# Working with views

_View tabs, view settings, personal versus shared views, and what every control in the settings panel does._

Canonical: https://snoze.dev/help/working-with-views/

Views are the tabs along the top of a database. Each one is a saved lens over
the same records — its own layout, filters, sorts, grouping, visible fields, and
formatting. Switching tabs never changes data; it changes what you're looking
at.

## The tab row

- **Click** a tab to switch to it.
- Use the **left and right arrow keys** to focus a tab, then **Enter** or
  **Space** to switch to it.
- **Right-click** a tab or open its **`…` menu** for: rename, change layout,
  duplicate, copy link, and delete.

  ![The view actions menu on a tab](https://snoze.dev/help-assets/working-with-views/view-actions-menu.png)

- **Drag** tabs to reorder them, or choose **Move left** / **Move right** from
  the tab's menu. The order is saved for the database and requires database
  editing permission. On touch screens, swipe to scroll and use the menu to
  reorder.
- **`+`** immediately after the tabs adds a view.
- When there are more tabs than fit, the row scrolls, and a **chevron** next to
  the `+` lists every view so you can jump straight to one.
- **New** creates a record. The **gear** opens view settings.

![The view tab row: Table, Board, Calendar and Timeline tabs, the add-view +, the New button, and the settings gear](https://snoze.dev/help-assets/working-with-views/view-tabs.png)

## View settings

Click the **gear icon** to the right of the tabs.

![The view settings panel, with Data and Display sections](https://snoze.dev/help-assets/working-with-views/view-settings.png)

### Data

| Control    | What it does                                                                    |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Filter** | Which records appear. See [Filtering records](https://snoze.dev/help/filtering-records/)         |
| **Sort**   | What order they appear in. See [Sorting records](https://snoze.dev/help/sorting-records/)        |
| **Group**  | Split into sections by a field. See [Grouping records](https://snoze.dev/help/grouping-records/) |

### Display

| Control                    | What it does                                                                                                                    |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Properties**             | Which fields are visible in this view, and in what order. Hiding here is per-view and reversible — it is not deleting the field |
| **Conditional formatting** | Style records that match a rule — bold, italic, colour — either one property or the whole record                                |

Layout-specific panels appear too: **Dates** on calendars and timelines,
**Timescale** and **dependency lines** on timelines, axis/style/range panels on
charts, and week-start preferences where dates are drawn.

## Personal versus shared views

When adding a view, the menu offers **Personal — only visible to you**.

- **Shared** views are part of the database. Everyone who can see the database
  sees the tab, and your filter changes change it for them too.
- **Personal** views are yours alone, marked **Me** on the tab. Nobody else sees
  the tab or your filters.

Use a personal view for "what's on my plate today". Use a shared view for
anything the team should agree on, because a well-named shared view becomes
shared vocabulary — everyone means the same thing by "Triage".

## Locked views

A view can be locked so its definition can't be edited by accident. Locked views
show a padlock, and the settings gear is disabled for anyone without permission
to change it.

## Linking to a view

**Copy link to view** on the tab's menu gives a URL that opens the database with
that exact view active. Views can also be published to the web — see
[Share with a public link](https://snoze.dev/help/share-with-a-public-link/).

## Deleting a view

Delete from the tab's menu. You can't delete the last remaining view. Deleting a
view never deletes records — it only throws away that lens.