System Administrators can configure the options available in most dropdown menus in the application. In Case IQ, a dropdown field in a form with customization options is called a “picklist”. Users can click the field to select one or more of the options that a System Administrator sets when configuring the picklist.

You can configure picklists via three locations in the application:

• In the Form Builder, you can add new picklists to forms, add and delete options for picklists, and configure the settings of picklists and their options.
• From the Picklists page, you can add and delete options for picklists. 
• You can edit picklist options in bulk from the Configuration Export and Import page.

This article pulls together all information on picklists (including the material in the Use the Form Builder, Add and Delete Picklist Options, and Configuration Export & Import articles), explaining every way you can configure picklist fields and their options.

Uneditable Picklists

You cannot edit picklists if they are hard-coded system fields, such as status fields or event types. You will not be able to click locked picklists in the Form Builder or on the Picklists page. 

 

Create a New Picklist Field

You can add a picklist or picklist multiple field to your form layout in the Form Builder as you would with any other field type. While this article focuses on picklists, the steps below to add a picklist field will be familiar if you have read the Use the Form Builder: Add a Field article.

1. To add a picklist field to a form, open the form type in the Form Builder. 
   1. If you are creating a new form type, click the Add Form button on the Custom Forms page and complete the New Form pop-up.
   2. If you want to add the picklist field to an existing form type, select the form type on the Custom Forms page, then click the Edit button when the record type's currently active layout is loaded. 
2. Click the + Insert Fields button or the right arrow icon to open the Field Type sidebar.
3. Find the “Picklist” or “Picklist multiple” data type in the Field Type sidebar. To add the field type to your form layout, click and hold it in the Field Type sidebar, drag it to the Form Builder page, and let go of your cursor over the “+ Insert Fields” section. 
4. The picklist will be added to the page and you can complete the following fields in the Picklist pop-up: 
   • “Name”: the picklist field’s system name, i.e. the text that will be shown on grids and reports and used for templates to refer to the field. Entering a name is required when adding a dynamic field. If you do not enter a “Caption”, the “Name” text will be displayed beside the field.
   • “Caption”: the text that appears beside the picklist field on the form. Adding a caption is optional. If you enter a caption, the caption text will be displayed on the form instead of the “Name” text. 
     • For example, you can enter a concise name for the picklist in “Name” to show in grids and reports, such as “Interviewers”. Then, you can phrase the “Caption” text as a question to help users filling in the form, such as “Who interviewed the parties?”.
   • “Editable” and “Computed” radio buttons: choose if (1) a user can select one of the picklist field's options when adding or editing the record or (2) the system should compute the selected option by expression when the user saves the record’s form. 
     • If you select “Computed”, the “Expression” text box will be displayed in the Picklist pop-up, so you can enter an expression to tell the system how to select a picklist option.
     • Users will not be able to edit a computed field on a record’s form. 
     • For comprehensive information on writing expressions for computed fields in Case IQ, see Case IQ Expression Language.
   • “Required”: choose if users must select an option for the picklist field before they can submit the form.
   • “Show on Intake”: specify if the picklist field should be displayed on the form to add a new record. 
     • If "Show on Intake" is switched to "On", the picklist will appear on the New Record page of the record type. 
     • By default, the option is set to "Off", meaning that the picklist will not be available on the page when adding a new record. 
   • “Sub Text”: text that will be constantly displayed under the picklist field. For example, you may want to provide clear and prominent instructions to complete the form. In the screenshot below, the field’s sub text is highlighted in purple.
   • “Help Text”: more discrete guidance text, which will only be displayed when the user hovers their cursor over a question mark icon beside the picklist. See an example highlighted in pink in the screenshot below.
   • There will be two additional options in the Picklist pop-up when adding a picklist field to the case form:
     • An additional radio button option, called "Aggregate", which you can use to summarize the most commonly selected option for a picklist on the case's child records. See details on setting up an aggregate picklist field in Use the Form Builder: Set up an Aggregate Field on the Case Form.
     • An "Available For Case Filtering" toggle to set up case filters for a user role. See User Roles: Set up Case Filters to learn how to set up case filters to restrict the kinds of cases a user role can access.
   • An additional option, “Show on Portal”, will be available when adding picklists to a standard form type that is on the portal (see Use the Form Builder: Field Type Properties for details). 
5. When you have finished entering the picklist field's properties, click Save in the pop-up. The picklist will now appear on the Form Builder page. 
6. You will need to add options for the picklist to display in the field using either the Form Builder or the Picklists page, as described in the next section of this article, Add Options for a Picklist. 
   1. If you intend to add options to the picklist via the Picklists page, publish the form before navigating to the Picklists page. Then follow the steps in the Add Options via Picklists Page section of this article.
   2. If you want to add options using the Form Builder, proceed to the steps in the Add Options via Form Builder section below.
7. To make the new picklist field available on the form, click the Publish button on the Form Builder page.

