Creating Records
How portal users create new records in CollabPortals, including form fields, required fields, and auto-linking.
Overview
When a table has Create permission enabled, portal users can add new records. CollabPortals generates a form based on the table's fields and their permissions.
Creating a Record
- 1
Click the Create button
On the table view, click the "Create" or "Add Record" button. A form opens with fields available for input.
- 2
Fill in the form
Enter values for each field. Required fields are marked with an asterisk and must be filled in before submitting.
- 3
Submit
Click "Create" or "Save" to submit the record. If validation passes, the record is created in Airtable and appears in the table view.
Which Fields Appear in the Form
The create form shows fields based on their permissions:
| Field Permission | In Create Form? |
|---|---|
| Hidden | No |
| View Only | No |
| Editable | Yes (optional) |
| Editable + Required | Yes (must be filled) |
Computed fields (formula, rollup, count, lookup, auto number, created time, last modified time) never appear in the create form since their values are calculated by Airtable.
To control which fields appear in the create form, adjust their field permissions. Only "Editable" and "Editable + Required" fields are included.
Auto-Linking to the User
When a portal user creates a record, CollabPortals automatically links it to their user record. If the table has a linked record field pointing to the user table, the new record is linked to the current user.
This means:
- Users don't need to manually select themselves
- The linked record field may not appear in the form (it's filled automatically)
- The new record immediately appears in the user's filtered view
Auto-linking only works if the table has a multipleRecordLinks field that points to the user table. Without this link, the record is created but won't be filtered to the user automatically.
Field Types in Create Mode
Each field type has a specific input control in the create form:
| Field Type | Input Control |
|---|---|
| Single line text | Text input |
| Multiline text | Textarea |
| Rich text | Rich text editor |
| Email input | |
| URL | URL input |
| Phone | Phone input |
| Number | Number input |
| Currency | Currency input with symbol |
| Percent | Percentage input |
| Rating | Star rating selector |
| Single select | Dropdown |
| Multiple selects | Multi-select dropdown |
| Checkbox | Toggle |
| Date | Date picker |
| Date + time | Date and time picker |
| Linked records | Dropdown with record names |
| Attachments | File upload |
See Supported Field Types for the full reference.
Validation
CollabPortals validates the form before submitting:
- Required fields must have a value
- Field type validation - emails must be valid format, numbers must be numeric, etc.
- Airtable constraints - single select values must match defined options
If validation fails, error messages appear next to the relevant fields.
Linked Record Fields in Create Mode
Linked record fields appear as dropdowns in the create form. The dropdown options show record names from the target table.
If linked record filtering is enabled, the dropdown only shows records linked to the current user. Otherwise, all records from the target table are shown.
After Creation
After successfully creating a record:
- The record is written to Airtable
- It's automatically linked to the current user (if applicable)
- The user is returned to the table view
- The new record appears in their list
Next Steps
- Editing Records - How to modify existing records
- Field Permissions - Control which fields appear in forms
- Linked Record Filtering - Restrict dropdown options