Value Lists

A value list is a named, ordered set of choices: statuses, priorities, categories, referral sources. Any extension field of type List picks one by name, and every field that uses it offers exactly the options you define here.

The payoff is that there is one place to change them. Edit a list, and every field using it offers the new options immediately — no field-by-field editing, no two fields drifting apart.

Where to find it

Screen	Where it lives	What you need
Lists — `/admin/lists`	Settings → Data model → Lists	Permission to read extensions; creating and editing needs the manage permission

Note

These are value lists — the options inside a field. They are not the record lists you browse (see Working with Lists), and not Data Groups.

The catalogue

Each row shows the list's name, how many Items it holds, its Origin and its Status.

Origin is either Global (shared by every space) or This space. A space list shadows the global one with the same key: define a space list called priority and this space uses yours while every other space keeps the shared one.

What an item holds

Press + New list, or click a row to edit. A list has a Name people read and a Key — the technical name a field refers to. Then the items, in display order:

Field	What it is for
value	what is actually stored on the record
Label	what people read in the dropdown
Rank	an integer; higher is more important. Used wherever the platform ranks the items
Colour	a hex colour, painted on the item wherever it is shown as a chip

Rank and colour are both optional.

Warning

The stored value never changes once the list is in use — edit only the label. Changing a value does not go back and rewrite the records already holding the old one; it leaves them pointing at a value the list no longer offers. Rename the label as often as you like; leave the value alone.

Disabling a list

Disable is soft and reversible. While a list is disabled, the fields using it render without options — they still exist, their stored values are untouched, but nobody can pick anything new. The editor shows a prominent banner while you are in a disabled list, and saving a disabled list keeps it disabled; you turn it back on with Enable in the list view.

Deleting a list, and the guard that stops you

Deleting is also soft: the list disappears from this space, and if a global list shares its key, that one resurfaces in its place. You can undo it by re-creating the key.

Before any of that, the server checks who is still using the list. If a live field refers to it, the delete is refused, and the refusal names every field that still uses it in plain language — the table and the column, not an internal identifier. Clear those fields first, or point them at another list.

Tip

If a dropdown somewhere is unexpectedly empty, the list behind it is almost certainly disabled. The field is fine; the list needs enabling.