Common questions

Three things turn editing off across the app. A red banner at the top means the workspace's trial or subscription has ended: browsing and the data export keep working, and editing comes back as soon as an Admin picks a plan on Billing. In a grid, Preview as in the view menu shows a lower tier read-only, so pick your own tier, marked everything you can see, to edit again. A Viewer member reads, comments and saves personal views, but changes no data. When only one record is locked, its status is usually the reason, as the FAQ in Records & the grid explains.

Only Draft records take new values, so every way of changing many records at once passes over the others. A paste skips rows that are In review or Published and counts them in its message, Set field skips them and says which, and an update import marks their rows Error. Return those records to Draft, then repeat the change: Return to draft works on a Published record, and a reviewer's Reject sends back one that is In review. Send a record for review, approve, publish covers both.

SpecLatch checks a record before it goes to review, so that reviewers only see finished data. By default it refuses while a required field is empty or a value breaks its field's rule, such as an allowed range, and the message lists the fields. On the record page each problem also shows as a warning under its field, so fix those, then click Submit for review again. An Admin chooses how strict the check is under Data validation on Branding: Strict and Balanced block the submit, and Relaxed never does. Send a record for review, approve, publish has the whole flow.

Check the grid first, because a filter or the search box can hide it: the count beside the toolbar then reads, for example, 12 of 40. Typing the record's name or model number in the search box also lists matches in other tables under Also found. A record moved to the trash leaves the grid, the portal and search; Admin and Engineering members open Trash from the Table options menu, which lists every table's trashed records, and Restore brings one back within 30 days. A member with Public visibility sees only Published records, so drafts never show for them. Records & the grid has more on the trash.

Some things can only go once nothing depends on them, so that no record or formula is left pointing at a gap. Only an Admin deletes a table, and only while it holds no records, trashed ones included, and no other table links to it. A field that holds values is retired instead of deleted, so its data stays and it can come back. A function or a reference table can't be deleted while a field's formula uses it; the message names those fields, so change or retire them first. Records go to the trash, where only an Admin can Delete forever, and the FAQ in Tables & fields covers tables and fields in detail.

On a record page, a grey value with a small ƒ beside it is one SpecLatch works out: a Calculated field, or a value from linked records. Nobody types it, so it has no box even on a Draft; hover it to see where it comes from, or why it is blank. A light grey dash means the field is empty. In the grid the same ƒ marks computed values, and hovering a calculated cell shows its formula. How formulas work explains calculated fields.

They are the two sides of one check. A tier sits on what you protect: each field, document and curve series is Public, Internal or Confidential. A visibility sits on who reads: each member and each API key has one, the highest tier it may read. A reader sees an item when the item's tier is at or below their visibility, while the role, a separate setting, decides what they can do with it. What each role can see and do shows how the settings combine.

Their visibility is below the item's tier. A field above someone's visibility is left out of their grid, their record pages and the spec sheets they generate, and documents and curves follow their own tiers the same way. To check what they see, open the grid's view menu and pick their tier under Preview as. If they need the field, an Admin raises their Visibility on Members; if everyone should see it, change the field's tier on Fields, as Set a field's confidentiality tier shows.

A tier is a promise about who sees a value, so once a record holds data in a field, only an Admin can loosen it, for example from Internal to Public. Anyone who can edit fields can make one stricter. Without the Admin role, a calculated field or a value from linked records also can't be more visible than the fields it reads, so a formula over a Confidential cost stays Confidential. The tiers you can't pick are greyed out under Who sees it, with the reason below them, so ask an Admin when the change is right. Who can make a field more visible has the full rules.

A calculated value stays blank when its math can't finish, rather than show a guess: an input is empty, a division by zero, a lookup outside a reference table's rows, or linked records that hold different values. Hover the dash in the grid, or the value on the record page, to read the reason, then fill in or correct the input it names. A lookup or rollup is also empty for anyone who can't see the field it reads, and for a reader at Public it reads only Published linked records. A field above your visibility doesn't show as blank, though: it isn't there at all. Blank results lists the reasons with an example.

SpecLatch rounds what it shows, never what it stores. A number you type shows up to four decimals, while calculated values and the value converted into the other system round to about three significant digits, so 4.353 HP shows as 4.35 HP. To choose the decimals yourself, set the field's Decimals in its editor on Fields; the setting applies in the grid, on spec sheets and on the portal. Formulas and the export still use the full stored value. Field types lists the other display options.

