Moving Columns to another table

You often start with a simple database design. Then you recognize that needs grow and requirements are changing. Take our favorite example, Leads Management database - the city is a type-in field. Good for a start, but it is often a source of typing errors and it would be nice to have it as a dropdown list. The simplest way is to switch the City column’s Data Entry property from a Type-In to dropdown, but, in this case, only database administrators will be able to maintain the list. And if you want users to be able to edit entries you need to have it in a separate table.

To move column values to another table:

Click the Setup link at the top right corner of the window.

Select a table you need.

From the setup menu select Columns > Customize existing columns link. The system will display the Columns form.

When viewing column’s properties you may notice the Move button. Clicking the button will prompt you what to do.

You can either move the column to a new table, or to one of the master tables (the list of options is based on the relationship between tables you already have). Let’s start with a new table:

TeamDesk will build distinct list of cities for you, create the new table based on the list and will bind existing leads to a cities table through the relationship. The city name becomes a lookup field.

You may want to go one step further - the state can be used together with the city name in the dropdown thus you can move state column to a city table as well. Since TeamDesk created the relationship between Leads and Cities you have one more choice now:

After confirming the changes and setting up Cities’ record picker to display both the city name and state you’ll end up with the following user interface: