# Understanding records

URL: https://attio.com/help/reference/attio-101/attios-data-model/understanding-records
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Learn how records work in Attio.

## What is a record?

A **record** represents a company, person, deal, or anything else you’re tracking in Attio, and contains a set of attributes that may or may not have data associated with them. It is the equivalent of a row in a spreadsheet.

Records are visualized in the form of table rows, kanban cards, previews, and pages.

## Seeing all your records

In Attio, you can easily get a global view of every record belonging to an object. Simply click an object in the records section of the left sidebar.

For example, if we click on the `Companies` object, you’ll see every company in your workspace right away.

![Attio sidebar highlighting Companies page](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/2284x1128/dcc8086993/view-all-companies.png)

### Customizing your view

One of the most powerful features in Attio is that you have the ability to create an infinite amount of views.

In Attio, a view allows you to customize how your data is displayed. You can modify a view by sorting, filtering, or selecting which attributes are shown.

Sorting and filtering changes are specific to you and won't affect your team members unless you save changes. However, adding or hiding attributes will be visible to everyone.

Let’s build out a new view of the `Companies` object by scratch together. Click the `All Companies` dropdown at the top left and select `Create new view`.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1957x921/379c9252b2/understanding_records_create_new_view.png)![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1838x703/ff0934c8c9/underestanding_records_home_view.png)

A dialog will pop up. Type `Home view` as the name of your new view and click `Create view`. Your view should now look like this:

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/2137x1476/b39539c00c/new-companies-view-add-columns.png)

You’ll notice that there is only one attribute column - `Company` - and nothing else. To change that, we’ll click `Add attribute column` so we can begin to view our data.

We’ll add `Description`, `City`, `Foundation date`, `Employee range`, `Estimated ARR`, and `Twitter`.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/2932x1664/4cccc5193e/underestanding_records_homeview.png)

### Filtering and sorting records

From there, we can quickly filter and sort through our records any which way. For example, let’s say we want to figure out which companies are based in San Francisco and have an estimated ARR of `$100m-$500m`.

Click the `Filter` button at the top of the page and a drop-down text box will appear. You can click through attributes individually by category, or simply type `City`, which will take you to the attribute you want to select. Click on that or hit Enter.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1506x936/b3d66694e1/underestanding_records_city.png)  
Now we need to specify the condition. In this case, we want it the primary city to be San Francisco, so we’ll make the condition `Primary location > City > is > San Francisco`. From there, we’ll hit the `+` again and add `Estimated ARR > is > $100m-$500m`.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1902x853/d738a100bb/underestanding_records_estimated_arr.png)

### Taking actions on records

From there, you can take any action you want. For example, you can `Add to list`, `Send an email`, `Run workflow` and more.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/2129x1329/2bea5c9715/understanding_records_take-action.png)

## Record pages

Every record you see in a table or kanban view links to a record page. A record page shows all the attributes and data of a record and related data from lists.

For `People` and `Companies` objects, a record page contains every meeting, email, note, task, file associated with an entry, as well as enriched data and data from any lists the record is associated with.

When your team has their email and inboxes synced, these record pages are always up-to-date. Every individual on your team has the full context about a contact, company or deal.

### Anatomy of a record page

Attio was built around the premise that every business is unique in its processes. That’s why we’ve designed record pages in Attio to be as easily configurable and customizable as possible for your business.

Here is layout for a company record page:

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1829x1067/6aed6cc3ee/full-record-page-overview.png)

1. **Highlights.** This section on the **Overview** tab contains the top highlights of a record.
2. **Record actions.** With the buttons in the top left, you can take actions such as adding this specific record to a list, running a workflow related to this record, or composing an email to send.
3. **Record tabs.** The tabs under the record name allow you to sort through various types of data associated with a record. The tabs can vary by object.

   1. **Overview:** View a summary of the latest record activity, upcoming meetings and tasks, recent emails, and more in one place.
   2. **Activity:** A timeline of activity involving the record inside your CRM. This shows when your team first corresponded with a record, when a record is added or changed in a list, any notes created, and upcoming and past meetings based on your calendars.
   3. **Emails:** Attio automatically captures your team's interactions with your records. You can see every email correspondence with the record, request access for certain emails, and filter by attachment.
   4. **Team (for company records) or Company (for people records):** Here you can see any related relationships for a record. If you’re looking a company record, you’ll see other people on this person’s team. If you’re looking at a people record, you’ll see their associated companies.
   5. **Notes:** Access any notes associated with the record.
   6. **Tasks:** Access any tasks associated with the record.
   7. **Files:** Access any files associated with a record.
4. **Left sidebar.** Here you can see more specific details about your record, and any lists your record is on along with specific attributes. These are separated into sections.

### How to customize record pages

Workspace admins can customize the configuration of record pages to ensure the data most relevant to your team is easily accessible and organized.

> For a video walkthrough, see **Record Pages **in Attio Academy.

To configure record pages for a given object, begin by selecting the `⋮` icon at the top right of the window. Select `Configure page`. From here, you can customize the following sections:

![Dropdown menu on top right corner of record page highlighting Configure page option](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/888x576/01219fd60a/configure-record-page.png)

#### Highlights widgets

At the top of the **Overview** tab, you can display up to six specific attributes (data points) as widgets. Click `+ Add widget` to select the attributes whose values you want to show at the top of each record's page.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1702x786/85006eece5/configure-highlights-widgets.png)

#### Tabs

You can also configure the tabs you want to show on each record page for an object. For standard objects, this includes things like `Overview` , `Activity`, `Notes`, `Tasks`, `Emails`, and `Files`. You can also add tabs for linked records with `Team` for Companies, `Company` for People, `Associated people` and `Associated company` for Deals, or other [relationship attributes](https://attio.com/help/reference/managing-your-data/attributes/relationship-attributes).

![Record page configuration showing option to add tabs](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/2451x807/458b532706/configure-record-page-tabs.png)

Once you've selected a relationship attribute, choose which attributes for the linked object you want to display on that tab, then click `Save changes`. The tab will show all connected records with their values for the attributes you've selected.

To configure your tabs, click `Add tab` and select an option. You can reorder the tabs by clicking and dragging, or by clicking the `⋮` icon and selecting `Move left` or `Move right`.

To remove a tab you’ve added, click the `⋮` icon and select remove tab. Default tabs cannot be removed.

#### Sections

On the left sidebar, you will find sections. There are two default sections: **Record Details** and** Lists**.

Record details shows attributes about your current record. By default, there must be always one section available, and admins can add additional sections.

You can rename the default section by clicking `Record Details`. You can edit the sections attributes by clicking on the section itself.

![](https://a.storyblok.com/f/234930/1591x972/e12abdfff0/understandingrecords7.png)

### Adding new attributes to sections

To add new attributes, click `Add attribute`, and to reorder them, simply drag each one.

Additionally, you can swap an attribute for another by clicking the arrow on the right of each column. To remove attributes from a section or remove an entire section from a record page, click the trash icon.

To create a new section, select `Add section`. To re-order your sidebar, simply drag and drop sections.

When you've made changes to the page configuration, you must click `Save changes` at the bottom for the new configuration to be applied.

## Learn more

For detailed guides to creating and managing records in Attio, see [Records](https://attio.com/help/reference/managing-your-data/records/) in our Reference section.

## Up next

Next, learn about the power of [lists](https://attio.com/help/reference/attio-101/attios-data-model/understanding-lists) in Attio.