---
title: Rename, reorder or retire an Object
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/objects/rename-reorder-retire
description: Rename an Object without breaking shared links, change its columns, and archive one you have finished with.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# Rename, reorder or retire an Object



An **Object** is a kind of record your team defines, and it is not fixed once you have
built it. Objects are built and maintained in **Settings › Objects**, introduced in <Ref to="objects" />.

The name, the order of the fields, the field that titles every record, and whether the
Object is in use at all are all yours to change later. None of them put the records you
already have at risk.

This page covers the four changes an admin makes months after the Object was set up, usually
because the team's language moved on or an Object turned out to be wrong.

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

You need to be an admin, as <Ref to="objects" /> explains. The first three changes happen on
the Object's own page in **Settings › Objects**, and the last one on the list of Objects
itself. Nothing on this page deletes a record.

## How do you rename an Object? [#how-do-you-rename-an-object]

Edit the two names at the top of the page and press **Save**. The singular name is what one
record is called, and it names the buttons: an Object called Repair gives you a **New
Repair** button. The plural names the list in the sidebar and the web address for it.

Older links to the Object's records keep working, even after a rename, so a link pasted into
a chat message last March still opens the right record. The sidebar, the new-record menu and
**Settings › Permissions** all pick up the new name straight away.

Three things to expect:

* Each name can be up to 60 characters, and both are required.
* A name another live Object is already using is refused, and you are told which one has it.
* Renaming changes the label of the Object only. Anything your team typed inside the records
  is untouched, and so is every automation that reads from it.

If Fairgreen Golf Co. starts calling repairs "warranty claims" internally, this is a
two-minute change with no cleanup afterwards.

## How do you change which columns show on the list? [#how-do-you-change-which-columns-show-on-the-list]

Reorder the fields. The first six fields, in the order they appear in the field list, are
the columns on the record list. So moving a field into the top six is how it becomes a
column, and moving it down is how it stops being one.

Each row in the field list has an up arrow and a down arrow on the left. Press one and the
field moves a place; the record list picks the change up immediately, and so does the
order of the boxes on the record form.

If an order ever looks half applied after a lot of quick presses, press the arrows again
to settle it. Nothing is lost either way.

Because the first six are shared by everyone who opens the list, they are a real decision
about what the list is for. Fairgreen's Repairs list leads with the customer, the stage,
the supplier and the date in, because that is what a person scanning the list needs. The
serial number sits lower down and is found by opening the record, or by searching, which
<Ref to="records/find-your-records" /> covers.

The same order decides how the record form reads top to bottom, so group fields that get
filled in together. <Ref to="objects/add-a-field" /> covers adding new fields, which always
arrive at the bottom for you to move up.

## Which field titles every record? [#which-field-titles-every-record]

One field on each Object is the display field. Its value is the record's title everywhere
the record appears: in lists, in search results, in an @ mention in chat, and on any record
that links to it. A coral **Display** pill in the field list shows you which field currently
holds the job.

To change it, use the **Display field** picker in the Fields header and choose another
field. The picker appears once the Object has more than one field to choose between.

Pick the field a person would say out loud to identify the record. A new Object starts
with a field called Name in the role, which is right for anything people identify by name,
like a fabric trial or a press loan.

For something that has a running number, point it at the reference number instead, so
records read RPR-1042 rather than a row of near-identical names. <Ref to="objects/choice-lists-and-reference-numbers" /> covers setting a reference number up.

One rule protects you here: the field currently acting as the display field cannot be
archived while it holds that role, and the screen tells you so. Point the display field at
another field first, then archive the one you are finished with.

## How do you retire an Object you no longer use? [#how-do-you-retire-an-object-you-no-longer-use]

Archive it. Open the Object and use the red **Archive this Object** panel at the bottom of
the page. The confirmation spells out exactly what happens before you commit, and it is
worth reading, because archiving reaches further than most people expect:

* Every record already saved stays exactly as it is. Nothing is deleted.
* Nobody can create a new one. The Object leaves the sidebar, the new-record menu and
  **Settings › Objects**.
* Links pointing at it from other records stop resolving, so a record that referenced one
  of these will show the link as unavailable.
* An automation that reads from the Object stops doing its work.

So do two things first. Check which automations touch the Object and switch them off or
point them elsewhere, and check any other Object that links to this one, which
<Ref to="objects/link-objects" /> explains. The Object's row on **Settings › Objects** tells
you how many records and how many fields it holds, which is the quickest sanity check that
you are archiving the right thing.

Its permission dials are kept for you and appear on **Settings › Permissions** marked
"(archived)", so a restore brings back the access you had configured rather than a blank
slate. See <Ref to="objects/permissions" />.

## How do you bring an archived Object back? [#how-do-you-bring-an-archived-object-back]

Go to **Settings › Objects** and look under the main list, where an **Archived** section
lists everything you have retired. Press **Restore** on the row and the Object returns to
the sidebar with its records, its fields, its stages and its permissions intact.

The one thing that can stop a restore is the name. If you archived Repairs and later created
a new, live Object also called Repairs, the name is taken and you are told so in plain words.
Rename the live one first, then restore, then decide which of the two the team is actually
going to use.

If you are restoring because you want a fresh start on the same idea, build a new Object
instead. <Ref to="objects/create-an-object" /> takes a couple of minutes, and
<Ref to="objects/plan-your-fields-first" /> is the four minutes that keep you from doing
this twice.