Skip to main content
Turn on masking before a screen share, a pairing session or a recorded demo on production data. A masked column still shows a value in every row, so you see that a column holds an email, or that two rows share one, without seeing the address.

​
Add a rule

In the connection form, open the Options tab and find Masking. Click Add Rule, then set three things: Some patterns:
Masking section of the connection form with a Column rule on *.email set to Email and a Column rule on users.ssn set to Last 4 CharactersMasking section of the connection form with a Column rule on *.email set to Email and a Column rule on users.ssn set to Last 4 Characters

Two rules in the Masking section of the Options tab

When two rules match one column, the first in the list wins. Rules save with the connection, sync through iCloud and travel with a connection published to the Team Catalog.

​
Masks

A value that is already NULL stays NULL. Last 4 Characters shows •••• for a value of four characters or fewer, and Email shows •••• for a value with no @. A Stable Hash stays the same until TablePro quits, so it matches equal values across the grid, an export and an MCP result from one session.

​
Where values are masked

One rule covers every place a value leaves TablePro:
  • The data grid and a query tab’s results, with an eye-slash icon in the header of each masked column.
  • The row inspector, charts, Copy, Copy As and Export Results.
  • File > Export, for every format.
  • The AI assistant, both the results summary it reads and the queries it runs.
  • Every MCP tool that returns rows, and AppleScript and Shortcuts results.
  • The referenced-row preview of a foreign key, Server Dashboard tiles and the Routine Debugger result grid.
A query result has no source table for most engines, so a table.column rule matches a query result by its column name alone. users.ssn then also masks an ssn column a query reads from another table.

​
Editing and Reveal

A grid that shows a masked column is read-only, since a mask cannot be written back or used to find its row. To see or edit the real values, right-click a masked column’s header and choose Reveal Masked Values…. TablePro asks for Touch ID, or your macOS password on a Mac without it, and reloads the tab unmasked. A query tab whose statement is not a read reveals on its next run instead. Reveal lasts until the tab closes or opens another table. Other tabs, exports from other tabs, the AI assistant and MCP stay masked.

​
Limits

Masking hides values inside TablePro. It does not replace database permissions: anyone with the connection’s credentials can read the data with another client.
  • Filters, sorts and WHERE clauses run on the server against the stored values, so a filter on a masked column finds the real matches.
  • A rule matches the column name a result reports. A query that renames or computes the column, such as SELECT email AS contact, returns it unmasked, and that includes queries an MCP client or the AI assistant writes. A Type rule catches a renamed column that keeps its type.
  • Copy To, copying objects to another database and Compare move the stored values, not the masks.