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Creating public tables from secret master table

  • February 7, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 64 views
J

I’d like to be able to write log data to a “master” table, but create filtered “public” tables.

in other words:

userid     -     event

121        -      crash
122        -      reboot
121        -      reboot

That’s everyone together, and I want that private. But I want to make publicly visible tables:

eg: where ID = 121 AND EVENT = REBOOT

But without the user viewing “their” table being able to simply change the IMPORTDATA formula to see what ID 122 has been up to. This seems to be beyond the capability of Google Sheets and something which would attract me to airtable. Happy to learn how, but want to know it’s possible before I commit my weekend to learning AirTable

Thanks!

5 replies

Z
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  • Zollie
  • Inspiring
  • February 7, 2020

I’m just going to focus on permissions.

Vanilla Airtable

Because you’d like to limit data visibility for your users, you’ll have some restrictions with an Airtable-only solution. (1) Anyone with editing abilities will be able to see everything in the base. (2) But filling out individual forms (creating one row of data at a time) and viewing grid data are both possible within limited views. You also don’t need to pay for those users.

Airtable with 3rd Party Tools (API, integrations)

But if you use multiple bases and connect them with external tools, it’s possible to create these silos without restrictions. But there are most certainly implementation hurdles in this direction.

    J
    • Jonathan_H1
    • New Participant
    • February 17, 2020

    I’m just going to focus on permissions.

    Vanilla Airtable

    Because you’d like to limit data visibility for your users, you’ll have some restrictions with an Airtable-only solution. (1) Anyone with editing abilities will be able to see everything in the base. (2) But filling out individual forms (creating one row of data at a time) and viewing grid data are both possible within limited views. You also don’t need to pay for those users.

    Airtable with 3rd Party Tools (API, integrations)

    But if you use multiple bases and connect them with external tools, it’s possible to create these silos without restrictions. But there are most certainly implementation hurdles in this direction.


    Hey there, thanks for that - I think I’ve sussed it out new - grid views help, too.

    Airtable is amazing!

    And my apologies for not thanking you sooner - the notification of reply went into a folder I hadn’t looked at!

    Also, no idea why it appears have created a second version of me on this board - same email!

    B
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    • Bill_French
    • Inspiring
    • February 18, 2020

    I’m not trying to push you back into Google Sheets, but your requirements are not beyond the scope of sheets. The way to share user-specific data from a common data set requires only that you establish physical (instead of logical) data sets.

    Google sheets are very good at this because it can effortlessly make cross-table extractions and real-time updates while limiting access to one (or many) users.

    J
    • Jonathan_H
    • Author
    • New Participant
    • March 13, 2020

    I’m not trying to push you back into Google Sheets, but your requirements are not beyond the scope of sheets. The way to share user-specific data from a common data set requires only that you establish physical (instead of logical) data sets.

    Google sheets are very good at this because it can effortlessly make cross-table extractions and real-time updates while limiting access to one (or many) users.


    Thank you everyone.

    Well, 3 weeks later and I am definitely an Airtable convert!
    Forget shared views - I just extract the data to a (private!) s3 bucket and use Datatables to present it!

      B
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      • Bill_French
      • Inspiring
      • March 13, 2020

      Thank you everyone.

      Well, 3 weeks later and I am definitely an Airtable convert!
      Forget shared views - I just extract the data to a (private!) s3 bucket and use Datatables to present it!


      Yep - I’ve seen DataTables used in a few places recently. It’s quite good.

      It does require some thoughtful planning if you want to create round-trip editing and updates back into Airtable, but it’s certainly a pathway to consider. Security is another [potential] wrinkle; your requirements may vary so keep that in mind.

      @Jonathan_H, please share more about your integration approach when you have time.

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