How to add and edit a record

A record is one entry of an Object, the kind of record your team defines and an admin builds in Settings › Objects. You add and edit records from the Object's list in the Objects area of the left menu. Adding one takes a button and a short form; changing one happens on the record page itself, with no edit mode to switch into.

This page covers both, plus the fields that fill themselves in and the files you attach afterwards. For what Objects are and where they come from, see What is an Object?.

Before you start

You need Create to add a record and Update to change one, such as Sample requests · Create and Sample requests · Update, as Working with records explains. If you can open a list but the New button is missing, or you can read a record but there is no Save, that is what you are short of.

Add a record

The form is built from that Object's own fields, so it looks different for Sample requests than it does for Fabric trials.

1. Open the Object from the Objects area of the menu, for example Objects › Sample request. If you are not sure which list you want, see How to find and open your records.
2. Press the button named after the Object's singular name: New Sample request. It sits at the top right of the list, or in the middle of the list while the Object has no records yet. If the Object has templates, the button opens a menu: pick Blank, or a template to start with its values filled in.
3. Fill in the fields. Required ones carry a red star.
4. Pick an Owner and a Status if you know them. Both can be set later on the record.
5. Press Save. Tideswell creates the record and takes you straight to its page.

Templates are set up by an admin, covered in How to set up record templates.

If you are waiting on a detail somebody else has, save what you do know and add the rest on the record page later. That keeps the record in the list where your team can see it.

To add many records at once from a spreadsheet, press Import in the same toolbar instead. That is How to import records from a spreadsheet.

Fix a form that will not save

Read the message under the field. A required field left empty says so, for example "Lab cost is required." A value in the wrong shape tells you what is wanted.

• A Money field asks you to "Enter a number, like 84.00." and refuses a negative amount with a message such as "Lab cost can't be negative."
• A Number or Percent field asks you to "Enter a number, like 12."
• Email and Website fields say when what you typed is not an email address or a web address.

A Linked record field searches the records that already exist. Picking a mill on a fabric trial searches your suppliers, so if the mill is genuinely new, add it first and come back. How an admin sets these up is in How to link one Object to another.

Person fields offer the people in your workspace. An Options list field offers exactly the choices an admin defined for it, which is what How to set up choice lists and reference numbers is about.

Edit a record in place

Open the record, change the fields you want, and press Save. A "Saved" confirmation appears and the new values are live for everyone straight away.

You can change several fields before pressing Save, and they go in together. The record's Activity then shows one line listing each field with its old and new value, so save once when you have finished a thought. See How to comment on a record and see its history for how to read it back.

Two things on the record page save on their own, with no Save press: the Owner and the Status. Both are covered in How to set a record's status and owner.

Which fields fill themselves in?

Two kinds, and neither accepts typing. A Reference number, such as SMP-1042, sits at the top of the record page. It is assigned when you save and stays with that record for good, so quote it in an email or a chat message when you mean one specific sample request.

Calculated fields sit in their own block below the fields you type. They hold figures worked out from the rest of the record or from records linked to it, such as the total cost of a trial. Each one carries a line saying how recently it was worked out.

On a record you created moments ago a calculated field can read "Not calculated yet" for a short while. How to build a field that works itself out covers how they are set up and how to read one.

For how currency, percentages and dates are shown, see How to read Tideswell's numbers and dates.

Attach photos and documents

Save the record first, then attach. Files live in their own sections at the foot of the record page, one section per file field an admin created. A fabric trial might have Swatch photos and Lab report as two separate sections.

• Click the dashed area in an empty section to choose files from your computer. Each file can be up to 25 MB.
• Once a section has files in it, use its Add button for more.
• Uploads show their progress, and a confirmation tells you how many were attached.
• Images show as thumbnails; click one to view it. Click any other file to download it.
• Remove a file with the control on its row.

Attachments are private to your workspace. Only people who can view the record can open its files, even from a copied address.

What do you see when you can only view?

Everything, laid out as it is for everyone else, but not editable. Dates, money, yes and no, links, email addresses, phone numbers and choices from a list all show in their finished form, and there is no Save button.

You can still read the whole record, open its links, download its files and follow the conversation on it. To change something, ask an admin for Update on that Object, or leave a comment on the record and mention someone who has it.

The connections between a record and the rest of your work are covered in How to link a record to work, and see what points at it.