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Kuovonne's Guide to Airtable
  • Pages
    • Kuovonne's Guide to Airtable
      • Fields
        • Overview of fields types
          • Editable Field Types
          • Computed Field Types
          • Field Types by Formula Data Type
          • Field Types in Scripting
        • Specific field types
          • Formula fields
            • Demystifying Formulas (DareTable 2022)
          • Rollup fields
          • Select fields
          • Attachment fields
            • Uploading Attachments
            • Attachment Size
            • Attachment URLS
            • Thumbnails
        • Converting Field Types
        • Naming fields
        • Metadata fields
          • Simple Metadata Fields
          • Data Validation
          • Additional Dependencies
          • Original Record URL (Thumbprint) Field
          • Column Divider Fields
          • DareTable 2023 Presentation
        • Field dependencies
      • Formulas
        • Formula Field Reference
        • Writing Formulas
          • Using AI to Write Formulas
          • General tips for writing formulas
          • Testing for Blank Values
          • Drafting Formulas in Parts
          • Function versus Operator
          • Typing Special Characters
          • Commenting Formulas
          • Formulas to avoid
        • Formatting Formulas
          • Basic Rules
          • Nested IF formulas
          • SWITCH Formulas
          • Operators
        • Specific Formulas
          • Ranges of Numbers Values
          • Comma Separated List of Fields Values with Optional Fields
          • Earliest / latest date across columns
          • List Fields Values (one per line) with Optional Fields
          • Rounding a date to the half year
          • Url of Interface Page for a record
          • Removing varying items from a list
        • Data Type Conversion in Formulas
          • Text to Numbers
          • Numbers to Text
          • Data type conversions with Dates
        • Troubleshooting Formulas
          • Formulas that won't save
          • Hiding or showing #ERROR!
          • Troubleshooting date/time/duration formulas
          • Troubleshooting numeric formulas
          • Troubleshooting formulas with lookups
          • Troubleshooting text formulas
      • Automations
        • Triggering automations
          • Triggering automations for typed values
          • Triggering automations on existing records
        • Sending Emails
          • Ways to send emails
          • Using links in emails
          • Emailing Attachments
        • Accessing updated record values
        • Third party automations
        • Managing automation runs
      • Templates
        • Templates for record values
        • Templates using field values
      • Controlling Access
        • Sharing a base
        • Access control considerations
        • Techniques for limited access
          • Airtable interface
          • Share link access
          • Synced table
          • Prefilled forms + Automations
          • 3rd party portal
          • 3rd party webhook
        • Preventing base duplication
      • Specific Solutions
        • Most recent form submission for ermail
        • Email digest of a person’s records
        • Sum of Multiple Select choices
        • Link to multiple records based on select choices
        • Dropping Lowest Score (top 4 of 5)
        • Identify the position of a record in a linked record field (top 4 of 6)
        • Sequential Numbering of Records
        • Ending a list of rollup items with ", and"
        • Table ID in a formula
        • Latest/earliest date across several fields
        • Associating People with Records
        • First Tuesday of the Previous Month
      • Miscellaneous
        • Web API Calls for External Integrations
        • Getting paid to work with Airtable
        • Hiring a consultant
        • Airtable Communities
        • Making major changes to a base
      • Suggestion for this guide

3rd party portal

Thank Kuovonne for creating this content!
Use a third party system to create “portal access” to your data.

Pros

There are many portal systems available at different price points
You typically pay a flat monthly fee instead of a per user rate (but not always).
Far more styling options to make your portal pretty.
You can control if you want to require users to log in or allow anonymous edits.
You can set the domain name for the website of the portal.
Users can edit any field type, including attachments, rich text fields, etc.

Cons

Monthly third party fees can be expensive
Record history does not show who actually made the edits
Limited ability to see formula results or possible side-effects when viewing formula results

List of third party portal systems

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The arena of third party portal systems is a fast-paced one. New portal systems come out and existing ones change features and pricing frequently.
I have not used some of these systems, and it has been a while since I have used others, so please do your own research to see what is the best fit for you.
Table

Consideration for choosing a system

Monthly Price. These systems have monthly subscription fees.
Consultant recommendation. If you are working with a consultant, what does your consultant recommend? If you want to use a system that your consultant has not worked with yet, do you have the patience for your consultant to learn the system?
Look and feel. Are you okay with limited choices on customizing the look and feel of the portal? Do you have a developer with the ability to take advantage of advanced features like custom html or css?
Mobile experience. Do you need a system that works on mobile, desktop, or both?
Level of access control. Do you need edit access? Do different types of users need different levels of edit access? Do you need edit access by users who are not logged in?
Number of users. How many external users will you have? Most systems have different pricing levels for different number of users.
Number of developers. Will you need only one person with access to developing your system? Or will you need multiple users, such as you and a consultant?
Support & community. What level of support do you need?
Thank Kuovonne for creating this content!

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