Workspace sharing restrictions
- 23 Aug 2023
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Workspace sharing restrictions
- Updated on 23 Aug 2023
- 6 Minutes to read
- Print
- DarkLight
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Article Summary
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The workspace sharing restrictions feature allows admins and workspace owners to decide whether or not other collaborators can invite new collaborators to the workspace or a base within the workspace they are working in. Additionally, as an additional method to more tightly control access to Airtable, admins and workspace owners on our Business or Enterprise Scale plans can toggle a setting option to prevent future share link creation on a given workspace.
Introduction
| Plan availability | Paid plans only with additional options for Business and Enterprise Scale users |
| Permissions | Enterprise admins |
| Platform(s) | Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app |
| Related reading |
Why use workspace sharing restrictions?
There are three broad use cases where restricting the addition of new collaborators or preventing share link creation allow owners more control over access to a given workspace and/or bases within that workspace:
- Prevent users from intentionally or unintentionally inviting new collaborators to bases with sensitive information (All paid plans).
- Prevent sharing of sensitive information via new share links (Business or Enterprise Scale plans).
- Limit unintended growth of billable users due to uncontrolled workspace invitations (Team or Business plans).
In order to access these settings, workspace owners or admins can navigate to the workspace settings page of the workspace they wish to make adjustments to.
- First, click on the dropdown menu next to the name of the workspace, then click on Workspace settings.
- This will bring up a new page where you can scroll to find the Workspace sharing restrictions section.
- Continue with one of the options covered in further detail below.
Note
Workspace restrictions default to being turned off, so it’s important to remember to consider how you would like to manage workspace invite settings whenever you create a new workspace. Please see the FAQs section on best practices in migrating existing bases to restricted workspaces.
Restrict adding new collaborators
- The first toggle in the Workspace sharing restrictions section can be enabled to Restrict adding new collaborators to this workspace and its bases. Team customers will not see the Prevent the creation of new share links... option as this is a Business and Enterprise Scale plan-only feature.
- As an owner or admin, when this setting is toggled on, you will see the below warning banner in the base or workspace share pop-up window.
- If the workspace has workspace sharing restrictions enabled:
- Only workspace collaborators with Creator or Owner level permissions will be permitted to duplicate the base.
- If the user is a workspace Owner then they can duplicate the base to any workspace.
- If they are a Creator on the workspace then they will only be able to duplicate the base and have the duplicate live within the same workspace.
- Collaborators with Editor level permissions or below will be prohibited from duplicating the base.
- If these restrictions are off, any user with Editor level permissions or higher can duplicate the base.
Prevent new share link creation
- The second toggle in the Workspace sharing restrictions section can be enabled to Prevent the creation of new share links within this workspace’s bases.
- This will restrict collaborators from being able to generate new view share link URLs, however, it will not prevent collaborators with Creator access from generating new form views.
NOTE
This feature is only available to owners or admins in Business and Enterprise Scale plan workspaces.
Restriction experience for non-owners
If you are a creator, editor, commenter, or read-only collaborator in a base or workspace with workspace sharing restrictions turned on, then you will be unable to change the restriction(s) that have been set. Below, you will find more implications on how this might affect certain actions that non-owners may try to take on workspaces and bases with restrictions enabled.
End user experience: Restrict adding new collaborators
If you attempt to add a collaborator in a base or workspace where inviting new collaborators has been restricted, then you will see a message in the invite pop-up window. The message will show you who in your organization to contact in order to have the collaborator added.
Additionally, non-owners will not be able to move a base out of the restricted workspace.
If you attempt to move a base into a workspace that would add new collaborators to that workspace, then you will see a banner in the pop-up dialogue when you attempt to move the base; warning you that the previous collaborator will no longer have access to the base. As a reminder, this will also prevent non-owners from moving the base out of the restricted workspace.
End user experience: Prevented share link creation
If non-owners attempt to create a new share link in a base that does not allow new share links to be created, then you will see that the “Create a shareable grid view link” option is not clickable, with the footer message that the “Workspace owner has restricted link sharing.”
Relatedly, if a non-owner attempts to move a base that contains share links into a workspace with share link restrictions in place, then they will be disallowed from moving the base, and see the following message in the pop-up window:
For existing share links, non-owners will not be able to generate a new view share URL. Additionally, users with “Creator” or “Editor” permissions will not be able to change any of the shared view settings. The message that the “Workspace owner has restricted link sharing” will show near the bottom.
Note
A form in Airtable is technically both a view and a share link, however, the share link creation restriction will not prevent new forms from being created by collaborators with Creator permissions. Also, collaborators with permissions of Editor and above will still be able to generate a new form link on pre-existing forms.
FAQs
Can I see whether a base or workspace is restricted through the API?
Yes - refer to the documentation here.
What is the default setting for this functionality?
If you have access to the workspace share restrictions functionality, as a workspace owner you will be able to see the restriction controls within your workspace settings. The default setting is off/disabled, and will require action from a workspace owner in order to enable.
Are there recommended best practices in transitioning bases to restricted workspaces?
Yes. Sharing restrictions can be enabled for existing workspaces by simply toggling on the option, but we recommend the above workflow to minimize disruptions for existing collaborators who already have access to the data. We recommend the following workflow:
- Create a new workspace with the restriction option toggled on.
- Move the base into the new workspace.
Will admins be able to access workspace invite settings from the admin panel?
A user must have “Owner” permissions on a workspace to access the workspace settings page. This includes access from the admin panel. New workspace owners may be added to a workspace from the “Workspaces” screen of the admin panel.
Is locking down share links on a view-by-view basis or will it be at a workspace level?
Share links will be locked down at the workspace level.
Can you still create forms when view share links are restricted? Does it differ from normal views?
Yes, “Creators” will still be able to create form views so that information can be inputted into Airtable.
Will it still be possible to download CSVs from bases within restricted workspaces?
Yes, downloading CSVs is still possible for internal Airtable collaborators. It’s also possible to download CSVs from shared views where the option “Allow viewers to copy data out of this view” has been toggled on.
The recommended best practice is to create a new restricted workspace, and then move bases into the workspace: does this imply they need to re-invite all collaborators once the base has been moved?
If the move is done by a workspace owner, they will not need to mass re-invite.
How do we remove existing share links to regain control of new view share links?
At this time, you will need to go into each base to remove existing view share links.
If admins disallow view share links, what happens to syncs?
Disallowing view share links will not disable sync, but the workspace owner will need to create the share links which users can then sync from.
Can Creators restrict sharing access on a specific interface?
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