[Feature Request] A new "Data type" for "custom field": Dropdown (select one of multiple)

[flemmingss]

Description

I see the use for a Dropdown-type data type for the new custom field functionality. Where you have multiple pre-defined options to select from.

My use-case:

custom field: "Source"
data type: "Dropdown"
value:
 - "email"
 - "web"
 - "paper, trashed"
 - "paper, in archive"

Other

No response

[lehnerpat]

Hi everyone!
I was just about to request the same features, so let me add my post here instead!

Description:

The Custom Fields feature is great and adds a lot of flexibility to paperless-ngx!

I would love to see an additional type for custom fields: enums, i.e. "choose a value from a dropdown".

More precisely speaking, this kind of field has two sub-variants:

• single-value dropdown: You can only select a single value when filling the field (this is how the built-in fields for Correspondent and Document Type work)
• multi-value dropdown/auto-complete: You can select multiple values when filling the field (this is how the built-in Tags field works)

Ideally, the user would have the choice between these two subvariants when setting up the custom field, e.g. with a checkbox in the field settings.

It would be great to make it easy for the user to add new values on the fly in the web UI (just like all the built-in dropdowns let you add new values while editing a document). Ideally, there would be a per-field setting if this is enabled or not.

Current approaches and why this would be better

The "text" type for custom fields can help with the use cases below, but it's very cumbersome, because you always have to re-enter the field value (and remember to copy-paste it or hopefully use a similar-enough value for it to come up in search).

The built-in Tags field can be used for this, but if you use this extensively, you are "littering up the namespace" of Tags (i.e. you need to type more characters to find the tag you want). A custom field type would allow you to separate certain values to more specific uses.

Other / More info

Let me also add some info about use cases that can be helped by this.

My use cases

• "Equipment": For example, when I have a car, I might have many documents that pertain to that car.
• "Language": I have documents in different languages, and I would like to have a structured way to record the language(s) of each document.

Other use cases

Some other use cases I've seen in discussions that could be helped or solved with this feature:

• [Feature Request] Files (like physical files in a cabinet) #5253 -- grouping of related documents by "case"/"procedure" or "folder" can be done with a custom field
• Ability to link Docs through time for a digital doc trail or timeline #4948
• [Feature Request] Additional Field: Document status/progress #4862
  (Note: I'll add more if I find them)

Related custom-field features

Of course, this would reach its full potential if other improvements / new features for custom fields are also added, such as:

• Fill custom field values during import
  • e.g. [Feature Request] Add "document link" custom field references/links while mail import #5000
• Use Custom Fields in Storage Path #4856
• [Feature Request] Search by custom field(s) #4647 / [Feature Request] filter documents from custom fields #4783
• Selectively showing custom fields in list views (not sure if there's an existing feature request for this) -- i.e. let me choose which custom fields to show in a list view: [Feature Request] Display custom fields in document overview #4607
• [Feature Request] Custom field option "allow multiple" #5032
• Bulk add/edit of custom fields [Feature Request] #4978
• [Feature Request] Possibility to sort user defined attributes within a document view by drag & drop #4964
• [Feature Request] Show linked documents in the filtered overview #4879
• [Feature Request] List of Custom field(s) by Document type #4803
• [Feature Request] Sort by custom field value #5434
• [Feature Request] Document Type to have Custom Fields #6180

Other related discussions

• This request would solve / supersede these requests:
  • [Feature Request] new custom filed type: html select #4847
  • [Feature Request] Custom field type "tags" #6117

[alexmaret]

I would also love to see this feature.

[321jaber]

100 % for it!
I just have started with ngx, its amazing!
But it would be great to have such custom drop down. Seems easy, and has great value

[UwePirnay]

Bin ebenfalls gerade umgestiegen. Habe über 1000 Dokumente 1-99 Seiten mittlerweile hochgeladen. Die Funktionalität würde meine Arbeitszeit und Übersichtlichkeit erheblich verbessern. Optimal wäre es wenn auch die Felder als Variablen deklarieren lassen. Das Tool ist echt super. Danke

[mbuzina]

Great idea, I would use this for noting a project. Currently I have to type - that goes wrong too often.

[Mr-MRob]

I also would really like to see this feature and add the request to be able to add the custom fields to the document name or path.
This both together would meke me doing a happy dance and give a nice donation

[EdMueller]

I would also love to see this feature, too. And both variants single-value dropdown and multi-value dropdown, please :-).

