Skip to main content
Goal: let a submitter enter a value that no admin has pre-approved, without losing consistency. A Text field with Suggest from past entries turned on shows an autocomplete of the values already saved on approved records for that field, so people converge on the same spellings while staying free to type something new.

​
When to reach for this

A dropdown field backed by a picklist is a closed list: submitters pick from what the published model offers, and only an admin can add options. That is the right shape for a vocabulary you want reviewed before it changes. Some values churn too fast for that loop. Partner names, event titles, one-off placements: by the time a ticket reaches an admin, the campaign has shipped. For those, keep the field as Text and turn on Suggest from past entries. You trade the hard guarantee of a closed list for suggestions that make the consistent choice the easy one.
Submitters cannot add options to a picklist from inside the form. A picklist’s option set is fixed at publish time, and only an admin changes it. This recipe is the way to let submitters coin values. A field’s type cannot change after it is created, so to replace an existing dropdown, create a new Text field as shown here and swap it into your taxonomies in place of the dropdown. Nothing converts automatically.

​
Prerequisites

  • A governance model you can edit and permission to publish it.
  • Some approved records, if you want to see suggestions right away. Suggestions come from values already saved on approved records, so a brand-new field starts with none.

​
Steps

1

Create the Text field

In Fields, create a new field. Name: partner_name. Type: Text. You cannot change an existing dropdown into a Text field, because a field’s type is fixed once it is created. To replace a dropdown, create the Text field under a new name.
2

Turn on Suggest from past entries

In the field’s Suggestions section, turn on Suggest from past entries. It is off by default. Save the field.
3

Add guardrails with text validation

Suggestions nudge, they do not enforce. Use the Text field’s own settings to rule out the messiest variants: set Transform case to lowercase so Acme and acme collapse into one value, and Transform spaces to Replace with underscore (_) if the value ends up in URLs. Add allowed character rules if the value feeds a strict downstream system.
4

Swap it into your taxonomies (replacing a dropdown only)

If this field replaces a dropdown, open each taxonomy that uses the dropdown, add the new Text field, and remove the dropdown. Existing records keep their dropdown values under the old field; the new field starts empty and has no suggestions until records carrying it are approved.
5

Publish the governance model

Publish so the change reaches submitters. Field setting changes, like every model edit, take effect when published.
6

Fill a submission and watch the suggestions

Start a submission on a taxonomy that includes the field. As you type in partner_name, previously approved values that match appear as suggestions. Pick one to reuse it, or keep typing to enter something new. Either way the form accepts the value.

​
How suggestions behave

  • They come from active records. A value starts appearing as a suggestion once a record carrying it is approved. Draft submissions and archived records do not feed the list, so a typo in an unapproved draft never spreads.
  • They match anywhere in the value. Typing cme suggests acme. You see up to 10 matches, most recently used first.
  • They are account-wide. Suggestions are drawn from the field’s values across your whole account, not just the current workspace. Everyone is nudged toward one shared vocabulary, which is the point.
  • They are non-binding. A submitter can always ignore the suggestions and type a new value. If you need hard enforcement, that is a dropdown with a picklist, not this.
  • A picklist can lead them. To steer people toward a standard list while still allowing new values, pick a single-level picklist in From picklist. Its codes appear first under Standard values, past entries follow under Used before, and a past entry that matches a picklist code is not repeated. See Suggestions.

​
Verify

  • With at least one approved record with partner_name set to acme, start a new submission and type ac in the field. acme appears as a suggestion.
  • Type a brand-new value instead and save. The row validates; free text is always accepted.
  • Approve that submission, then start another one. The new value now shows up as a suggestion too.

​
Gotchas

  • Reviewers are the quality gate. Nothing stops a submitter from typing a near-duplicate (Acme Corp next to acme). Transforms and character rules catch the mechanical variants; reviewers should still scan new values before approving. See review and approve submissions.
  • Suggestions lag approval. A value entered this morning does not suggest this afternoon unless its submission was approved in between.
  • Replacing a dropdown loses the closed-list guarantee, and the history. New submissions accept any text the validation settings allow. Past records keep their values on the old dropdown field, so those values never show up as suggestions for the new Text field. Replace only fields where that trade is deliberate.
  • This is a per-field setting. Each Text field opts in on its own; there is no account-wide switch.