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Field Types

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This reference guide describes every field type that can be added to a table in TrackVia. Once a field type is added to a table, you will need to give it a name. Aside from Document, Image, Attachments, Auto Counter, Checkbox, and Calculated fields, you also have the ability to set a field as Required and/or Unique.

To learn how to add fields to a table, see How to Customize Tables.

Join limit note: Some field types consume part of a table's join capacity: Drop Down, Image, Document, Attachments, Application User, and User Group fields, along with relationships and Calculated/Triggered fields that reference any of these. Tables have a hard limit of 61 joins (59 available after the built-in Created By and Last Updated By fields). See [Understanding the Join Limit] before adding many of these fields to one table.

 

Mobile-Only Field Options

When you add certain field types to a form, TrackVia shows additional configuration options that only apply to the mobile app (iOS and Android) — they have no effect on how the field behaves on the web. The available mobile-only options vary by field type.

The following field types include mobile-only options:

  • Application User
  • Calculated Text and Triggered Text fields
  • Document
  • Drop Down
  • Email
  • Image
  • Link
  • Number
  • Paragraph
  • Single Line

Text Fields

Single Line — A short, one-line text box for entering words, letters, or numbers. Limited to approximately 250 characters.

Paragraph — A multi-line text box for longer amounts of text, such as sentences and paragraphs. Limited to approximately 65,000 characters typed or pasted. The limit is lower if multi-byte UTF-8 character sets are used.

Why does a Paragraph field take up less table space than a Single Line field, even though it holds far more characters?

It's counterintuitive, but yes — a Paragraph field generally takes up less room in the table itself than a Single Line field does, even though it can hold vastly more text.

Here's why: a Single Line field always reserves room in the table for its full maximum length, every time — whether a record's value is 5 characters or 250. Paragraph fields work differently. Only a small fixed-size placeholder is stored directly in the table; the actual paragraph text is stored separately, elsewhere, with just a tiny pointer left behind in the table row to tell the system where to find it. So the table itself only ever holds that small pointer, not the full paragraph — which is what keeps the row small no matter how much text is actually in the field.

The tradeoff: because a Paragraph field's content lives outside the main table, reading or writing it requires an extra step behind the scenes, so Paragraph fields carry a small performance cost compared to Single Line fields.

Numeric Fields

Number — Accepts decimals, positive numbers, and negative numbers. For example, valid entries include: 175, -175, 1.75, -1.75.

Percentage — Accepts the same values as Number fields, displayed with decimal formatting and a percent symbol. Entering 0.05 displays as 5%; entering 5 displays as 500%.

Currency — Accepts the same values as Number fields, displayed with a currency symbol.

Auto Counter — Sequentially increments by 1 for each new record. You can choose the starting number, and the field will back-fill values when added to a table with existing records. Once assigned, the number remains static. An Auto Counter value is unique to a record; when a record is deleted, its value is not re-assigned.

Notes on numeric fields:

Choice Fields

Drop Down List — Requires the user to choose one value from a list. For example, a Drop Down list called Priority might have choices of Low, Medium, and High. There is no limit to the number of choices.

Note: Values in Drop Down fields will not display in a Search.

What happens when you delete a Dropdown value

Deleting a value from a Dropdown field's list doesn't erase it from the backend — it's marked inactive and removed from the visible list of choices. This is true regardless of whether any records currently have that value assigned, whether records are currently attached to it, or whether records were attached to it in the past and later changed.

Important: deleting a value does not detach it from any records that still have it assigned. Those records keep the now-inactive value until you change them — deleting the dropdown option only stops it from being offered as a choice going forward.

If you need to move existing records off a value before removing it, do that with a bulk edit to reassign those records to a different value. It's best to do this reassignment before deleting the value, rather than after — once it's deleted, that's still possible, but you're now clearing an inactive value off already-affected records instead of avoiding the situation altogether.

Checkboxes — Creates a single checkbox or a group of related checkboxes. With a group, users can select as many choices as apply. For example, a field called Departments Affected might have choices of Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Human Resources.

Important limitations for Checkbox fields:

  • Avoid commas (",") in Checkbox options. Commas cause issues when importing records and when using Workato recipes that reference Checkbox fields with multiple selections, because each option must be separated by a comma.
  • Limit of 63 choices per Checkbox field.
  • Values in Checkbox fields will not display in a Search.
  • Do not sort on Checkbox fields. Checkbox values are stored as numeric values in the database, so sorting gives unpredictable results. If you want choices to appear in alphabetical order, enter them in that order or re-arrange them by dragging in the Table Builder.
  • Note: An unchecked Checkbox field is saved as null if the field isn't included on the form used for the insert/update, or as blank if the field is on the form but nothing was checked. Scripts referencing Checkbox fields should account for both possibilities — see App Script Troubleshooting for an example.