[fentes]

Started to work with paperless. For now, I did everything with a folder structure, but want to move over to paperless, but keep most of the structure. I see this also as an alternative to the document type. I have many documents for insurances, so I would like to use this to group them by life insurance, health, car,...
Follow up on that would be, to use this type within the storage path.

[jce-zz]

That's usually done with tags... at least I do it this way.

[walkerprog]

+1 for this one
as coming form another DMS where this is possible this feature would make life much easier

[UwePirnay]

Hallo jce-zz, I use the tags very intensively, but I have dependencies with fixed values, e.g. correspondents that I want to structure, e.g. bank to fixed accounts, insurance to fixed topics (risk, car, etc.) or maintenance to topics (heating, windows, cleaning, etc.). Due to the large number of tags or correspondents, I spend a lot of time searching for the right values to classify the documents. Unfortunately, sometimes there are errors in the classifications that don't make sense and it takes me a lot of effort to find the documents. I am very happy with paperless-ngx and have transferred all my documents from the last 40 years of work. The automated suggestions are also quite good. Kind Regards Von: jce-zz ***@***.***> Gesendet: Dienstag, 23. April 2024 11:56 An: paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx ***@***.***> Cc: UwePirnay ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Betreff: Re: [paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx] [Feature Request] A new "Data type" for "custom field": Dropdown (select one of multiple) (Discussion #4873) That's usually done with tags... at least I do it this way. - Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#4873 (comment) omment-9199111> , or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AOOZ4UCNUAD26WFAUJUOCJDY6 YVZ3AVCNFSM6AAAAABAK2EJ6KVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4TC OJZGEYTC> . You are receiving this because you commented. <https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AOOZ4UFXLXTE6CQKUPQ5GXLY6YVZ3A5CNFS M6AAAAABAK2EJ6KWGG33NNVSW45C7OR4XAZNRIRUXGY3VONZWS33OINXW23LFNZ2KUY3PNVWWK3T UL5UWJTQARRPAO.gif> Message ID: ***@***.*** om ***@***.*** ithub.com> >

[mquade]

+1
My use case:
I keep some ~5% of my documents in physical form. But not only with an "Archive Number" but in sorted "Leitz-Folders".
In particular, I keep the originals of notarized contracts, correspondence with courts, rental agreements and other contracts, but have archived them digitally for easy collaboration with colleagues. The paper folders have had fixed names and structures for years, so a dropdown with a manageable number of items/enums is sufficient: “rental agreements”, “purchase agreements”, “loan agreements”, etc.

It would be great if there were customized fields with enums!

[321jaber]

For now, i just create "document types" in paperless which coresponds with segregator names.- legal contracts- agrements- etcso when i choose document type it is segregator name also.brW dniu 2024-04-29 15:33:57 użytkownik Matthias Quade napisał:+1 My use case: I keep some ~5% of my documents in physical form. But not only with an "Archive Number" but in sorted "Leitz-Folders". In particular, I keep the originals of notarized contracts, correspondence with courts, rental agreements and other contracts, but have archived them digitally for easy collaboration with colleagues. The paper folders have had fixed names and structures for years, so a dropdown with a manageable number of items/enums is sufficient: “rental agreements”, “purchase agreements”, “loan agreements”, etc.It would be great if there were customized fields with enums!—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[mquade]

For now, i just create "document types" in paperless which coresponds with segregator names.- legal contracts- agrements- etcso when i choose document type it is segregator name also

This works if you Only have a physical folder for "legal contracts". But if you sort in physical folders organized after Objects (like real estate objects) you'll end up with a lot of document types. Or did I get it wrong?

[321jaber]

Im using only one document perspective for making folders/segregators...If you have more than one, perhaps you can use tags for indicators , and dokument types as objects? (buildings?)W dniu 2024-04-29 15:57:17 użytkownik Matthias Quade napisał:For now, i just create "document types" in paperless which coresponds with segregator names.- legal contracts- agrements- etcso when i choose document type it is segregator name alsoThis works if you Only have a physical folder for "legal contracts". But if you sort in physical folders organized after Objects (like real estate objects) you'll end up with a lot of document types. Or did I get it wrong?—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>