Every field has a type, chosen when the field is added and awkward to change afterwards.
| Type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Text | a name, a code, a symbol, one line |
| Textarea | a description or a production note |
| Number | width, weight, module count |
| Boolean | in stock, assembly required |
| Color | a frame, leg or stitching colour |
| Image | a picture from the project’s media library |
| List | a value from a fixed set you define |
| Item | a pointer to an item in another group |
| Product group option | a pointer to an option in the connected shop |
Two that behave differently
Image does not upload a file onto the item. It picks one from the project’s media library, so the same picture can sit on any number of items.
Item points at another record. You set the target group on the field, and the picker then only offers items from that group.
Text or List?
If the value comes from a fixed set, use List. Free text drifts: six months in, the same
finish is stored as oak, Oak and oak_ (that last one ends in a space) and none of them
match each other.
What to reuse
Troubleshooting
An Item field offers nothing to pick
Either no target group is set on the field, or that group has no items in this project. Relations do not cross projects.
I changed a type and the values vanished
Types store their values differently, so the field is now reading from an empty place. The old values come back if you restore the previous type.
