# Unable to write to user-specific column for new item **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [July 19, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271 "2021-07-19T02:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/1 "2021-07-19T02:41:23Z")
Hi everyone! Looking for some help here. So I made a small app for people to store their favourite quotes. I created a user specific column so that people could write their own fav quotes in it. However when I try to choose data for my component, there is no option of the user-specific column I have created. Quote1 is my user-specific column. But I dont see it in the column data so I may add it. ![Screenshot 2021-07-19 081018](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/4/9/4930297760edac31c81bae3c95b806ae03a55a4b.png) I have been stuck on this for the past hour. Will be really grateful for any help. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/2 "2021-07-19T02:47:27Z")
Is there at least one row of data in the destination table? (apart from the header row). Your User Specific Column needs an available row to write to, and if there isn’t one then it won’t be available. I don’t really think you need a User Specific column here. As you’re using Add Form, each entry will create a new row, so you may as well just use a normal (basic) text column. ---
**Author:** ![SantiagoPerez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/santiagoperez/32/16807_2.png) [@SantiagoPerez](https://community.glideapps.com/u/SantiagoPerez)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/3 "2021-07-19T02:49:37Z")
Hola @Shubham_Gupta USC cannot be used in forms. Other than that, do what @Darren_Murphy just said. 👆🏿 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/4 "2021-07-19T02:51:56Z")
> [@SantiagoPerez](#): > > USC cannot be used in forms. oooh, I never knew that. But I never use native forms, so I’ve never tried it. But yeah, that makes perfect sense when you think about it 👍 ---
**Author:** ![SantiagoPerez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/santiagoperez/32/16807_2.png) [@SantiagoPerez](https://community.glideapps.com/u/SantiagoPerez)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/5 "2021-07-19T03:04:19Z")
@Darren_Murphy Last year I had a bunch of USCs and could not see them in the form. So I emailed support and that was the answer I got. I have not used them in a form ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Fred\_Marker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/fred_marker/32/27977_2.png) [@Fred\_Marker](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Fred_Marker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/6 "2021-07-19T21:33:57Z")
Is this documented any where? Perhaps there should be a new Category created for undocumented rules and features. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/7 "2021-07-19T21:47:16Z")
I don’t know if it’s officially documented, or at least I couldn’t find it, but in general I question why a person would need to populate a user specific column when submitting a form. Generally if you are adding a new row that’s specific to a user, then either the entire row has row owners enable, or the data is filtered to only the signed in user. If the new row is available to everyone, then a user specific column could be populated with data from several different people, so most likely they would be editing the existing row. I’m not saying that there aren’t unique situation where a someone would need to populate a user specific column when adding a row. I’m sure there are some situations where it’s needed. But in general, I would question why someone would want to populate a user specific column through a form. Also, part of the limitation might be because user specific columns require a row ID. I think that row ID has to exist so user specific values can attach to the proper row. When submitting a form, a row id hasn’t been assigned yet, so user specific values would possibly be lost. ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Petitto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/robert_petitto/32/25193_2.png) [@Robert\_Petitto](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Robert_Petitto)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/8 "2021-07-19T22:37:57Z")
If it’s absolutely necessary to populate the USC, I believe you can do a “set column action \> This Item” as part of the “On Form Submit” action sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/9 "2021-07-25T02:39:15Z")
I need a User specific column so that the person using the app sees only those rows which he/she has added. That was the main purpose. Basicually a repository of quotes where each person with a gmail login sees only his/her quotes and not everyone else’s. Not sure how I will do that without USC? ---
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/10 "2021-07-25T02:53:59Z")
How do I make the sure the data is filtered for a certain user? i.e. when I login onto the app, I want to be able to see only what I have entered. And no one else’s data. ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/11 "2021-07-25T03:15:01Z")
Based on your description that should not be a user-specific column, it should be a normal column that holds a value that is unique to the signed in user (either their email or rowID in the profiles table). ---
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/12 "2021-07-25T03:26:39Z")
Suppose I have 10 users. Then should I have 10 columns? that doesn’t seem right. How can I make sure that the rows that I have added are seen only by me? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/13 "2021-07-25T03:34:31Z")
Sounds like you need to be using [Row Owners](https://docs.glideapps.com/all/reference/security-and-per-user-data/row-owners) ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/14 "2021-07-25T03:42:54Z")
No, you don’t need 10 columns. Each user will have their own row and if you use row owners as Darren suggested, they will only see their own row. You can use an email column for that. ---
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/15 "2021-07-25T08:21:40Z")
Got it. Thank you ! Will try that ---
**Author:** ![Shubham\_Gupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/shubham_gupta/32/29255_2.png) [@Shubham\_Gupta](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Shubham_Gupta)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/unable-to-write-to-user-specific-column-for-new-item/29271/16 "2021-07-25T08:22:12Z")
Thanks! Will try that…