Some settings lock once data depends on them, because changing them would change what the stored values mean. A field's type locks as soon as a record holds a value in it, and its key never changes after you create the field, though its name can. Allow several on a Choice field locks the same way, a link field's table is fixed when you create it, and a curve series' axis units lock once a record holds typed points. A function's key can't change either, because formulas call the function by it. To change one of these, create a new field and retire the old one, as the FAQ in Tables & fields explains.

A value reaches the portal, on the Growth plan and up, only when four things hold: the portal is open, the record's table is ticked under Tables in the catalog, the record is Published, and the field is Public. New fields start as Internal, so a field you just added stays off until someone makes it Public. A record leaves the portal when it goes back to Draft or into the trash, until it is approved again or restored. Turn the portal on and choose what customers see walks through each setting.

A sheet prints only the fields its visibility allows, so a Public sheet leaves out every Internal and Confidential field. Pick a higher Visibility in the Spec sheet menu before you generate, up to your own. A spec table also skips fields that are empty on that record, and a template can list its own fields, where a token for a key the table doesn't have prints nothing. Design a template shows how a template chooses its fields.

A generated PDF is a snapshot: it keeps what it printed until you generate it again. When a Published record or a field's tier changes, each of its sheets is tagged stale on Documents and counted on the dashboard's Documents out of date card. A change to a template or your branding doesn't mark existing sheets stale, so generate them again after those changes too. Generating from the record's Spec sheet menu replaces the old sheet that has the same template, language and visibility, and the FAQ in Documents & the designer explains stale in full.

A catalog prints the Published records of one table, with their Public fields, whoever generates it. Records that are still Draft or In review stay out, and so do records without the tags the catalog template filters on. Your grid's filters and saved views don't change it, because the template holds the choice of records. Publish the record or change the template's tag filter, then generate the catalog again, as Print a catalog and set your branding shows.

A model number belongs to one record across the whole workspace, in every table. A record in the trash keeps its model number until it is deleted for good, which is why the message says to check the trash too. Search for the number in the grid, where Also found covers other tables, and if nothing turns up, open Trash. Then restore and renumber the old record, give the new one another model number, or ask an Admin to Delete forever the trashed one. An import marks such rows Duplicate, as Row states explains.

Import reads a plain number in the column's Source unit, which starts as the field's own unit. A unit written in the header, such as Length (mm), helps the column find its field, but SpecLatch doesn't read it as the unit. Set Source unit for each column whose numbers use another unit, then run the dry run again before you apply. A cell that names its own unit, such as 60 °C, converts from that unit whatever Source unit says. How cells become values covers each field type.

Every new record starts as a Draft, typed or imported, unless the file has a Status column that you map. That column follows the review rules, so a record missing a required value stays a Draft and its row gets a warning. Importing as In review needs the right to submit, and importing as Published the right to approve as well, so only the Admin role can import published records. Otherwise, tick the new drafts in the grid and click Submit for review in the bulk bar, as Send a record for review, approve, publish describes.

The app shows each member only what their role, their visibility and the plan allow. A Viewer doesn't see Needs review or any editing buttons, and Billing, Automations, AI assists and API keys are for the Admin role only. Fields needs the Admin role, or Engineering with Confidential visibility. Portal, Inquiries and Translations appear only on the Growth plan and up, on top of the role. What each role can see and do lists every right.

People who accept an invitation join as Viewer with Internal visibility, unless the invitation itself made them an administrator. An Admin then sets their Role and Visibility on Members, and each change saves at once. A new role keeps the old visibility, so an Engineering member who will build tables also needs Confidential before Fields opens for them. Every role except Viewer takes an editor seat, so a promotion waits for a free seat or a larger plan. Invite a teammate and choose a role walks through it.

Each plan includes a set number of records, editor seats, document templates, storage and API keys. At a limit, adding more is refused with a message that names it, and when the workspace holds more than its plan includes, such as after a move to a smaller plan, a banner at the top lists what is over; nothing already in the workspace is removed. Records in the trash don't count, though restoring one needs room again, and Viewer members never take a seat. An Admin frees room or picks a larger plan on Billing, as Plans, seats and the trial explains.