Skip to main content
A cascade is a child dropdown whose options narrow based on what the submitter picked in a parent dropdown. Pick a country, and the region dropdown shows only that country’s regions. There are two ways to build one, and this recipe covers both.

​
Two ways to cascade

Pick the path that matches where your child values live.

Hand-authored cascade

You own a fixed parent then child vocabulary. Build it as one hierarchical static picklist with a level for each step of the cascade.

Record-sourced cascade

The values already exist as records in another taxonomy. Build it from one automated picklist with two or more levels.
Both end up wired the same way on the field side: the child dropdown field depends on the parent field, and it only offers options that match the parent selection. You never set that dependency by hand. The field editor wires it from the picklist’s structure. The difference is only the source of the options.

​
Path A: hand-authored cascade (hierarchical static picklist)

Use this when the parent and child values are a controlled vocabulary you maintain, like country then region.
1

Create the picklist

Open your governance model, go to Picklists, click Create new, and choose Static Picklist. The editor opens with a single level. Each level’s name becomes the picklist name you pick from in a dropdown field, so click the level name (or open its header menu and choose Rename level) and name it Countries.
2

Add the parent options

In the first level, add us with label United States, ca with label Canada, and uk with label United Kingdom.
3

Add a child level

Click + Level (the trailing column header) to add a second level. Rename the new level Regions. Each row now has a parent option on the left and a child option on the right.
4

Add the child options under their parents

Under us, add california and new_york. Under ca, add ontario and bc (label British Columbia). Under uk, add england and scotland. Each row holds one path, so put each region on a row with its country, and repeat the country’s code for its second region. Switch the toolbar to Grouped to check the nesting, then save the picklist.
5

Create the parent dropdown field

In Fields, add a Dropdown field named country and set Picklist to the Countries level.
6

Create the child dropdown field

Add a Dropdown field named region and set Picklist to the Regions level. The editor wires region to depend on country for you. If no dropdown uses the parent level yet, the editor says “The picklist requires a parent dropdown to be created first”, so create country before region.
7

Attach both fields and publish

Add country and region to the taxonomy that uses them, then publish the governance model.

​
What the submitter sees

Open a submission for that taxonomy. Until country has a value, the region dropdown is locked and reads Select "country" first, naming the field to fill in. Pick United States, and region offers only California and New York. Switch to Canada, and region clears and shows only Ontario and British Columbia.

​
Path B: record-sourced cascade (automated picklist with levels)

Requires the Business plan or higher. See Plans and limits.
Use this when the cascade values already live as records in another taxonomy, for example a Clients taxonomy where each client record carries a region. One automated picklist with two levels (say region, then client_name) produces the cascade. You create one dropdown per level and set each field’s Cascade level; the editor wires the child to the field that renders the level above it. New client records appear in the dropdowns automatically, with no governance-model change. The Automated picklist recipe walks through the full setup, including the cascade step.

​
Gotchas

  • Check the parent code on every row. A typo such as usa instead of us does not raise an error: it creates a new country usa. Use the Grouped view to spot strays before you save.
  • Records store codes. A submission stores the option code (us, california), not the label. Change labels freely, but treat codes as fixed once records use them.
  • Keep cascading dropdowns single-select. A cascade needs exactly one parent value to decide which children are valid, so the parent’s multi-select toggle is locked once another field depends on it. Multi-select is never available on an automated picklist.
  • An automated cascade reads records only. A record-sourced child shows nothing until the source taxonomy has records with a matching parent value. Draft submissions do not count, and deleted source records drop out.
  • The two approaches do not mix on one picklist. A picklist is either static (levels you type in) or automated (levels read from records). To change approach, build a new picklist and point the dropdowns at it.