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Re: Editing an interface that came with a template

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JStocke1
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I chose the project management template that came with interfaces with various pages. They are very helpful and I have up to now only needed to do minor changes. However, in removing the placeholder data and starting to add my actual data it seemed to have "unlinked" the people section, where the interface is set up to pull task data for whatever user is currently accessing that page. It was showing me a random placeholder person, but I do not know how to make sure it associates a "person" record with the account accessing the base/interface.

My initial thought was to just add a dropdown to filter the data based on the user chosen, but I seem to have no way to do that. Navigating the interface editor within a prebuilt template interface is unendingly frustrating and confusing, and none of the documentation seems to match what I'm seeing.

Is there a way to link records to a person/account instead so this feature works properly?

5 Replies 5
Saravanan_009
8 - Airtable Astronomer
8 - Airtable Astronomer

It sounds like you're experiencing issues with linking your actual data to the "People" section in a project management template in Airtable, especially when trying to associate tasks with the user currently accessing the interface. This can happen if the original placeholder data is removed or if the user-based filtering was not set up correctly.

To ensure that your interface shows tasks or data related to the person currently accessing the base:

1. Use the "Current User" Filter: In the interface editor, check if there is an option to filter records based on the "Current User". This feature allows Airtable to automatically show only the records associated with the user currently logged into the base. If it's not set up, you may need to add a filter in the interface editor that uses "Current User" for filtering task data.

2. Relink Your People Table: Make sure that the "People" table (or equivalent table) is correctly linked to the tasks or projects table. The tasks should have a linked record field pointing to the person responsible for each task. Double-check your links to ensure they are correctly associated.

3. Create a User Dropdown: If the "Current User" filter isn't working or isn't an option, add a dropdown in the interface that allows users to select their name. You can then filter tasks based on the selected user in this dropdown.

4. Review Interface Settings: Go through the interface editor settings for each page to ensure that the filters and visibility rules are set correctly. It might help to go through each step methodically to find any settings that may have been inadvertently changed when adding your data.

By setting up proper user-based filtering or relinking your data correctly, you should be able to restore the intended functionality of the template. If you continue to face difficulties, consider reaching out to Airtable support or reviewing updated documentation that matches your version.

Thank you for the thorough reply. The original template did not use User fields, which worked for my purposes because 2-3 people would be tracking projects and tasks for various teams that would not be directly interacting with or a part of the Base. I did create a User field on the Table the original Interface was pulling task data from and tried to add a "Current User" condition, but regardless of how I set it up, it would not show accurate data - it just showed zeros, where I have data entered that it should be seeing. The people Table is properly linked to the Tasks table, but the people page's field type is Name - and User is not an option for that primary field. 

I tried creating a dropdown in the Interface to sort data based on "Assignee" - which is the field linked to tasks and people - but it is not an option to add. I have also looked at everything I can physically access that are settings for the Base and the Interfaces. They all appear to have everything set as visible and I have no idea what else to look at.

When I look for documentation to help, it all describes views and options I am not seeing. I cannot find documentation to fit what I am looking at. I've added a screenshot of what my view of the Interfaces is while editing. If anyone can point me towards documentation that would help, that would be fantastic. I've been looking for three days so far and found nothing. This is such a small thing, but it ruins the usability of this whole base and building one from scratch will take time I do not have away from the projects I'm trying to track.

It sounds like you're facing a challenge with the Airtable interface where the user data isn't properly linking or displaying as expected. To solve this, ensure that the "Assignee" field in your tasks table is set as a "Collaborator" type, which allows dynamic filtering based on the current user. However, since the interface isn't showing accurate data, double-check that all relevant fields are correctly linked and that the filter settings are applied to the correct tables and fields. If the documentation you're finding doesn't match what you're seeing, it could be due to updates in Airtable's interface editor.

If you could provide a read-only invite link to a duplicated copy of your base with some example data I could take a look at this for you! https://support.airtable.com/docs/adding-a-base-collaborator#adding-a-base-collaborator-in-airtable

Troubleshooting this via screenshots is pretty difficult as there are a bunch of different things that need to come together to get the Interface to show up right.  From your screenshot, I take it you want to have the "My Tasks", "In Progress" etc Number elements show the right numbers for the logged in user, right?

JStocke1
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Thank you all for your replies. I got very busy with work, but was able to come back around to this. I had to add a secondary User field for the editing users and completely recreate the My Tasks page in the Interfaces editor to get it functioning. The Assignee field is still necessary for tracking tasks related to users who are not editors on the base, so I didn't want to remove that entirely. I don't know what the issue was with the original page, but recreating it (without changing any data or settings since attempting to edit the original) worked just fine and my number fields tracking task statuses are calculating as expected.