How to plan your fields before you add them

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. If that is new, read What is an Object? first.

This page is the four minute sketch worth doing before you open the builder. Fields are quick to add, and each one is set once you save it. A few minutes on paper saves rebuilding a field after records have started arriving.

Which decisions are fixed once you save?

Everything about a field is set when you press Save field: its label, its type, the choices in an options list, whether it is Required, what a Linked record field points at, and a calculated field's formula. The one thing you can open again later is a Linked record field's Reverse view, covered in How to link one Object to another.

To correct a field, archive it and add a replacement alongside it. So make the call on paper, where it costs nothing.

What can you change later?

Plenty, all of it from the Object's tabs in Settings › Objects. You can move fields up and down, choose which field titles every record, rename the Object, change its icon and colour, and rework its statuses.

Who can see and edit the records is changed on Settings › Permissions, covered in How to set who can see and edit an Object. Reordering and renaming are covered in How to rename, reorder or retire an Object.

What should I write down first?

Work backwards from the questions you want to answer, not forwards from the data you happen to have. Take repairs at Fairgreen Golf Co.

The questions are "how many repairs are open right now", "which supplier sends us the most", and "how long do they take". That tells you the record needs a status, a link to the supplier, and a date.

It also tells you the customer's phone number needs no more thought than picking the Phone type. A US number then shows as (214)-555-0123, and tapping it dials.

Write down, for each thing you want on the record:

• What it is called, in the words your team already uses
• Whether it is one value or many
• Whether you will ever want to filter the list by it
• Whether it points at something else in Tideswell

Those last two are what decide the type.

Which type do I actually need?

The trap is picking Text because it accepts anything. It does, and six months later you want to narrow the list by it. Work through these five before you settle on Text:

• If it is one of a fixed set of answers, use Options list. "Warranty, Paid, Goodwill" as an options list can be filtered, where the same three words typed into a text box are just words. Setting one up is How to set up choice lists and reference numbers.
• If it points at a supplier, a customer or another record you already keep, use Linked record. Typing the supplier's name gives you a value that will be spelled three ways by March. See How to link one Object to another.
• If Tideswell can work the value out from other fields, such as a total or a turnaround time, let it: see How to build a field that works itself out.
• If it is money, use Money, and read the note that appears when you pick it: "Values here are replaced, not adjusted." It suits a figure you restate, such as the cost of a repair.
• If it is a date you will want to narrow the list by, use Date.

The record list's Filter works on the fields people fill in that are Text, Money, Date, Options list or Linked record. Anything you expect to narrow a list by is best as one of those five, typed in rather than calculated. How to add a field and pick its type walks all seventeen types and what each one is for.

Should I tick Required?

We recommend ticking it only if a record genuinely makes no sense without the value, and if you are confident about that now. Decide while the Object is still empty: once it holds records, add each new field as optional.

Leave it clear for anything a person might reasonably not know at the moment they create the record. A repair might not have a resolution date on day one.

How many fields should I start with?

Fewer than you think, and in the order you want them read. The first six fields become the columns on the record list, so those six are a real decision about what the list is for. You can move fields up and down later: see How to rename, reorder or retire an Object.

Add the fields you are certain about, use the Object for a week, then add the rest once you know what is missing. Fields are quick to add and slow to unpick.

Before you go on

Once you have your sketch, create the Object first and add the fields to it second. How to create an Object is the build itself, then How to add a field and pick its type adds each field from the Object's Fields tab.

Both steps need an admin. How to work out who can do what in your workspace explains how a person's role turns into what they can see and change.