Adding Records
Creating, importing and exporting records
A Record
Whether you can add records depends on your Records Permission
Permissionfor this collection. See Assign roles and permissions if you need to check or change this.The level of access — No Access, View Only, View & Edit or Not Enabled — granted through a Role for a specific area of Kinabase, such as records, tasks or configuration.
1. Creating a record manually
1. Open the collection
Select the collection you want to add to from the sidebar.
2. Click Add
Click the Add button at the top of the collection screen. If the collection has Types
3. Fill out the form
Enter the details in each field. Required fields are marked, and Kinabase prompts you if you try to save without completing one.
4. Save the record
Click Add to confirm. The new record appears in the collection's list.
Turn on Add another? at the bottom of the form to keep it open and quickly create several records in a row.
2. Creating a record with Scan & Fill
Scan & Fill uses AI to build a fully populated record from a document, image or spoken description, so you don't have to type it in by hand. Upload a receipt, paper form, PDF or screenshot, take a photo, or dictate the details - Kinabase detects the fields, extracts the data, and drops each value into the right place.
1. Open the collection
Navigate to the collection where you want the new record to go, for example Invoices.
2. Start a new record
Click Add, then click the Scan & Fill button.
3. Upload, capture, paste or type
- File: drag a .jpg, .png, .jpeg, .webp, .docx or .pdf (2 MB or smaller) onto the drop zone.
- Camera: select Camera to take a photo directly from your device.
- Paste: copy a file or take a screenshot, then press Cmd + V (Mac) or Ctrl + V (Windows) to paste it into the upload area. Pasting switches to File mode automatically.
- Text: select Text to paste or type a description and let the AI extract the fields.
4. Review the AI extraction
Click Next. Kinabase highlights each detected field and fills in the record form, matching values to your collection's field names. For a collection list, each row in an uploaded file or table image becomes a new list item, with fields populated from the corresponding columns.
5. Check and correct
Review every field for accuracy, and correct anything the source was blurry, skewed or handwritten enough to get wrong.
6. Add the record
Click Add. The record appears immediately, and its Activities tab notes that it was created with AI.
Scan & Fill is powered by AI and may contain errors or inaccuracies. Please review suggestions before saving.
3. Voice input for Scan & Fill
You can also dictate a record's details instead of typing or uploading a document. Your words are transcribed and sent through the same AI pipeline as Scan & Fill, which maps what you say onto the correct fields.
1. Open the Add record form
Open any collection and click Add to start a new record.
2. Start recording
Click the microphone button in the top-right of the form header, next to Scan & Fill. A banner appears with a pulsing "Listening…" indicator once it picks up your voice.
3. Speak naturally
Describe the record, for example: "New contact, Sarah Chen, email sarah at example dot com, phone 07700 900123." A rolling subtitle shows your words as they're recognised.
4. Stop and review
Click Stop when you're finished - the transcript is sent to the AI, which maps it onto the matching fields. Click the X on the banner instead if you want to cancel without generating anything. Review the suggested values, then click Add to save.
Voice input needs a browser with speech recognition support. The microphone button appears in Chrome, Edge and Safari, but not in browsers that lack this support, such as Firefox. Your browser asks for microphone permission the first time you use it.
4. Importing records (CSV)
For bulk record creation or updates, import a .csv file instead of adding each record by hand.
1. Prepare your CSV
Make sure your column headers match your collection's field names, and include a unique identifier column if you're updating existing records rather than only creating new ones.
2. Start the import
Go to Settings → System → Import / Export → Import → Records, or open the collection's options menu (⋯) and select Import (.csv).
3. Map your fields
Match each CSV column to the corresponding collection field. Tick Only update existing records if you're making bulk updates rather than adding new ones.
4. Confirm the import
Click Import to process the file. A log shows how many records were created or updated.
For advanced importing tips, see Importing and exporting data.
5. Exporting records (CSV)
Export records at any time to back them up or work with them in a spreadsheet.
1. Open the collection
Open the ⋯ menu in the top-right of the collection screen and select Export (.csv).
2. Choose your columns
Select Visible columns to export only what's currently shown, or All columns for every field.
3. Save the file
Choose where to save the CSV on your device. It's ready for a backup, an offline edit, or sharing with people outside Kinabase.
For advanced exporting tips, see Importing and exporting data.
Efficient record creation keeps your Kinabase up to date and makes sure your critical data is always at your fingertips - pick manual entry for one-offs, Scan & Fill or voice for fast single records, and CSV import for bulk changes.
5. Learn more about records
Once you're comfortable adding records, the rest of this section covers everything you can do with them:
- Finding and filtering records - search, filters, sorting and grouping.
- Record tabs - Details, Activities, Tasks, Reports, Files and more.
- Adding unique identifiers - reference numbers and custom IDs.
- Bulk operations - edit, merge, stage or export many records at once.
- Printing and scanning records - print-outs, QR codes and barcodes.
- Record alerts - highlight records that need attention.
- Deleting and restoring records - Recently Deleted and recovery.
Need more help? Ask your System admin, or contact our support team via Help & Support.