Managing user access to workspaces and bases

The admin panel allows you to manage users and what they have access to. For more information on removing or adding collaborators within the Airtable UI check out this section that covers the ins and outs of collaboration. However, as an admin, it is preferable to use the admin panel as you are only able to remove or add collaborators in the Airtable UI in bases or workspaces in which you are a collaborator.

Introduction

Overview

Occasionally, it is necessary to add another user to an existing workspace or base or modify an existing user’s access. These circumstances include:

• The original owner of the workspace has been deactivated
• You as the admin want to investigate what data is stored in a workspace or base

Note that there is a difference between deactivating a user and removing them from a base or workspace. Deactivating a user prevents them from being able to log in to Airtable in the future. Removing a user only removes their existing workspace and/or base privileges, but the user could log back into Airtable and create new workspaces and bases.

These actions are often done in tandem. For example, when a user leaves your organization, you want to deactivate their account such that they can no longer access Airtable. You may also want to transition all of their workspaces to a new owner to properly steward the information the user stored in Airtable which you can do by using the “Remove enterprise collaborator” option.

Managing users on a workspace

First, navigate to the Workspaces page in the Admin Panel.

Then, click on the number of collaborators under the Collaborators column. This will cause a Collaborators pop-up window to appear. You can also click on the number under the Owners column if you are strictly looking to manage the owners of the workspace.

In the GIF below, you'll see that from the Collaborators pop-up admins can adjust a user or group's permission level via the drop-down. Additionally, users or groups can be removed by clicking the checkbox next to their name and then clicking the "Remove x collaborators" button that appears.

To add users or groups as collaborators to a workspace, click the "+ Add collaborators" button in the upper right corner of the window. This will open a new page where you can search or scroll for the user(s) you want to add to the workspace. Click the checkbox next to their name and then choose the permission level you would like that user or group to have.

Transferring Workspace ownership

Airtable requires that all workspaces have at least one user who is an owner of the workspace. You will not be able to perform any actions to remove or change the permission level of that workspace owner.

At the top of the page, there is an option to "Add collaborators" to the workspace. Alternatively, you can adjust the permission level of existing workspace collaborators. Once another collaborator has been given owner permissions you can remove the original owner. Many admins refer to this as “transferring ownership” of the workspace from one user to another.

Managing users in a base

Similar to how you can remove users from a workspace, you can also remove them from a particular base via the Bases page of the Admin Panel.

Start by clicking on “Bases” in the sidebar on the left.

If you click on the number of collaborators in the Collaborator column, then you’ll see a pop-up appear that lists all collaborators and their permission levels in that base. You can then click on the permission drop-down to change the permission level of the user or group.

Adding or removing users can also be accomplished in this window. To add a user to the base, then click the "+ Add collaborators" button in the upper right corner of the window. If you want to remove a user or group from a base, click the checkbox next to their name. This will cause a button to appear in the spot where the "+ Add collaborators" option was.

Note that you are not able to remove workspace collaborators from the “Base management” section. The checkbox and permission level of the user will not be clickable. Removing those collaborators will require you to follow the steps in the section above.

Remove a user from all workspaces and bases

Sometimes, you want to remove a user from all workspaces and bases that they collaborate on. This is often done after a user leaves an organization. The steps for removing (and adding) collaborators in the admin panel are outlined in this support article.

Programmatically removing users

All of the actions covered in the section above are also supported in our Admin API. If you need to remove a user from many workspaces and bases or want to automate this process more generally, then you should consider using the Admin API.

FAQs

What is the difference between deactivating and removing a user?

Deactivating a user prevents them from being able to log in to Airtable in the future. Removing a user only removes their existing workspace and/or base privileges, but the user could log back into Airtable and create new workspaces and bases.