> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tablepro.app/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Google Cloud Bigtable > Connect to Google Cloud Bigtable, browse rows by key, filter on keys and cells, and edit cells export const name_0 = "Google Cloud Bigtable" Every row comes back in ascending key order, with its key in `_key` and one column per `family:qualifier`. The {name_0} driver is not in the app. Picking {name_0} in the **Choose a Database** sheet offers the download before the form opens, and opening a saved {name_0} connection installs it without asking. See [Plugins](/features/plugins). ## Quick setup Click **New Connection…**, select **Google Cloud Bigtable**, pick an **Auth Method**, then click **Save & Connect**. The toolbar's **Instance** switcher moves between the project's instances without reconnecting, and an open tab stays on the instance it opened on. See [Tabs](/features/tabs#where-a-tab-points). ## Connection settings | Field | Description | | - | - | | **Auth Method** | **Service Account Key**, the default, or **Application Default Credentials** | | **Service Account Key** | A path to the JSON key file, or the JSON pasted in. Stored in the Keychain | | **Project ID** | The Google Cloud project. Empty takes the project the key names. Under Application Default Credentials, empty takes the credentials file's project, then `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT` | | **Instance ID** | The Bigtable instance. Empty opens the instance whose ID sorts first | | **App Profile ID** | Options tab. Routes reads and writes through that app profile. The instance's default profile when empty | **Project ID** and **Instance ID** stand in for a host, a port and the Database field. Any instance connects, no connection URL opens one, and [SSH Tunnel](/connections/ssh-tunneling) is not offered. ## Authentication | Auth Method | What is sent | | - | - | | **Service Account Key** | An OAuth token signed with the key | | **Application Default Credentials** | The token from `gcloud auth application-default login`, or from the file `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` names | Reading needs the Bigtable Reader role and editing the Bigtable User role, granted on the project or on the instance. ## Browsing tables The sidebar lists the instance's tables. A grid page has a column for each `family:qualifier` its rows hold, so two pages can show different columns; the **Structure** tab lists the columns of the first 50 rows. In a column where the row has no cell, the grid reads **No Field** ([Editing a cell](/features/change-tracking#editing-a-cell)). Each cell shows its newest version. Keys, qualifiers and values are bytes. UTF-8 text with no control characters other than tab and newline shows as itself. A key or qualifier that is anything else, or text that starts with `b64:`, shows as `b64:` and its base64, and that form reads back to the same bytes: type it that way in a filter, a request line or a new row's `_key`. A value of that kind shows as hex. To filter on it, type it as `b64:` and its base64. A table's grid keeps key order: clicking a column header does not sort it. A request's results in the editor sort on screen when you click a header. A later page starts after the last key of the page before, and a page jumped to directly skips the rows before it by reading their keys alone. The status bar's total stays blank until **Count Exactly** reads the key of every row the filters admit. See [Pages and row counts](/features/data-grid#pages-and-row-counts). ## Filtering Most filters on `_key` read only the keys they name: | Operators on `_key` | What Bigtable reads | | - | - | | equals, in list | Exact keys. A list splits on commas, or takes a JSON array such as `["a,b", "c"]` | | starts with | The key range of that prefix | | greater than, greater or equal, less than, less or equal, between | A key range | | not equals, not in list, contains, not contains, ends with, matches regex | A row key regex, over every row | With **Match Case** off, equals, in list and starts with on `_key` run as a row key regex over every row too. A filter on a `family:qualifier` column keeps or drops whole rows by that cell's newest value. A row without the cell matches only is NULL, so not equals, not contains and not in list leave it out too: | Operators on a column | What Bigtable runs | | - | - | | equals, not equals, contains, not contains, starts with, ends with, in list, not in list | A value regex | | matches regex | The pattern as written, in RE2 syntax. It has to match the whole value: `.*ann.