As your team creates more bases, keeping track of who owns what and who can access it becomes harder. Base workspaces solve this.
Departments or teams in an organisation can use Base workspaces to centrally manage Base resources and member permissions for those resources, improving resource management and collaboration efficiency.
This guide covers everything you need to know: creating a workspace, adding and managing bases, assigning member roles, collaborating across teams, configuring security settings, and deleting a workspace when it is no longer needed.
Why Use Base Workspaces?
For growing teams, Base workspaces bring order to what can quickly become a scattered collection of files. The main benefits are:
- Centralised resources: Keep all of a team’s bases together in one dedicated space instead of spread across personal folders.
- Simpler permissions: Assign roles once at workspace level rather than managing collaborators base by base.
- Easier discovery: Members can find the bases they need through workspace search, pins, and a shared homepage.
- Stronger control: Admins decide who can add or remove bases and whether content can be shared externally.
How to Create a Base Workspace
Prerequisite: You must be included in the “Who can create Base workspaces” user list set by your organisation administrator.
- On the Base homepage, click the + icon to the right of Base Workspaces in the left navigation bar.
- Enter a Base workspace name and introduction, select an icon, set the visibility (Visible to Base Workspace members or Visible to anyone in the organisation), then click Add.
Note: If you cannot select Visible to anyone in the organisation, you may not be part of the user list who can create new public workspaces. Contact your organisation administrator to request this permission.
Edit Workspace Details
After creating a Base workspace, you can modify its name, icon, introduction, and cover directly on the homepage of that workspace.
You can also click the … icon in the upper-right corner > Workspace Settings to edit the workspace’s icon, name, and introduction.
You can also switch the display mode for bases in the workspace between list view and grid view using the icons in the upper-right corner.
How to Create and Manage Bases in a Workspace
Whether members who are not admins can perform the following actions depends on the security settings configured by the workspace admins.
See the security settings section below for details.
Create a New Base
Click the New icon in the upper-right corner of the Base workspace homepage and select a creation method.
If you choose Base, you can also select another Base workspace in the upper-left corner of the pop-up, and the base will be created there instead.
Add an Existing Base
There are two ways to bring existing bases into a workspace:
- Click New in the upper-right corner of the workspace homepage > Add Existing Bases to add bases in batches.
- On the Base homepage, click the … icon to the right of the base you want to add, then select Add to Base Workspace to add it to the specified workspace.
Note:
- You can only move base files that you have manage permission for and that are stored in locations where you have permission to move content. You also need edit permission for the target location. If you see an insufficient permissions message, you can request permission to move the file.
- You can add up to 10 existing bases at a time.
Remove or Move a Base
For base files already added to a Base workspace, click the … icon to the right of the base you want to move or remove, then select Move to Another Workspace or Remove From Workspace.
How to Manage Base Workspace Members
You can add members to the Base workspace and assign them one of three roles:
- Admins: Can manage workspace settings, workspace members, and bases within the workspace.
- Editors: Can edit bases within the workspace.
- Viewers: Can view bases within the workspace.
Important: If advanced permissions are not enabled for a base in the workspace, these roles correspond to the “can manage”, “can edit”, and “can view” permissions in the Base collaborator panel (Share > Manage collaborators).
If advanced permissions are enabled for the base, the roles correspond to the administrator, editor, and viewer permissions in advanced permissions, and the actual permissions a user has will depend on how those advanced permissions are configured.
To manage members and their permissions, click the Manage Members icon to the left of the New button in the upper-right corner of the workspace homepage, or click the … icon > Workspace Settings > Members.
Set Workspace Visibility
If you have permission to create public Base workspaces within the organisation, or to make an existing workspace public, you can set whether the workspace is visible to everyone in the organisation.
Add Members
- Select the role for the member to be added, then click Add Members.
- In the pop-up, search for and select one or more users or groups to add as workspace members, then click Next.
