feature

Show a Record's Linked Records as Tabs in Your Portal

A record's linked records can now show as tabs on its detail page, scoped to that record, with inline create, edit and delete. Here is how related tabs and nested tables work, and how to turn them on.

Matt Shepherd
By Matt Shepherd, Founder, CollabPortals
· 4 min read

A record's linked records can now show as tabs on its detail page. Open a project in your portal and you find a Tasks tab next to its details, listing only that project's tasks. Open a property and find its reports. Open a company and find its deals, contacts and notes, each its own tab.

The data was always there in your linked record fields. Until now it was a list of names you clicked through one at a time. Now it reads where it belongs: the children of a record, on that record's page, scoped to it.

What It Does

Turn a linked record field into a related tab and the parent's detail page gains a tab for it:

  • The tab lists only the children of the record you opened. A project's tasks, not every task.
  • It uses the child table's own setup: its view type, fields, filters, sorting and permissions. A Tasks table set up as a kanban shows as a kanban inside the tab.
  • You can create, edit and delete in the tab. A New button adds a child already linked to the parent, so a task added from a project is attached to that project for you.

A record can have several related tabs. A company can show Deals, Contacts and Notes side by side, each a different linked table.

A property's detail page in a portal with Details, Work Orders and Visits tabs, the Work Orders tab showing that property's work orders as a kanban board
A property's detail page, with a Work Orders tab scoped to that property. The tab renders the kanban board the table is set up as.

Each tab has its own URL, so a useful tab can be bookmarked or sent to a colleague and it opens on the same tab. The active tab shows in the breadcrumb too, so a user always knows where they are inside a nested record.

See It in Action

A short walkthrough: related tabs on a record, what your users see, and how to turn them on.

How to Turn It On

The child table needs no link to your user table. The tab follows the parent's link, so it is scoped to the parent for you.

  1. 1

    Set up the child table

    Configure the child table (Work Orders) the way you want it: view type, fields, filters and permissions. The tab inherits this, so there is nothing extra to set up for the tab.

  2. 2

    Turn on the related tab

    Open the parent table (Properties), find the linked record field pointing at the child (the Work Orders field), and switch on Show as related tab.

  3. 3

    Open a parent record

    Open a property in the portal. A Work Orders tab now sits next to its details, listing that property's work orders, ready to add to and edit in place.

The Work Orders field options panel in the portal admin with the Show as related tab toggle switched on
Switch on Show as related tab for the linked field you want to surface.

The same change lets you surface any linked table as a top-level page, even one with no direct link to your user table, using Show as page on the table's Display tab. Useful for shared reference tables everyone should see. Full setup detail is in the related tabs and nested tables docs.

Who This Helps

Any portal with parent and child data benefits, especially:

It pairs with roles and the record filter: set what a role can see with those, then nest the related detail where it reads best.

How It Compares

Showing a record's children on its own page is something most portal tools either skip or charge a platform fee for. Airtable Interface Designer can show linked records, but every viewer needs a paid Airtable seat. App builders like Softr and Noloco support related lists as part of a broader, pricier build.

CollabPortals gives you per-table, per-role related tabs, with inline create, edit and delete, and portal users signing in by email code rather than an Airtable seat. The tab can never widen what a role is allowed to see: it only ever shows that parent's children.

Get Started

Related tabs and nested tables are available now on all plans. Open a table in your portal admin, find its linked record field, and switch on Show as related tab. New to CollabPortals? Start with the getting started guide.