Defining or deleting database fields

Before you can enter data into a database, you must create (define) fields. A field definition includes a name, type, and options or a formula.

Defining a field

To define a new field:
1 Create a new database document, or choose Define Fields from the Layout menu in an existing database document.
2 Type a name for the field.
3 Choose a field type from the pop-up menu.
4 Click Create.
5 Select the options you want or define a formula for the field:
For pop-up menu, radio button, value list, and record info fields, set field options in the dialog box that appears.
For text, number, date, time, name, checkbox, and serial number fields, click Options and set field options.
For calculation and summary fields, enter calculations and formulas in the dialog box that appears.
For multimedia fields, there are no options to set in the Define Database Fields dialog box. (You can specify multimedia field options in Layout mode by selecting the field and choosing Field Info from the Edit menu.)
6 When you have defined the fields you want, click Done. (You can define more fields later.)

Deleting a field and its data

Deleting a field removes it and all its data from every record in a database. When you delete a field, it no longer appears in any layouts that contained it.

To delete a field:
1 Choose Define Fields from the Layout menu.
2 Select the name of the field you want to delete.
3 Click Delete, then click OK.

Related topics

  Defining and working with database fields
Inserting or removing fields on a layout
Formatting fields on a layout
About functions

 
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