Add Options for a Picklist

After adding a picklist field via the Form Builder, you can set the options to display in the picklist dropdown menu with the Form Builder, the Picklists page, or a configuration import. The options added using any of these methods will be populated in all three locations.

Add Options via Form Builder

Use the following steps to add picklist options in the Form Builder. 

1. Click the picklist field on the Form Builder page to open the field’s properties on the sidebar.  
2. Click the Value tab on the sidebar.
3. In the “Value” field, type in the picklist option text to show in the picklist dropdown menu, then hit Enter or Return on your keyboard. 
   1. You can also paste a list of options in the Value field. Copy a list, then paste the list in the Text field and click the Add button. Case IQ can add up to 100 options at once, so if you need to include more than 100 options in the picklist, you will need to copy and paste options in the Value field multiple times.
4. Using the “Sequence” field, you can indicate the position in the picklist dropdown in which the option should appear by entering a number. If you do not add a sequence number, the options will be sorted alphanumerically.
5. If you are editing a form and picklist field that are available on your application's portal, you will also see the “External” checkbox in the field properties sidebar. Check the “External” checkbox if you want to show a picklist option on the application's portal so portal users can see it in the picklist field.
6. Click the Add button to add the option to the picklist. 
7. Click the Publish button to make the new picklist options available on the form. 

Add Options via Picklists Page

If you want to use the Picklists page, you can add picklist options using the following steps. 

1. Click the Add button on the Picklists page.
2. The New Picklist Item form will be loaded. Select the picklist for which you want to add an option in the “Picklist” dropdown. 
   1. Alternatively, you can select the picklist to which to add an option using the “Picklist” grid filter on the Picklists page before clicking Add.
3. In the “Value” field, type in the picklist option text to show in the picklist dropdown menu.
4. In the “Sequence” field, enter a numerical value to indicate the order that the option should be displayed in the picklist. By default, the options will be ordered alphanumerically.
5. If you are adding an option for a picklist field that is available on your application's portal, you will also see the “External” checkbox on the New Picklist Item form. Check the “External” checkbox if you want to show a picklist option on the application's portal so portal users can see it in the picklist field.
6. Click the Save button to add the new picklist option or select Save and Copy in the page menu to add another option. The new option will be displayed on the Picklists page grid.

Add Options via Configuration Import

You can edit your application's system configuration data to add options for a picklist by following the steps below. However, system configuration data is critical to the correct functioning of the system, so take great care when importing configurations. Do not make any changes to the file or folder names. If you want to export application data other than picklists, follow the steps in the Configuration Export and Import article instead.

1. Navigate to the Configuration Export & Import page by selecting the “Configuration Export & Import” option in the page menu on the System tab.
2. In the grid on the Configuration Export & Import page, select only the “Picklists” row's checkbox.
3. Click the Export button in the grid header. Exporting system configuration data may take several minutes. When the export is complete, you will be prompted to download a ZIP folder that contains a CSV file of the application's picklist data. 
4. Extract the files in the ZIP folder. On Windows operating systems, right click the folder to see the “Extract All” option. Double click the ZIP folder if you are using a macOS.
5. Open the picklist CSV file, named "sys_listItem.csv', in Microsoft Excel.

6. Insert a row in the picklist CSV file.
7. Look for the “Name” column in the CSV file (the columns are sorted alphabetically). In the “Name” column of the row you inserted, enter the picklist name for which you want to add options. You can copy and paste the name from the other rows of the same picklist.
8. In the “Value” column, type in a name for the new picklist option.
9. The remaining fields will be filled in by the system, so you do not need to make additional adjustments. In the example below, the row highlighted in yellow was inserted in the exported picklists CSV. The new picklist option, “Duplicate case added”, will be added in the “Cancel Reasons” picklist after the CSV file is imported. If there are two identical rows in the CSV file, duplicate options will not be created.

