Types of fields

Learn about pick list, text, date, number, public, and private fields.

Pick list fields

You can pick from a list of standard terms in pick list fields. Pick lists keep your data consistent.

For more information, see Pick lists.

Text fields

You can enter words, numbers and symbols into text fields. To check the character limit for a field, see Field help.

eHive does not check your spelling. We suggest you install a spell checker on your browser.

Date fields

You can enter words and numbers into date fields. You can record either precise dates (such as 1 June 1964) or imprecise dates (such as March 1990 or 20th Century).

Dates are stored as text and can only be sorted alphabetically. So if you enter dates in the DD/MM/YYYY format and sort your records by that date field, then all the dates starting with 01 will be in order, regardless of the month. That is, 01/01/25 will be followed by 01/02/25 and 01/03/25.

If you want to sort your records by year and month or search for precise date ranges, you should enter dates in the format YYYY/MM/DD. For example, you should enter 2025/02/01 instead of 01/02/2025 or 1 February 2025.

You can use any punctuation to separate the year, month, and day. For example, you can use a period (.), hyphen (-), or forward slash (/).

It's important to be consistent with whatever date format and punctuation you choose.

Number fields

You can only enter numbers into number fields. All number fields allow at least 2 decimal places, except the Item Count field (whole numbers only). Any additional information about currency can be recorded in an associated notes field.

Public and private fields

Fields in eHive can be public or private.

Public fields are visible to everyone who visits eHive. They’re grouped on the Public tab. See the list of Public fields for object records.
Private fields are only visible to you when you’re logged in, even if the record is public. You can record information like acquisition sources and valuations in private fields.