Selection Lists Shared Between Tables

Project names, task statuses, process states, various categories… all of these are great candidates for selection lists.

Sometimes, you might need a list of predefined values that are the same for multiple tables in a project.

These are so called selection lists which can be used with the Selection attribute data type. When setting a column data type, you can use a list of values that already exists. You can also later update the list from a single place.

Using Selection Lists

The easiest way to start working with the selection lists, is to use one of the predefined lists in your attribute settings. Simply open the Attribute settings, select the Selection attribute type, and select one of the predefined list.

setting attribute type to use selection lists

Then, you can use the values directly.

You can also use the same values in a different tables, where the same selection list is used.

using the same values in a different table

Configuring Selection Lists

You can manage the values in the list in a single place for all the tables. This can be accessed in project configuration in the tab Selection Lists. You won’t need to update several tables when you just need to add a single value.

Having the same values in multiple tables can be also used in automations to automatically create links between records.

You can also start with a predefined list and then customize it for a specific table as shown below.

Just go to the attribute settings again and select the list type to Custom. This will preserve the existing values and colors but allows you to change them. You can for example add another custom state.

Please note that Custom settings is no longer maintained from the Project settings. Thus any changes to the predefined list are no longer reflected in the attribute settings.

Predefined Lists

The predefined lists are suitable for several use cases.

General – generic tasks that are Open, In Prorgess, and Done,
Content – states of content created for content marketing,
Marketing – states of marketing campaigns,
Kanban – Kanban project management,
Scrum – Scrum project management.

If you were missing a specific list or had any other suggestion, please get in touch with us.