- On the confirmation page, choose whether to send a notification, then click Confirm or Send to complete the addition.
Change or Remove Members
- Change a member’s role: In the member list, hover over the member whose role you want to change, click the Change role icon on the right, and select a role.
- Remove members: In the member list, hover over the member you want to remove, click the Remove icon on the right, then click Confirm.
How to Collaborate in Base Workspaces
Base workspaces support several actions that make working within and across teams easier:
- Search for Base workspaces: In the navigation bar on the left of the Base homepage, click the Search Base Workspace icon at the top of the workspace list to quickly find a workspace.
- Search for bases by workspace: Click the search box in the upper-left corner of the homepage, select the workspace you want to search in, then search for the base you need.
- Pin a Base workspace: On the workspace homepage, click the Add to Pins icon to the right of the workspace name. Alternatively, click the + icon next to the Pins section in the navigation bar > Base Workspaces, and select the workspace you want to pin.
- Drag to sort: In the navigation bar on the left of the Base homepage, select a Base workspace and drag it to any position.
Note: Pinning settings only apply to you, not to other workspace members.
How to Configure Security Settings
Click the … icon next to the Base workspace name > Workspace Settings > Security to configure the following:
Allow Bases to Be Shared Externally
- When Allow is selected, bases in the workspace can be shared with external users through link sharing, adding collaborators, and so on.
- When Don’t allow is selected, external sharing settings are disabled, external users who previously had link access can no longer access the base, the “Anyone with the link can view” and “Anyone with the link can edit” options are hidden, and no one can add external users as base collaborators.
Who Can Add Bases to the Workspace
- Admins only: Only workspace admins can create new bases or add existing bases.
- Editors: Workspace admins and editors can create or add bases.
- All members: All roles can create or add bases.
Who Can Remove Bases From the Workspace
- Admins only: Only workspace admins can remove bases.
- Editors: Workspace admins and editors can remove bases.
- All members: All roles can remove bases.
Tip: For workspaces holding sensitive data, set external sharing to Don’t allow and restrict adding and removing bases to admins only. You can always loosen these settings later as your team grows comfortable with the structure.
How to Delete a Base Workspace
When a Base workspace is no longer needed, click the … icon > Workspace Settings > More, then click Delete. Enter the workspace name in the pop-up, then click Delete again.
After deletion, workspace members will no longer have access to the bases that were in the workspace.
Note:
- After a Base workspace is deleted, the bases within it are not deleted, but workspace members will no longer be able to access them based on their roles in the workspace.
- Deleted Base workspaces cannot be restored.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a Base workspace in Lark?
A Base workspace is a shared space where a department or team can centrally manage their bases and the member permissions for those resources, making collaboration and resource management more efficient.
Who can create a Base workspace?
You must be included in the “Who can create Base workspaces” user list set by your organisation administrator. If you cannot create one, or cannot make it visible to the whole organisation, contact your administrator to request the permission.
What roles are available in a Base workspace?
There are three roles. Admins can manage workspace settings, members, and bases. Editors can edit bases within the workspace. Viewers can only view bases within the workspace.
How many existing bases can I add at once?
You can add up to 10 existing bases at a time. You also need manage permission for the base files and edit permission for the target location.
What happens to the bases if I delete a Base workspace?
The bases themselves are not deleted, but workspace members will no longer be able to access them through their workspace roles. Deleted Base workspaces cannot be restored, so delete with care.
Can I stop bases in a workspace from being shared externally?
Yes. In Workspace Settings under Security, set “Allow bases to be shared externally” to Don’t allow. External sharing options are then disabled, and users who previously had link access will lose it.
Bring Order to Your Team’s Bases
Base workspaces turn a scattered collection of files into an organised, permission-controlled home for your team’s data. With clear roles, security settings, and easy discovery through search and pins, everyone knows where to find what they need and who can do what. For SMEs and startups scaling their use of Lark Base, it is the structure that keeps growth manageable.
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