How to set up 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 hold the choices your team picks from, and Reference number numbers every record for you.

All three are set up in the same Add field dialog as every other field, described in How to add a field and pick its type. 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 appears only for admins. The Object itself also has to exist, so if you have not built it yet, follow How to 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.

How do you 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. Save field stays greyed out until there is at least one option.

1. Open Settings › Objects, click the Object, for example Repairs, and open its Fields tab.
2. Press Add field and give the field a Label, for example "Reason".
3. Open the Type menu and choose Options list, under Choices & links.
4. In the Options box, type the choices separated by commas: Warranty, Paid, Goodwill.
5. Tick Required if a record cannot exist without an answer.
6. Press Save field.

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

Write the whole list before you save, because the choices are fixed once the field exists. How to plan your fields before you add them sets out which other parts of a field are fixed too.

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 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, where someone ticks several and sees them together.

Choose Options list for any answer you want to count records by. An Options list is offered in the record list's Filter, 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. A long list is usually 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 the reason stays one clean filter.
• 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 kept up by hand. That is covered in How to 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. It belongs in the Object's statuses, covered in How to set up the stages a record moves through, where it can control what happens next.

How do you 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. reads RPR-1042. Add it while you build the Object, so every record from the first one gets a number.

1. On the Object's Fields tab, press Add field and give it a Label, for example "Repair no.".
2. Open the Type menu and choose Reference number, under Files & IDs.
3. Press Save field.

There is nothing else to set and nothing for anyone to type. Tideswell assigns the number when the record is created, and it stays with that record for good. Because Tideswell fills it in, the dialog has no Required box for this type.

The prefix is taken from the Object's name at the moment you add the field, and it stays the same if you rename the Object later. Numbers already written on paperwork keep matching the record.

Add one Reference number field per Object. A second one shows the same running number as the first, so one is all you need. How to read Tideswell's numbers and dates covers how numbers read across Tideswell.

Where do choices and reference numbers show up?

On the record itself and on the record list. That is the payoff for the five minutes: a value chosen from a list can be filtered, 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 as columns. Reordering fields, and choosing which field titles every record, are both covered in How to 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. Typing a record's number into the list's search box, such as 1042, finds it. Teams start quoting the numbers 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 one field, marked Titles records on the Fields tab. 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.