Managing Document Fields

For each document or binder, fields hold additional detail and metadata that helps to classify and manage the document. Some fields apply to all documents (through Base Document) while others apply to a specific document type, subtype, or classification.

Accessing Document Configuration

Field configuration options are available from Admin > Configuration > Document Fields. You must have the Admin: Document Fields permission to edit fields and create new fields (known as custom fields). Standard fields are available by default and allow only minimal modifications.

Creating Document Fields

To create a new document field:

1. The Field Location list shows the document type hierarchy. Select the document type, subtype, and classification to which the field applies.
2. Click Add, and then select New Field.
3. Select a field type and enter a label. The label appears as the field name for end users.
4. Set the field options. The attributes vary between field types.
5. Click Save.

Editing Document Fields

To edit an existing field:

1. From the field list, click on the field label.
2. Click Edit.
3. Make any necessary changes and click Save. The Field Type and Defined In fields are not editable.

Document Field Attributes

Document fields themselves have fields (or attributes) that determine how they function in the application. Some attributes apply only to specific field types.

Field Type	Attribute	Description
All	Label	The label that appears throughout the UI to identify the field; does not need to be unique; limited to 40 characters
All	Name	The field name that is used in the public API and as a token when constructing messages or formulas; must be unique. This field has a 40 character maximum.
All	Status	Determines whether the field is available for use in new documents
All	Field Type	Determines the type of data in the field (text, picklist, etc.)
All	Help Content	Helpful text that appears when a user hovers over the field name in the Doc Info page. You may use this to define the field or to provide guidelines for user-entered values. In multilingual Vaults, you can define localized help content. This field has a 255 character maximum.
All	User must always enter a value (required)	Determines whether Vault requires users to enter a value for the field when creating a new document
All	Display Section	Determines the section in which the field appears in the right panel of the Doc Info page
Text	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions; if this setting is enabled, Vault applies the field’s default value (if configured).
Text	Maximum Length	The maximum number of characters allowed; Vault does not allow more than 1500.
Text	Default Value	Default value that Vault automatically populates
Number	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions; if this setting is enabled, Vault applies the field’s default value (if configured).
Number	Minimum Value	The lowest number allowed
Number	Maximum Value	The highest number allowed; this field type does not support values higher than 2,147,483,647. If the value is greater than 500 on object reference type fields where Allow user to select multiple values is set to true, VQL queries return an unordered list.
Number	Decimal Places	The number of decimal places allowed. This also determines decimal place truncation in VQL and formatted output.
Number	Default Value	Default value that Vault automatically populates
Picklist	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions; if this setting is enabled, Vault applies the field’s default value (if configured).
Picklist	Use existing picklist	Allows the field to use an existing picklist instead of creating a new picklist. Some system picklists such as Timezone are not available for use as an existing picklist.
Picklist	Allow user to select multiple values	Determines if users can select more than one value from the picklist; once you set a field to be multi-select, you cannot change it back to be single-select. Vault supports a maximum of two (2) multi-value picklists per raw object.
Picklist	Picklist Values	Defines the options that users can select from the picklist; Admins can also modify the available options from the Picklists page.
Picklist	Default	Default picklist option that Vault automatically selects
Object	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions.
Object	Allow user to select multiple values	Determines if users can select more than one value from the object picklist; once you set a field to be multi-select, you cannot change it back to be single-select.
Object	Object	Defines which object (Product, etc.) users can select from via a picklist; unlike the picklist type, the object-type field allows Vault to auto-populate other fields based on the user’s selection.
Object	Searchable Fields	Defines the fields on the referenced object that should be included when searching for documents. For example, users searching for a document may want their searches to include the Product Abbreviation field, but not Product Approval Date. Most Vaults have a default limit of 50 searchable object fields.
Formula	Decimal Places	Defines the number of decimal places in a formula field.
Formula	Formula	Defines the formula used to calculate a custom metric in a formula field.
Yes/No	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions; if this setting is enabled, Vault applies the field’s default value (if configured).
Yes/No	Default Value	Default option that Vault automatically selects
URL	Do not copy this field during Make a Copy	Determines whether Vault will copy this field’s value during the Make a Copy and Create Presentation document actions; if this setting is enabled, Vault applies the field’s default value (if configured).
URL	Default Value	Default value that Vault automatically populates
Lookup	Lookup Object Field	The outbound relationship for the lookup field. These are generally named for the object that they reference.
Lookup	Lookup Source Field	A field on the referenced object (Lookup Object Field) which Vault displays in the lookup field.

Deleting Document Fields

To delete a field:

1. From the field list, click on the field label.
2. Click Delete. This button only appears for custom fields. You cannot delete standard fields because Vault requires them to function properly.
3. Click Continue in the confirmation dialog to permanently delete the field.

Disabling, Deleting & Removing Fields

Disabling a field makes it unavailable for use in new documents, but allows you to activate it again if needed. It does not affect the value of the field in documents created before the field was disabled, and the value will remain even if you edit other parts of the document.