*` finds `ann` anywhere, `ann` only the value `ann` | | greater than, greater or equal, less than, less or equal, between | A value range, compared byte by byte | | is empty, is not empty | An empty value regex | | is NULL, is not NULL | Whether the row has the cell | Values are compared as bytes, so `9` sorts after `10`. Under **Match any**, filters that are all equals, in list, starts with or a range on `_key` read only the keys each one names. Mix in any other filter and a range on `_key` is refused, while equals, in list and starts with on `_key` run as a row key regex over every row. In a **Raw Filter** row, write a `RowFilter` as the Bigtable REST reference shows it, bytes in base64; it runs unchanged. A cell filter such as `valueRegexFilter` trims each row to the matching cells and drops rows left with none. To keep or drop whole rows, wrap it in a `condition` whose `trueFilter` is `{"passAllFilter": true}`. ## Editing Each changed row is one request, and its cells change together. A save has no transaction: when one row fails, the rows written before it stay written. | Change | Request | | - | - | | New, duplicated or pasted row | `INSERT` with the key you typed in `_key` and every cell you filled. Refused when a row already has that key | | Edited cells | `PUT` with the changed cells | | Cell set to NULL, or **Remove Field** | The cell set to `null` in the `PUT`, which deletes every version of it | | Deleted row | `DELETE` on the key | A new row needs a `_key` and at least one cell. **Duplicate** and pasted rows copy every cell but `_key`, which shows DEFAULT until you type a key. The grid offers only the columns the rows on the page hold, so an empty table shows `_key` alone: write a table's first row, or a cell under a column the page does not show, with `INSERT` or `PUT` in the request editor. The column family must already exist, and the **DDL** tab of the Structure tab lists them under `columnFamilies`. An existing row's key cannot change. The save is refused, so duplicate the row, give the copy the new key, and delete the old one. **Set DEFAULT** in the row inspector is refused on an existing row too; set the cell to NULL to delete it, or enter a value. Text typed into a cell or into `_key` that starts with `b64:` is written as the bytes its base64 decodes to. Cells are written with the server's clock. ## Request editor | Request | What it does | | - | - | | `GET events/user#42` | One row | | `SCAN events/user#?limit=20` | Rows whose key starts with the prefix: 100, or the `?limit=` given. `SCAN events` reads from the table's first row | | `READ events {"rowsLimit": "10"}` | A ReadRows body from the REST reference | | `INSERT events/user#42 {"profile:name": "Ann"}` | Creates the row. Refused when the key already has a row, and refuses `null` | | `PUT events/user#42 {"profile:name": "Ann"}` | Sets cells, and creates the row when the key has none. `null` deletes a cell, and `b64:` text writes bytes | | `DELETE events/user#42` | Deletes the row | | `DELETE events/user#42 profile:name` | Deletes that cell, every version of it | The table goes before the first slash, and the key is everything after it up to a space or a `?`. A key holding either goes in JSON quotes, `GET events/"a b?c"`, and a binary key as `b64:`. A column after `DELETE` runs to the end of the line, so it may hold spaces. A request does not get the row cap in [Settings > Data](/customization/data-settings): a `READ` without `rowsLimit` returns up to 5,000,000 rows, so give it one. For [Safe Mode](/features/safe-mode), `GET`, `SCAN` and `READ` are reads and every other request is a write. A `DELETE`, or a `PUT` that sets a cell to `null`, also raises the dangerous query warning on **Silent**. ## SSL/TLS Rows go to `bigtable.googleapis.com` and instances and tables to `bigtableadmin.googleapis.com`, both over HTTPS only. [Per-driver defaults](/connections/ssl#per-driver-defaults) lists Bigtable among the drivers with no **SSL Mode**. ## Limitations * No GoogleSQL. Use the request editor. * No reverse scans. Rows come in ascending key order only; to start late in a table, filter `_key` with greater than. * Only the newest version of each cell shows, in a `READ` result too. An edit adds a new version; removing a cell deletes every version of it. * Tables and column families cannot be created, changed, truncated or dropped. Use the Google Cloud console or `cbt`. * Export fixes its columns from the first 500 rows. Columns that appear only later go into an `__extra__` column as JSON, with bytes as `b64:` and base64. * Import is not available. Write rows with `INSERT` or `PUT` in the request editor. * A Bigtable connection synced to iPhone or iPad appears in the list but does not open there; open it on the Mac. See [Supported databases](/ios#supported-databases). ## Troubleshooting ### Permission denied: …. The message names what was refused, such as "read events" or "list instances". Grant Bigtable Reader to read or Bigtable User to edit. A refused "list instances" means the role sits on one instance, not the project: fill in **Instance ID** so the connection skips the listing. ### Project … has no Bigtable instance. The project in the message lists no Bigtable instance. With **Project ID** empty, that project came from the key or the Application Default Credentials, which need not be the one holding Bigtable. Set **Project ID** to the project with the instance. ### Row … already exists. Edit that row, or give the new one another key. A new, duplicated or pasted row, or an `INSERT` line, names a key another row already has. Change `_key` on the new row, or edit the existing row instead. ## Related * [Filtering](/features/filtering) * [Safe Mode](/features/safe-mode) * [Import & Export](/features/import-export) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.