Field Permissions

Overview

Field permissions let you control visibility and editability for each individual field in a table. While table permissions control broad actions (view, create, edit, delete), field permissions fine-tune exactly which data users see and interact with.

Permission Levels

Each field can be set to one of four permission levels:

Level	Icon	Description
Hidden	-	Field is not visible to portal users
View Only	Eye	Field is visible but cannot be edited
Editable	Pencil	Field can be viewed and edited
Editable + Required	Pencil + asterisk	Field must be filled in when creating or editing records

Configuring Field Permissions

1. 1

   Open portal settings

   Navigate to your portal's configuration page and find the table you want to configure.

2. 2

   Expand the field list

   Click on a table to see all its fields listed with their current permission levels.

3. 3

   Set each field's permission

   Use the dropdown or toggle for each field to set its permission level. Changes are saved automatically.

How Field Permissions Work

Hidden Fields

Hidden fields are completely invisible to portal users. They don't appear in:

• The data table view
• Create forms
• Edit forms

Use hidden fields for internal data (IDs, notes, formulas) that portal users don't need to see.

View-Only Fields

View-only fields appear in the data table and record detail views but are not editable. They show as plain text without input controls.

Good for: calculated fields, status fields managed by your team, reference data.

Editable Fields

Editable fields appear in both view and edit modes. Users can modify these values when editing a record or filling them in when creating a new record.

Editable + Required

Same as editable, but the field must have a value. If a user tries to submit a form without filling in a required field, they'll see a validation error.

New Fields from Airtable

When CollabPortals detects new fields in your Airtable base:

1. The new fields appear in your field permissions list
2. They are set to hidden by default
3. You can change their permissions to make them visible

Interaction with Table Permissions

Field permissions work within the context of table permissions:

• If a table's View permission is off, field permissions don't matter, since the entire table is hidden
• If a table's Edit permission is off, editable fields will display as view-only
• If a table's Create permission is on, editable and required fields appear in the create form

Example

Table Permission	Field Permission	Result
View: On, Edit: Off	Editable	Displays as view-only
View: On, Edit: On	Editable	Fully editable
View: On, Edit: On	Hidden	Not visible at all
View: On, Create: On	Editable + Required	Required in create form

Computed Fields

Some Airtable field types are always read-only regardless of permission settings:

• Formula fields
• Rollup fields
• Count fields
• Lookup fields
• Auto number fields
• Created time fields
• Last modified time fields

These fields can be set to "View Only" or "Hidden" but cannot be made editable since their values are calculated by Airtable.

Best Practices

• Start restrictive - Begin with fields hidden and selectively reveal what users need
• Hide internal fields - IDs, internal notes, and admin-only flags should be hidden
• Require key fields - Use "Editable + Required" for fields critical to your workflow
• Review after Airtable changes - When you add fields in Airtable, remember to update their permissions in CollabPortals

Next Steps

• Table Permissions - Set table-level actions
• Role-Based Access Control - Different field permissions per role
• Supported Field Types - How each field type renders