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Ability to convert the field type to another field type

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Level 10

3/23/17

give the ability to convert a field type to another field type for example, If I create fieldabc as a radio button, then later realize that I need fieldabc to be a check box list, as it is designed, I have to create a new field, manually populate the data into it, then delete the radio button field. It would be great if I could convert it and then show a mapping of the selections so that the current data is transferred with the creation.

23 Comments

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Level 8

3/29/17

This is a great suggestion. When I first started building custom forms, I wasn't paying attention to check boxes versus radio boxes and now I have a mixture of the two. I'd like to be change one or the other so my form looks cleaner and is consistent.

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Level 6

11/20/17

I totally want this. I had to completely re-make a field because we needed to change from one type to another, and there were a lot of steps involved.

  1. Make a new custom field for my updated calculation.
  2. Add the new custom field to each of the forms my previous custom forms.
  3. Copy the old field's values into the new field
  4. Update each and every report that used my old field to now use my new field. This involves updating each column view, grouping, and filter. [Is there an easy way to identify these locations?]
  5. Delete the old field from each custom form.

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Level 5

3/23/18

Huge pain point. I need to change some open fields to paragraph instead of single line and it's unreasonably time-consuming.

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Level 4

3/26/18

Oh yes, this would be so helpful! Changing the field type ruins reporting for data you've already gathered for the field. Being able to change the field type, which is rare, would enable continuous reporting for a string of data.

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Level 8

3/30/18

Edit: I found the area Jenna was referring to below - and have successfully started deleting unused fields from our library. Thank you Jenna!

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Would also like to delete fields from the system (for when you create a field, then realize it already exists but with a slightly different name)