Working with Flowplan
Databases
A database is a collection of records with properties. The same records can be shown as a table, board, calendar, timeline, gallery, list, feed, chart or form.
Create a database
New page → Database creates a database with a table view. Alternatively use a template, such as "Tasks" or "Projects", or import a CSV file (see Import, export and versions).
Records
- New at the bottom of the table or at the top right creates a record and opens it with the title selected – just start typing, Enter saves.
- A click on the title opens the record as a page: the title at the top to edit directly, the properties below it, and below them a full document with the same editor as every other page – including comments, version history and editing together.
- At the top right of a record: how it opens (as a dialog, in the side panel or as a full page – the choice applies to you in this browser; the database's default is marked "default"), the star for favourites, the lock for the record's permissions and the sliders for the layout of all records. Icon and Cover appear when the pointer is over the title.
- Record templates give new records properties and content. One template can be the default for new records.
- Select several records (checkboxes on the left) and edit, duplicate or delete them together – up to 500 at once. Flowplan saves a state beforehand that can be restored from the version history.
- Deleted records sit in the database's trash and can be brought back.
Properties
| Type | Content |
|---|---|
| Text, number | Numbers with a format: currency, percent, decimal places, thousands separators |
| Date | With or without time and end date, time zone, personal reminders, recurrence |
| Select, multi-select | Coloured options, e.g. for status or tags |
| Checkbox, checklist | Tick off; checklists with several items and progress |
| URL, e-mail, phone | Clickable |
| Person | Members of the workspace; assigning someone notifies them |
| Files | Attachments and images right on the record |
| Relation, rollup | A link to records of another database and calculations over them |
| Formula | A value calculated from other properties |
| Created time/by, edited time/by | Maintained automatically |
Relations, rollups and formulas are described under Properties, formulas and rollups.
Large databases
Tables, lists and galleries first show 100 records; the next 100 follow as you scroll, and groups and board columns have Show more. Search, filters, sorting and column calculations still always apply to all records. This way even databases with thousands of records open in a fraction of a second.
Filter, sort, group
Every view has its own settings:
- Filters with AND/OR groups; for date fields also relative periods ("this week", "last 30 days") that update themselves every day.
- Sorting by several properties.
- Grouping by almost any property (except files and checklists), with up to five levels in tables and lists; boards show the second level as rows (swimlanes).
- Search within the database, also in the text of the record documents.
- Column calculations below table columns: sum, average, median, minimum, maximum, percentages, earliest and latest dates and more.
Recurring records
Date fields can repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Calendar and timeline show the occurrences; it remains a single record. If needed, a single occurrence can be detached as a record of its own.
Date reminders
In a record, everyone can set a personal reminder for every filled date field – for times at the appointment or 5 minutes to 1 week before, for all-day dates on the day or 1, 2 or 7 days before at 09:00. Reminders appear in the inbox and as a push notification and do not change the record.
Permissions per record
The permissions icon at the top of a record restricts a record beyond the permissions of the database:
- Same as database: the default.
- Read-only record: only its managers (page owners and the person who created the record) and people it is explicitly shared with may change it.
- Private record: only its managers and people it is shared with see it.
Shares with people or groups never go beyond their role on the database page.