Table Permissions
How to configure table-level permissions in CollabPortals to control what users can view, create, edit, and delete.
Overview
Table permissions control what actions portal users can perform on each table in your portal. You configure these per table, and they apply to all users (or per role if you're using role-based access).
Permission Types
Each table has four independent permissions:
| Permission | What It Allows |
|---|---|
| View | Users can see records in the table |
| Create | Users can add new records to the table |
| Edit | Users can modify existing records |
| Delete | Users can remove records from the table |
Configuring Table Permissions
- 1
Open portal settings
Go to your dashboard, select a portal, and navigate to the permissions configuration page.
- 2
Find the table
Each table from your Airtable base is listed. The user table is also shown but typically doesn't need view permissions (it contains user records used for authentication).
- 3
Toggle permissions
Click the permission toggles to enable or disable each action for the table.
Showing and Hiding Tables
If View is turned off for a table, it won't appear in the portal at all. Users won't see it in the navigation or be able to access it.
This is useful when your Airtable base has tables that are for internal use only (e.g., settings tables, lookup tables, or admin data).
Only enable View on tables that portal users need to interact with. Fewer visible tables means a cleaner, more focused portal experience.
Permission Combinations
Here are common combinations and what they enable:
View Only
- View: On | Create: Off | Edit: Off | Delete: Off
- Users can browse and search records but can't make any changes
- Good for: dashboards, reference data, reporting
View + Create
- View: On | Create: On | Edit: Off | Delete: Off
- Users can see records and add new ones, but can't modify or remove existing records
- Good for: submission forms, intake processes, request tracking
View + Edit
- View: On | Create: Off | Edit: On | Delete: Off
- Users can see and update records but can't add or remove them
- Good for: status updates, data collection, feedback
Full Access
- View: On | Create: On | Edit: On | Delete: On
- Users have complete control over records in the table
- Good for: project management, task tracking, collaborative workflows
Create, Edit, and Delete permissions only work when View is also enabled. Users need to see the table to interact with it.
The User Table
The user table (the one you selected when creating the portal) is special:
- It's used for authentication, matching portal users by email
- You can still enable permissions on it if you want users to see or edit their own record
- Typically, you'd keep it hidden or view-only
How Table Permissions Interact with Field Permissions
Table permissions set the overall access level. Field permissions provide additional granularity within each table:
- If a table has Edit disabled, field permissions for that table are irrelevant for editing, since users can't edit anything
- If a table has Edit enabled, field permissions determine which specific fields users can edit
- Fields set to "hidden" won't appear regardless of table permissions
Next Steps
- Field Permissions - Fine-tune access at the field level
- Role-Based Access Control - Set different permissions for different users