Choice lists and reference numbers

A field is one box of information on a record, and every field belongs to an Object: a kind of record your team defines, built by an admin in Settings › Objects. Start at What is an Object? if that is new to you. This page covers the field types that ask you for more than a label: Options list and Multi-select, which hold the choices your team picks from, and Reference number, which numbers every record for you.

All three are set up in the same Add field dialog as every other field, described in Add a field and pick the right type. They get a page of their own because they are the ones that most change how an Object reads a year in.

A good options list turns a pile of records into a report. A reference number turns "the Kaimen repair, the one from March" into RPR-1042.

Before you start

You need to be an admin, because Settings › Objects does not appear for anyone else. The Object itself also has to exist, so if you have not built it yet, follow Create an Object first.

Have your choices written down before you open the dialog. The list is fixed once the field is saved, so five minutes with a pen is the cheapest part of this page.

Set up an Options list

An Options list holds one answer from a set you write. Pick the type, then type the choices into the Options box, separated by commas. The field needs at least one option before it will save.

1. Press Add field and give the field a Label, for example "Reason".
2. Choose Options list from the Type menu, under Choices & links.
3. In the Options box, type the choices separated by commas: Warranty, Paid, Goodwill.
4. Tick Required if a record cannot exist without an answer.
5. Press Save field.

Spaces around the commas are fine. What you type is what people see on the record, so write them the way your team says them out loud, in the order you want them to appear in the menu.

Write the whole list before you save, because the choices are fixed once the field exists. The same rule applies to a field's label and type, and Plan your fields before you add them sets out what changing your mind costs.

When should you use Multi-select instead?

Use Multi-select when a record can honestly have more than one answer at once, and Options list when it can only have one. You write the choices exactly the same way, as a comma separated list in the Options box.

Take Fairgreen Golf Co. A repair has one Reason: it is warranty, or paid, or goodwill, never two of them. So Reason is an Options list.

The same repair might have several Faults: a broken zip and a failed seam on the same jacket. So Faults is a Multi-select.

The practical difference on the record is the box people fill in. An Options list gives one menu and one answer. A Multi-select lets someone tick several and shows them together.

The other difference matters later: an Options list can be filtered on a record list, which is how you answer "how many warranty repairs are open right now". Saving that as a view for the team is covered in How to search, filter and save a view.

How do I write a good set of choices?

Short, distinct, and as few as you can live with. Six choices that everyone reads the same way beat fifteen that people argue about, and a long list is really a sign that two questions have been squeezed into one field.

• Make them mutually exclusive. If a person could reasonably pick two, either the list is wrong or the field should be a Multi-select.
• Do not encode two things at once. "Warranty, Warranty (rush), Paid, Paid (rush)" is two fields: a reason and a rush tick. Split it, and both halves stay filterable.
• Avoid a catch-all. "Other" is where the information you actually wanted goes to die. If you need it, put a Long text field next to it so the detail lands somewhere.
• Do not build a list of things you already keep as records. Suppliers, products and customers belong in a Linked record field, not typed into an Options list that has to be maintained by hand. That is covered in Link one Object to another.
• Do not use it for stages. "Received, In progress, Done" is the life of the record, not a property of it, and it belongs in The stages a record moves through where it can control what happens next.

Add a reference number

Reference number gives every record its own number, counting up, shown with a short prefix drawn from the Object's name. A repair at Fairgreen Golf Co.

becomes RPR-1042. Add the field once and you never touch it again.

1. Press Add field and give it a Label, for example "Repair no.".
2. Choose Reference number from the Type menu, under Files & IDs.
3. Press Save field.

There is nothing else to configure, and nothing for anyone to type. The number is assigned when the record is saved, and it stays with that record for good.

Tideswell fills it in, so there is nothing to mark Required. How to read Tideswell's numbers and dates covers how a reference number reads alongside your other figures.

Add one Reference number field per Object. A second one counts up from the same running sequence rather than starting a fresh one of its own, so one is what you want.

Where do choices and reference numbers show up?

On the record itself, on the record list, and anywhere a record is mentioned. That is the payoff for the five minutes: a value chosen from a list can be filtered and grouped, and a reference number gives your team something short to say to each other.

• On the record list. A reference number and a reason are both strong candidates for the first six fields, which are the ones the list shows. Reordering them, and choosing which field titles every record, are both covered in Rename, reorder or retire an Object.
• In a filter. Options list fields can be narrowed on the record list, alongside Text, Money, Date and Linked record fields.
• In search. A reference number is the fastest way to land on one specific record, which is why teams start quoting them in chat within a week. Finding records is covered in How to find and open your records.
• As the record's title. Each record is titled by its display field. A reference number on its own makes a thin title, so most teams keep a descriptive Name field in that role and let the number sit beside it.