces are available to all customers on all plans, the ability to share interfaces separately from the base is restricted to paid plan workspaces only. Additionally, interfaces connected to workspaces on our Business or Enterprise Scale plans can share interface pages publicly.

If organizational sharing has been set up in the “General access” configuration (Business and Enterprise Scale only) covered in step 4 here, then those users will be able to access the interface at the configured permission level. Otherwise, users will be sent to their home screen where a pop-up will allow them to Request access to the interface.

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