Use Field Lists (also known as “pick lists”) to help users by offering a list of choices for indexing a document, instead of typing data into a field. The List Options dialog allows you to choose three list states for a field; Normal Field, Standard Pick List, and Dynamic Pick List. Normal Field is a Process Field without a List and is the default setting.

Standard Pick Lists

A Standard Pick List is a list of choices for the Field where users may select a value. It can be set as either a Drop Down list or Type Ahead (autocomplete) list.

A Drop Down List provides a set list of Index Field values in a drop-down list for users to choose from. This keeps Index Field data values consistent and can speed up data entry.

A Type Ahead List provides a suggested list of values as data is typed into a particular Field. As users place a mouse cursor in the Index Field, click the mouse button, and begin typing the first letter or so of the desired indexing value, the suggestions appear. A type-ahead pick list field is particularly useful for data values which are frequently misspelled, long, complex, or otherwise time-consuming to type.

Dynamic Pick Lists

A Dynamic Pick List is a conditional pick list, which allow you to filter drop-down fields in a pick list based on information selected in a related field. (The pick lists used to build Dynamic Pick Lists must be drop-down lists and the Dynamic Pick List cannot be a Multi-Value List.) For example, if you shop for a car on a website it does not show you all models, it shows only models based on the make of car you select. You can create the related List as you create the Dynamic Pick List, or create it first and then create the Dynamic Pick List. It is generally better to create it first.

There are two levels of dependency that can be specified for a Dynamic Pick List. The primary level is required and contains a list of only regular Field List values. The secondary is optional and may have conditional Fields besides regular Field List values. The Lists and their values used can be different (like car models from different dealers) or can be reused (like the same colors for this dealer’s cars and also that dealer’s cars). You can use Dynamic Pick Lists in Process Fields and in Table Fields.

Dynamics Pick Lists can be both inside and outside of Table Fields. This allows you to filter drop-down fields in a pick list based on information selected in a related field. For example, if you were shopping for a car and you select a manufacturer, the Dynamic Pick List value would be a list only the models of cars offered by that manufacturer. If you select a different manufacturer, you would see a list of those models instead. This can be a tremendous time-saver when users are indexing documents, such as assigning GL codes to captured AP documents.