Sharing tables with customers

[Yariv_Ziporin]

I would like to share a base with a customer (A chain store) and grant him access as an editor. I want him to be able to edit content of fields but not to add or delete fields.
The problem is that he can continue sharing this base with other people and grant them Editor privileges as well.
Is there a way to share a view or a base so that the user I share it with won’t be able to continue sharing it?

[ScottWorld]

Unfortunately, Airtable is an extremely limited database program, so it doesn’t natively offer this capability (even though many people have requested it over many years).

The only way that you can do this is to use an external “client portal” tool, like the ones offered by MiniExtensions.com or Stacker.app. (Those are the only 2 services that I am aware of that offer this functionality.)

[Marko_Petrovic]

As we started using Airtable more and more, we really found out that lack more serious permissions is probably one of the main disadvantages this platform have.
Its kinda bad that we have to use 3rd party solutions as workarounds for something that is, in our opinion, still basic functionality

[ScottWorld]

@Marko.Petrovic Totally agree with you. Coming from a background of 30 years of developing high-end customized database apps with FileMaker, I view Airtable as more of a “toy” and not a serious business tool.

[Marko_Petrovic]

What I find strange that many platforms I used or was testing (some of which are Monday, Notion, Coda, Airtable) had this permission “problems”. It is fascinating to me that platforms that are, at the end of the day, targeted for business use, lacking in such a basic functionality.

Since we are not a big company/enterprise and are at the moment in process of digitalizing our processes and making first steps in that direction I guess Airtable for now will do the job (with all its workarounds that can be frustrating…), but if things doesn’t change in future we might come to the situation where we need to switch to some more robust solution. We had some contacts with guys from www.creatio.com and similar software but for this stage of our process its maybe to early.

How complicated FileMaker is to use? I had some very little exposure to it. I guess its also very expensive to „run“ :D.

I wish Airtable would fix some of those problems, as we are globally happy with it for our current needs as a smaller company.

[ScottWorld]

Marko.Petrovic:

How complicated FileMaker is to use? I had some very little exposure to it. I guess its also very expensive to „run“ :D.

FileMaker is very affordable — it’s pretty comparable to Airtable, and is often cheaper than Airtable because (a) you only have to pay for simultaneous users (i.e. users who are logged in at the exact same time as one another), and (b) you don’t usually need to pay for external services to find workarounds to any limitations, since FileMaker doesn’t have too many limitations.

And FileMaker is extremely easy & intuitive to use — yet it is loaded with tons of power. It is used at some of the largest companies on the planet.

HOWEVER — it takes a lot more time & effort & skill to create a FileMaker system. It’s a full-blown programming language, and it’s essentially a blank canvas for you to design in any way that you want.

So, people can’t just dive into it and create a working system in a few minutes (like you can with Airtable). You need to hire a certified FileMaker developer (like myself), and it often takes weeks or months to create a full system.