9. To import the edited picklist data back into Case IQ, navigate to the Configuration Export & Import page and click Import. 
10. The Import pop-up will be loaded. Select the picklist CSV file to import.
11. After selecting the picklists folder, click Done.
12. Click Confirm on the warning message that pops up to start the import. You will receive an email notification when the import is done. You can also verify the status of the import in the Integration Log (see Integration Log). 
13. Refresh the page after the import is completed to ensure the changes have been applied.

Parent and Child Picklists

You can create a picklist whose options are dependent on options in an earlier picklist on the form, called a “child” picklist. This means the child picklist will display different options in its dropdown depending on the user's selection in the parent picklist. Each child picklist option can only be dependent on one parent picklist option. If the same child picklist option should be displayed for more than one parent option, you will need to add the child picklist option multiple times.

You must use the Form Builder to connect a picklist field to a parent. From the Picklists page, you will only be able to add and delete parent and child picklist options if the connection has already been set up in the Form Builder.

Set Parent Picklist for Picklist Field via Form Builder

You can set a picklist field to be dependent on another of the form's picklist fields in the Form Builder using the following steps:

1. Click the picklist field on the form layout that you want to make the child picklist.
2. On the Properties tab, click the “Dependent” toggle. A dropdown menu will appear under the “Dependent” toggle, where you can select the parent picklist. The parent picklist must already be added to the Form Builder page before you can set dependent options in this picklist. Click the sidebar’s Save button.
3. Click the Value tab. The parent picklist will be displayed above the “Value” and “Sequence” fields. Select an option from the parent picklist. Then, enter the options that should appear in the child picklist when that parent option is selected. 
4. Click the Add button to create the child picklist options. You can review the picklist options and their parent options in the tab’s grid.
5. Click the Publish button to make the new child picklist options available on the form. 

Add Options for a Child Picklist via Picklists Page

You can follow the steps in the Add Options via Picklist Page section of this article to add options to a child picklist using the Picklists page, except you will also need to select the parent picklist option for which the child picklist option should be shown.

1. Select the child picklist in the "Picklists" grid filter.
2. Click the Add button.
3. On the New Picklist Item form, the parent picklist field will be displayed. Select the parent picklist option on which the child picklist option you are adding should be dependent.
4. In the “Value” field, enter the text to display in the child picklist menu.
5. You can use the “Sequence” field to control the order of the picklist option, as you would for a regular picklist. Likewise, the “External” checkbox will be available if the picklist to which you are adding a value is available on your application's portal.
6. Click the Save button to save the new option for the child picklist or you can select Save and Copy in the page menu to add another option.

Edit or Delete a Picklist Option

You can adjust a picklist option via the Picklist page and the Form Builder. You cannot update the “Value” field of a picklist option for data integrity purposes. If you made an error typing in a picklist option's “Value” field, delete the picklist option, then add a new option with the correct “Value”.

Deleting a picklist option removes the option from the picklist moving forward. An existing record will retain a picklist option that a user has set, even if that picklist option has since been deleted. If the existing record is updated with a new picklist option, the deleted picklist option will no longer be available.

Edit or Delete via Form Builder

To use the Form Builder to edit or delete a picklist option:

1. Click the picklist field on the form layout. 
2. Select the Values tab in the picklist properties sidebar. 
3. Click the picklist option's row in the Values tab grid that you want to edit or delete.
4. You can enter a new number in the “Sequence” field to update the order of the picklist or check or uncheck the “External” checkbox. Click the Save button to update the picklist option. 
5. If you want to change the text of the picklist option, delete the option and add another one. Click the picklist option for which you wanted to change the text and then the Delete button in the Values tab.
6. Follow the steps in the Add Options via Form Builder section of this article to create a new picklist option to replace the one you just deleted.

Edit or Delete via Picklist Page

To use the Picklist page to edit or delete a picklist option:

1. Click the picklist option row on the Picklists grid.
2. The option’s page will be loaded. Select the Edit button.
3. You can enter a new number in the “Sequence” field to update the order of the picklist or check or uncheck the “External” checkbox. 
4. Click the Save button to update the picklist option. 
5. If you want to change the text of the picklist option, delete the option and add another one. Click the Delete button on the picklist option's page. 
6. Follow the steps in the Add Options Via Picklists Page section to create a new picklist option to replace the one you just deleted.

Set Default Value for a Picklist

You can choose to display one of the picklist's options by default on the record type's form before a user selects an option. On the Form Builder, click the picklist field for which you want to set a default value. In the “Default Value” dropdown, select a value from the picklist you want Case IQ to display by default.