Datablist lets you create flexible data structures for your collections with properties. Properties are used to store data and to sort and filter your items.
A property is defined with the following:
- Name - The name to be shown in the data table and the drawer.
- Description - Optional notes to explain what the property stores. Descriptions appear when hovering the column header.
- Data type - What kind of data will be stored with the property. Types can be texts, numbers, checkboxes, etc. Depending on its type, Datablist will perform data validation to ensure data input from users matches the data type.
- Data constraint - Unlike spreadsheet tools, it is possible to add data constraints on your property to ensure unique values.
Create a new property
Data structures for collections are flexible. You can create any number of custom properties that will be available to store values for your items.
Different property types are available to store texts, numbers, URLs, dates, etc. Depending on the property type, data validation will be done to ensure data is consistent.
On a new and empty collection, a shortcut button is shown to create a new property. Otherwise, click the Manage properties button on your collection header.
Choose a property type for your data
Choose the type based on how you will use the values:
- Use Text for identifiers such as SKU, account ID, or postal code. A value like
00127is an identifier, not a quantity; converting it to Number removes its leading zeros. - Use Number for amounts or counts you need to sort numerically, such as price or employee count. Keep the currency in a separate property when your data uses several currencies.
- Use Date for a calendar day and DateTime when the time matters, such as a last-contact timestamp.
- Use Checkbox for a yes/no state. Use Text when you need a third state such as
Unknown. - Use Long Text for descriptions, scraped page text, or notes that span several lines.
An Email property's format validation does not establish that the mailbox exists or accepts messages. Keep malformed source values in a Text property while you clean them, then convert or map the cleaned values to the appropriate type.
Data Types
Text
Simple text field for short and single line text.
Long Text
The Long-Text field is perfect for multiline text. Use it to store notes or descriptions. You can edit a long-text field value directly without leaving the data table. Just press "Enter" to display a large editable text zone. The Long Text keyboard instructions explain inserting line breaks, saving with the checkmark and cancelling an edit.
Store email addresses. Open default mail client on click.
Validation: Must be a valid email address.
Checkbox
A Checkbox is great to represent binary data: true/false or yes/no.
True values appear with a green checkmark. Empty and false values appear with an uncheck mark. Clicking on the checkbox toggles its value.
Url
Clicking on a URL within a URL field will open up that page.
Validation: Must be a valid url address.
Number
Data type to store numeric values. Numbers can be written with or without decimals and can be positive or negative.
Validation: Must be a valid number
Date
Store date values (Day, Month, Year). When editing a date, a calendar widget is displayed to make it easy to select a specific date.
DateTime
Almost like date but store time in addition to the date (Day, Month, Year - Hour, Minute, Second).
Phone
Store phone numbers. Shortcut to open a phone client on click.
Edit or delete property
To edit or delete a property, click the Manage properties button on your collection header, and click the Edit or delete property button.
You can edit a custom property's name, type, and constraint. Changing the type does not define how to parse an unfamiliar date format or a number with a currency symbol.
For those conversions, use Clean > Text ⇔ Date, Number, Checkbox and inspect the preview first. The property editor shows a warning when the new type needs values in a specific format. Read the conversion guide before converting a column with mixed formats. For numeric Unix values, the CSV timestamp walkthrough shows a seconds-and-milliseconds example to check before changing the property.
Warning: Deleting a property will delete the item's property's values.
Add a property description
Property descriptions help your team understand what a column stores, how values should be filled, or where the data comes from.
To add one, open the column menu from the data table and click Edit Description.
Write your description and click Save Description. Descriptions can be empty, can use several lines, and can contain up to 1,000 characters. You can also add simple markdown links with the [label](https://example.com) format.
Once saved, the description is shown in a tooltip when you hover the column header. The tooltip also shows the full property name, which is useful when the column is too narrow to display it entirely.
Ensure unique values for a property
This enables powerful use cases like prospect lists (email or website URL uniqueness), CRM, or user databases (email uniqueness). With this feature, you can combine listings based on a unique identifier. To refresh existing records from a file, follow the bulk-update import workflow and choose the matching and merging options deliberately.
When a property has a unique constraint, duplicate items will be avoided during imports and manual creation.
Only one property can be marked unique in a collection. Choose the identifier that represents one item: an email for an individual contact, or a product SKU for a catalog item. A company domain would be a poor unique key for a contact list with several people at the same company.
Use duplicate detection when you need to compare several properties or review similar values. A unique constraint and a review of existing duplicate groups solve different parts of the workflow.
Passport Numbers, Social Security Numbers, Email Addresses, Website URLs, Business Identification numbers, Product GTIN, and the likes are good candidates to be defined with a unique constraint.
Check that the value identifies the record unit you intend to keep. The veterinary-clinic listing example keeps Business Name non-unique so two branches with the same name survive, then reviews listing URLs and addresses together.
Built-in properties
Datablist comes with two built-in properties:
- Created At - A DateTime property storing when the item has been created.
- Updated At - A DateTime property that tracks item last modification timestamp.
Note: Those values are always tracked for your items, whether you choose to display their properties or not.
To display built-in properties, click on "Add property" and click on the wanted property.
Reorder properties
Properties are ranked. Their order is used both for data table columns display and for the detail drawer.
To change your property positions, click the Manage properties button on your collection header and use your mouse to drag the "Move" icon higher or lower.
The CSV column reorder and removal example follows that change through export. Hiding a property keeps its values; choose visible-only export when the receiving file should omit that column.
Display or hide properties from data table
All collection properties are visible in the item detail drawer. However, properties can be hidden from the data table to make the listing more readable.
New properties are visible in the data table by default. To hide a property or to show a hidden one, click on the "Manage Properties" buttons in the collection header and click the visibility toggle.
Change property column width
To resize a column, use your mouse to drag the column border to a new position, resizing it in the process.
Advanced options
Property Key
When creating a new property, under the "More options" section, a Key setting is available. The key is a "slug" string to be used in the API. It is autogenerated from the property's name and can be edited only when creating a new property. Once the propriety is created, the key becomes read-only.