ContentsKey ideas in five minutes
Key ideas in five minutes
The ideas the rest of the guide builds on: tables, fields, records, units, formulas, tiers, roles, review statuses, templates and the portal.
TypeConcept
PlanEvery plan
Time5 min
Verified11 Nov 2026
SpecLatch holds your product data in one place and controls who sees each value.
Your product data
Tables
A table holds one kind of product, such as close-coupled pumps. Each product line can have its own table.
Fields
Fields are a table's columns: a size, a rating, a material. Each field has a type, such as Number, Choice or Calculated.
Records
A record is one product, one row in the grid. The HC 1.5x1-6 pump is one record in its table.
Units
A Number field can carry a unit. Enter 70 in Flow at BEP, a gpm field, and the record shows
70 GPM · 15.9 m³/h.Formulas
A Calculated field works out its value from other fields. The formula
bep_flow * 0.7 turns 70 GPM into 49 GPM, and its units are checked before it saves.Who sees and changes what
Tiers
Every field is Public, Internal or Confidential. A list price might be Internal and a unit cost Confidential. Each member's visibility sets the highest tier they can read.
Roles
A member is Admin, Engineering, Marketing or Viewer. Engineering builds tables and edits specs, Marketing approves and publishes them, a Viewer reads.
Review statuses
New records start as Draft. Submit for review moves a record to In review, and Approve & publish makes it Published. Only Draft records accept edits.
What leaves the workspace
Templates
A document template sets how a spec sheet or catalog looks. Templates live on Templates, where you lay them out in a page designer.
Documents
A spec sheet is a PDF of one record, built from live data. A catalog PDF covers a table's Published records, on the Growth plan and up.
Portal
The portal is your public catalog website. It shows Published records and Public fields, on the Growth plan and up.
Start with the first hour: five short tasks that take a new workspace from its first table to its first spec sheet. Look up any word in the glossary.
Related
| Concept | Tables & fields |
| Concept | Confidentiality & review |
| Concept | Documents & the designer |
| Reference | Glossary |