Deleting Records

Overview

When a table has Delete permission enabled, portal users can remove records. Deletions are permanent, and the record is removed from your Airtable base.

Deleting a Record

1. 1

   Find the record

   In the table view, locate the record you want to delete.

2. 2

   Click the Delete button

   Click the delete icon on the record's row. A confirmation dialog appears.

3. 3

   Confirm deletion

   Review the confirmation message and click the confirm button to proceed, or "Cancel" to go back.

Deleting Several Records at Once

On a table page you can let users tick several rows and delete them together. It is off by default, because many tables are read as lists and do not need a checkbox on every row.

To turn it on, open the page in the portal editor, go to the Display tab and switch on Let users select rows to edit or delete them together under Bulk actions. Like the other page settings it is set per role.

With it on, each row gets a checkbox, and the header checkbox selects every row on the page. Hold Shift and click a second checkbox to select every row between the two. While rows are selected a bar appears with Delete, which asks "Delete these 3 records?" and deletes them only once the user confirms with "Delete 3 records".

• It follows the role's permissions. Delete only appears for a role with Delete permission, and only records that role can see are deleted.
• Only rows on screen. A selection covers the rows currently loaded: one page of up to 100, or up to 500 on a grouped table. Moving to another page, filtering, searching or sorting clears it.
• If some fail. The user is told how many were deleted and why the rest were not, and the ones that failed stay selected so they can try again.
• Table pages only. Gallery, kanban, calendar and FAQ pages, and related tabs on a record's page, have no checkboxes.

The same bar can edit records too. See Editing Several Records at Once.

Confirmation Dialog

CollabPortals always shows a confirmation dialog before deleting. This prevents accidental deletions. The dialog clearly states what will be deleted and asks the user to confirm.

The dialog's wording follows what you call a row on the table's Labels tab. Out of the box it asks "Delete record?" and confirms with "Delete Record"; set the record name to "job" and it asks "Delete job?" and confirms with "Delete Job".

Permission Requirements

For a user to delete records:

1. The table must have Delete permission enabled
2. The table must also have View permission enabled (users need to see records to delete them)
3. The user can only delete records that are visible to them. On a table set to "Only their own records" that is the records they own; on one set to "Everyone (all records)", every record in the table is visible and therefore deletable. See Record Ownership.

If you're using role-based access, delete permission can be granted to specific roles only.

What Happens After Deletion

After a record is deleted:

1. The record is removed from Airtable
2. The table view refreshes to reflect the change
3. Any linked records in other tables that referenced the deleted record will have that link removed (standard Airtable behavior)

Restricting Delete Access

If you want to prevent users from deleting records:

• Check the table's record visibility first - Delete permission on a table set to "Everyone (all records)" lets any portal user delete any row in it. Scope the table to each user's own records, or leave delete off. See Record Ownership
• Disable delete for the table - Turn off Delete permission in table permissions
• Use roles - Give delete permission only to admin or manager roles via role-based access

Next Steps

• Table Permissions - Control delete access
• Viewing Records - How records are displayed
• Role-Based Access Control - Restrict delete to certain roles

Using the MCP Connector

The MCP connector turns bulk actions on or off with set_bulk_actions, which takes the page's id and allowBulkActions: true or false.