Choice fields

A choice field keeps a value to one of a short list you set: a status, a priority, a region. Everyone picks from the same list, so Paid is never also written paid or Payed, and filters and groups count it right.

• Single select holds one choice, such as an order's status.
• Multiple select holds any number of choices, such as a product's tags.

Set up the choices

In Add Field or Edit field:

1. Choose + Add option and type the choice. Repeat for each one.
2. Click a choice's colour to change it. Untick Color-code options to show the choices without their colours.
3. Drag the choices into the order you want them listed.
4. For a single select, set Sort order: Manual, your order, or Alphabetical.
5. Choose Save.

A field takes up to 50 choices, each up to 100 characters, and needs at least one. For a longer list, such as every product, make a table and link to it: see Links between tables.

Pick a choice

Click the cell and pick from the list. Type to narrow it: the box says Find an option.... A choice can only be added to the list in the field's settings, not from a cell.

Values that are not on the list

A record can hold a value the list does not have, after an import or after you remove a choice. It shows as a grey label, with This value isn't in the current options. when you point at it. Edit field lists such values under Detected from data, with how many there are. Click one, pick its colour, and it joins the list as a choice.

Rename or remove a choice

Click a choice's name to rename it, or choose Remove option beside it. When you save, a Confirm changes box lists each renamed or removed choice and what it means for the records using it. Choose Save anyway to go ahead.

Renaming or removing a choice does not change the records that hold it. They keep the old value, which then shows as a value not on the list. To move records to the new name, filter on the old value, change them, then rename.

Filter, sort and group

• Filter a single select with is, is not, is any of or is none of, and a multiple select with is any of or is none of.
• A single select can be sorted and grouped by. A multiple select cannot.

From text to choices

A text column, often from an import, can become a choice field. In Edit field, change its Type to Single select or Multiple select: Sterodata reads the column and offers each value it holds as a choice, with a colour. For a multiple select, text such as red, large is split at the commas into two choices. See Change a field's type.