You can use our Interface's Search Page feature for this. The search page allows you to define one field in your table that users can search by. The search will only return exact matches. Once the search is performed, users can interact with the data as per the table's configuration (e.g. create, view and/or edit records).
Please note that this is not a security mechanism. Anybody can enter anything in the search term and if it matches, they will have access to the matching records. If you require a higher level of security, our Portal is a much better option, as it provides full user authentication and access restrictions.
To set this up, go to:
Your Interface's settings page
Select your table
Search Page section
Turn on Search Page
Select the Search Field
Optional: Set the Search Page Description, which you can use to provide further explanation or instructions to your users.
Optional: Set the No Results Message, which is shown when the search returns no results.
Now, any time a user accesses this table, a search box will appear before the actual table is loaded. The user would need to perform a search and any records that match their input exactly will then be displayed. Matching records must also satisfy any other applicable view filters. Search Page does not override those filters, so a matching value does not necessarily return every record with that value in the Airtable table.
For a table with Search Page enabled, you can provide its configured Search Field’s value in the Interface URL. Use either search_FieldName=SearchTerm, with the field’s current Airtable name, or search_fldXXXXXXXXXXXXXX=SearchTerm, with that field’s Airtable field ID.
Parameter names are case-sensitive. Keep the prefix search_ lowercase and match the field name or ID exactly. A name-based link needs updating if the field is renamed; using the field ID avoids that rename dependency. This is separate from prefilling the normal table toolbar search or arbitrary filters.
Use ? before the first URL parameter, or & if the URL already contains a parameter such as fieldId. For example, for a configured Search Field named Department:
https://web.miniextensions.com/xyz?fieldId=abc&search_Department=Customer%20Support
Replace the example extension and table IDs with your own. Supply one of the two search parameters, not both. Blank or whitespace-only values do not start a search.
This can be used to construct a formula that will generate dynamic links for different users or user groups, e.g. to filter by department.
Any special characters in the field name or search term need to be encoded properly, e.g. using Airtable's ENCODE_URL_COMPONENT() function.