Date Fields

Date — Requires a day, month, and year. TrackVia validates that the date is legitimate (e.g., February 31 is not a valid date). When entering or editing a date, users see a shortcut link called "today" that fills in the current date.

Note on date formatting: The date format displayed is based on your computer's local time settings. For example, dates display as MM/DD/YYYY in the US and DD/MM/YYYY in the UK. To change the date formatting shown in TrackVia, update the Date and Time Settings on your computer. Formatting instructions can be found here.

Date and Time — Like Date fields, with an additional time component.

Note: TrackVia shows date and time values to each user in their own time zone, automatically handling time zone conversions as necessary.

Choice of Related Records (Relationship Fields)

When you create a relationship between two tables, a relationship field (also called a Link to Parent field) automatically appears on the child table, allowing users to link each child record to a parent record. Relationship fields are created through the Table Relationships editor rather than the Table Builder. See How to Create Table Relationships and [Relationship Fields and Link-to-Parent Lookups] for details.

Specialty Fields

Application User — Lets you choose a specific TrackVia user from a drop-down list, effectively assigning them to the record. You can create filters that use this field to dynamically modify a view based on who is logged in. For more information on filtering, click here.

Email — Appears as a short text box when editing and as a hyperlink (opening a new email to the address) when viewing.

Note: TrackVia will only accept entries that appear to be validly-formatted email addresses. Limited to approximately 250 characters.

Link — Accepts a URL, which functions as a hyperlink once the record is saved.

Image — Lets a user attach a photo or image file to a record. Supported file types: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, and .png. The image appears as a thumbnail that users can click to open or save.

Note: Maximum file size is 40 MB.

Document — Lets a user attach a file to a record — for example, a Word document, PDF, spreadsheet, or video clip. It appears as a link that users can open or save.

Note: Maximum file size is 40 MB.

Attachments — Lets a user upload up to 25 files of mixed accepted types (images, PDFs, Word docs, etc.) to a single field.

Note: Each Attachments field counts as one table join toward the join limit, no matter how many files are uploaded to it. See [Understanding the Join Limit] for details.

Blocked file types: Certain file formats (such as executables and scripts) cannot be uploaded to Image, Document, or Attachments fields. See [Accepted and Blocked File Types for Uploads] for the complete list.

Note: If you need to download all files attached in document, image, or attachments fields on a table, please reach out to TrackVia Support.

Copying a Record: What Happens to Attached Documents and Images

If you copy a record that has files attached — in a Document, Image, or Attachment field — those files will not carry over to the new, copied record. This is expected behavior, not a bug.

Why: attached files aren't stored directly on the record — they're stored in cloud storage (Amazon S3) and the record holds a link to that file. When you copy a record, TrackVia doesn't currently support automatically copying the underlying files or re-linking the new record to the original files in storage.

If you need the same attachments on both the original and the copied record, you'll need to manually re-upload them to the new record after copying.

Location Fields

Location at Creation — Captures the location where a record is created. This feature is predominantly used with mobile devices; the coordinates are captured from the device when adding a record. The location is then pinpointed on a map, which can be displayed on a form or from a view using individual or multiple records. For more information about the Location at Creation field and Map views, click here.

Location at Creation captures your device's GPS coordinates directly, so it also works while your device is offline — see How to use your mobile device offline for details. The map preview won't render until you're back online, but the location itself is captured accurately regardless of connectivity.

Note: This field contains a special setting, "Required for Mobile Apps." When enabled, users must have location services enabled on their device to add records.

Calculated Fields

Calculated fields let you input formulas that automatically calculate a resulting value in each record. A formula may include values from other fields (e.g., Date of Birth) and/or manually input values (e.g., 1987-04-12). Any time a record is updated in a way that changes a value used in a calculated field, the formula is reapplied and the result updates automatically. For more information about formulas, click here.

Available calculated types:

  • Calculated Text
  • Calculated Number
  • Calculated Percentage
  • Calculated Currency
  • Calculated Date
  • Calculated Date Time
  • Calculated Email

Related: Triggered fields (Triggered Number, Triggered Percentage, Triggered Currency, and others) store a value that is set when a specific trigger condition is met, rather than continuously recalculating. To understand the difference and when to use each, see Triggered Fields vs. Calculated Fields.

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