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Option Lists

Option Lists (route /option-lists) is the dropdown library. Whenever a template field has a fixed set of choices — Foundation Type, Cladding Type, Roof Covering, HVAC System, Parties Present — that field is backed by an Option List. Build them once here; reuse across every template. This article documents the list view, the create/edit dialogs, and how option lists are referenced from templates.

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When you use it

  • First-week setup — create option lists for every informational field your templates need
  • Adding a new field type — define the option list before adding the field to a template
  • Updating choices — adding a new “Hardie Board” cladding option, removing an obsolete one
  • Multi-language support — duplicate an option list with translated values (advanced)
After initial setup, option lists rarely change. The dropdown values are stable for most inspection businesses.

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Screen layout

[SCREENSHOT: option-lists-page.png — desktop, the Option Lists page showing a search bar, a grid or list of existing option lists, and a + Create Option List action.] Each option list card displays:
  • Name
  • Description (if any)
  • Type (Single Select / Multi-Select)
  • Number of options
  • Per-card actions: Edit / Duplicate / Delete

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Create Option List dialog

Click + Create Option List to open a modal: [SCREENSHOT: option-list-create.png — desktop, the Create Option List dialog with fields for Name, Description, Type, and an option-values editor.] Each option in the options editor has:
  • Value — the stored/internal value
  • Label (optional) — the display text; defaults to the value if blank
  • Display order — drag-and-drop to reorder
For TREC compliance, common option lists include: After save, the option list is immediately available as a dropdown source for any field in any template.

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Edit Option List dialog

The Edit dialog is identical to Create but pre-fills with the current values. Save commits changes.

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What changes when you edit

  • Adding new options — immediately available; existing inspection records are unaffected
  • Removing options — existing records that selected the removed option keep their selection (the legacy value is preserved); but the option no longer appears as a choice in new selections
  • Reordering — affects display order in new selections only

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Implications of editing

Edits do not retroactively update existing inspection records. If you remove “Asbestos Shingle” from the Roof Covering list, the historical inspections that selected that option still display “Asbestos Shingle” — only new inspections lose access to it. If you want to migrate historical records (e.g. all Asbestos Shingle → Wood Shake), this requires a manual data migration via support or a database script. UI-driven bulk editing of historical records is not currently supported.

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Duplicating an option list

Click Duplicate on a card to create a copy with (Copy) appended. Edit the duplicate to make a variant — useful for regional dialects (e.g. UK English variants for international markets) or test versions.

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Deleting an option list

The Delete action prompts confirmation. Deleting an option list:
  • Removes it from the dropdown source list
  • Does not affect template fields that reference it — those fields now show as orphaned drop-downs
  • Does not affect historical inspection data
Prefer renaming to deletion. Rename to "ARCHIVED — Foundation Type" and move it to the bottom. Template fields still resolve; the dropdown still works; you can revive it later if needed.

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How templates reference option lists

When you build a template field in Template Editor or Schema Upload & Review, informational fields can reference an Option List by name. Once referenced, the field renders as a dropdown on mobile (and in the web Order Wizard) with the configured options. If the referenced option list is deleted, the field falls back to free-text entry. This is by design — the inspection can still proceed even if option lists drift.

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What this page does NOT do

  • It does not configure narrative templates. That’s Narrative Collections.
  • It does not edit fields directly on a template. Those edits happen in Template Editor.
  • It does not import options from CSV in the current UI. Bulk import is a planned enhancement.