hblss,
Since you're new FM I'll start with the simple stuff.
1. Portals are for displaying records from related table. Do you have a table that is related to the one with the portal?
2. In FILE > DEFINE > DATABASE (Relationships Tab) if you click on the connector between the two table occurences, near the bottom you should see "allow creation of records...". Read each side carefully and check the proper side.
Question; do you see any records in the portal at all or are you just having trouble creating new portal rows?
-Striker