Deleting a field removes it permanently from the configuration. Vault prevents you from deleting fields that meet either of these conditions:

• At least one document has a value in the field.
• Another part of the Vault’s configuration (lifecycle rule, workflow step, relationship type, etc.) uses the field.

Removing (also called disassociating) a shared field from a specific document type occurs when you select the Stop Using Shared Field action. Removing a field from a document type makes it unavailable for use in new documents of that type and also hides the field on any documents that currently have value for it. When you edit a document with a value for a disassociated field, Vault will clear the value, and the Audit History will show that the value of the disassociated field was changed from the previous value to “”.

Custom Help on Fields

When you define custom help text using the Help Content field for a field, users can hover over the field name when creating and interacting with documents to see the help text.

Default Values

You can define a default value for a document field using the Default Value attribute or (for picklists) the Default checkbox. This option is only available for Text, Number, URL, Yes/No, and Picklist field types. Setting a default value is not available for standard Text, Number, URL, or Yes/No fields; however, it is available for most standard Picklist fields.

When you define a default value, Vault automatically populates that value when classifying documents. Generally, this happens during document creation, but it can also happen when a user selects a document type for an unclassified document. Vault does not populate default values when users use the Reclassify action.

With the correct permissions to edit document fields, users can modify the default value.

Sort Order for Multi-Select Fields

Admins can toggle whether Vault sorts values in multi-select picklist and object reference fields alphabetically by navigating to Admin > Settings > General Settings and selecting Sort Multi-select Field Values in Alphabetical Order under Document Fields. For picklist type fields, Vault sorts values alphabetically based on the Vault language of the user adding picklist values. Vault does not update a field’s sort order on existing documents when you make changes to picklist labels from Business Admin > Picklists.

Reference Constraints

Reference constraints on object reference fields restrict the list of valid records that a user can select. You can configure static or dynamic reference constraints on object reference fields using a Criteria VQL expression. Learn more about using Criteria VQL for reference constraints in the Developer Portal.

Configuring a Reference Constraint

To set up a reference constraint:

1. From the field list, click on the label for an object reference field.
2. Click Edit.
3. Scroll down to the Reference Constraint section and enter a Criteria VQL expression in the text box to define the conditions. You can use the Token Helper icon to search for relationship and field keys to add to the expression.
4. Click Save.

Removing a Reference Constraint

To remove a reference constraint:

1. From the field list, click the field label for a document object reference field.
2. Click Edit.
3. Delete the expression from the Filter expression text box.
4. Click Save.

Using Criteria VQL Expressions for Reference Constraints

You can set up reference constraints using a Criteria VQL expression. However, reference constraints on document fields do not support full VQL functionality.

You can use the following standard VQL operators when defining static reference constraints: =, !=, >, <, >=, <=. Note that you cannot enter a space between characters in the following operators: !=, >=, <=.

To use an AND clause in your static reference constraint on a document field, you must use a comma (,). For example: id IN (SELECT id FROM countryproduct__cr WHERE country__c CONTAINS {{this.country__v}}), state__v = 'approved_state__c'

Static Reference Constraints

Static reference constraints restrict the list of available records based on a defined, static value. This option is only available for object reference fields. You can use static reference constraints to filter available object records based on:

• Object type
• Object record lifecycle state
• Specific value of an object record field

Object reference constraints cannot use the following field types:

• Formula
• Lookup
• DateTime
• Parent Object

Dynamic Reference Constraints

Dynamic reference constraints restrict the list of valid records based on the selected value of a controlling field. This option is only available for object reference fields and will not display for any other field type.

Example: Static Reference Constraint on Object Reference Field

If Region is a field on a document, you can apply a static reference constraint on the Indication object reference field to only show indications relevant to North America. To do this, apply the following VQL expression to the Indication object reference field:

region__cr.name__v = 'North America'

Example: Dynamic Reference Constraint on Controlling Field on a Referenced Object

If country is a field on a document referencing the Country object, and region is also a field on the Country object, you can apply a dynamic reference constraint on the Application object reference field to only show applications relevant for the region of the specified country. To do this, apply the following VQL expression to the Application object reference field:

region_v CONTAINS {{this.document_country__vr.countries__vr.region__v}}

Example: Combined Static & Dynamic Reference Constraints

If a join exists between the Country and Product objects and you want to only show Products associated with a selected Country that are also in an Approved object lifecycle state, you can apply the following VQL expression as a reference constraint:

id IN (SELECT id FROM countryproduct__cr WHERE country__c CONTAINS {{this.country__v}} ), state__v = 'approved_state__c'

Known Issues for Static Reference Constraints

The following known issues affect static reference constraints on document fields:

• Currently, you cannot apply a static reference constraint directly referencing an object field. For example, the expression region__c = 'North America' would not work. To reference an object field, you must alter your expression as follows: region__cr.name__v = 'North America'.
• When reference constraints on Yes/No fields use “Yes” and “No” values in the filter expression, they do not function correctly. As a workaround, you can use “true”/”yes” or “false”/”no” in the expression.