Docs: a document inside every record

A Doc field gives every record a document of its own — a client brief, a scope of work, meeting notes, a job spec — written on its own page with headings, lists, checklists, tables and images. It saves as you type, keeps every stretch of editing as a version you can compare and restore, and can show live values from its record, so a doc never disagrees with the data it is about. Add a Doc field In the field editor, add a field and choose Doc. Every record then has a doc of its own. The grid shows how each one starts, or Write where nothing is written yet. Click that, or press Enter on the cell, and the doc opens on its own page with room to write. The record page and the side drawer show the opening of the doc with an Open button, and Start writing on a record that has nothing yet. Writing and formatting Type / at the start of a line to insert anything: a heading, a list, a checklist, a quote, a callout, a table, an image, a divider, a page break or a code block. The toolbar has the same, plus bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, text colour, highlight and alignment. Shortcuts you may already know from other editors work as you type: • #, ## or ### and a space for a heading • - and a space for a bulleted list, 1. and a space for a numbered one • [] and a space for a checklist • > and a space for a quote • --- on its own line for a divider • **bold** and `code` as you close them Headings fold: the arrow beside one hides the section under it, and the outline beside the page jumps to any of them. Paste or drop an image straight in (PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to 10 MB). Page sets the doc's typeface and the paper size it exports to. Field values and mentions Type {{ to put one of the record's own fields into the text. It shows the current value and keeps up with it: change the fee on the record and every doc that names the fee shows the new one. It reaches linked tables too. A field that links to another table opens rather than inserts — pick it and the list becomes that record's fields, with this record's own values beside them, so a brief on a booking can name the client's address and the stylist's phone without either being copied onto the booking. Keep going to travel a second and third link; Backspace on an empty search comes back out. What you insert is the whole route, shown as Client → Address, and it follows the linked record: change the address there and every doc naming it says the new one. Type @ to mention a person or another record. A mentioned record becomes a link to it. People you mention are notified once you finish editing — in the app, and by email if they have chosen that. Each reader sees values and mentions as they are allowed to: a field hidden from someone reads Hidden field, and a record on a table they cannot open reads Restricted record. Saving and version history A doc saves as you type. Each stretch of editing is kept as a version: when you have been idle for ten minutes, when you leave the page, a few minutes after a tab is closed, and every half hour of continuous writing. History lists every version. You can read one, compare it with the current doc (added words are marked, removed words struck through), restore it, or give it a name such as Sent to client. Restoring keeps the doc as it was first, and nothing in history is ever deleted. When two people open the same doc If someone saved the doc in the last minute and a half, it opens for you read-only, and their changes appear as they save. Edit anyway is there when you need it. If two people do write at once, neither can overwrite the other. A save that arrives second is kept in History as an Unsaved copy, and the person who made it is told which version to open. Starting content A Doc field can have starting content: in the field editor, choose Set starting content on the Doc field's row. Every doc with nothing written yet opens with it, so a brief can arrive with its headings in place and the record's fields already filled in. Docs that already have content are not changed. Turn a Long text field into a Doc In the field editor, change a Text or Long text field's type to Doc. Each record's text becomes the start of its doc, one paragraph per line. It is one way: a Doc cannot be turned back into text. Import a Word, Markdown or Excel file Choose Import at the top of a doc, pick Import a file from / or the Insert menu, or drop a file onto the doc. A doc can import: • Word (.docx). Headings, lists, checklists, tables with merged cells, images, links, quotes, text colour and highlighting come across as the doc's own. Footnotes are numbered where they are cited and listed under Notes at the end. • Markdown (.md). Headings, lists, task lists, tables, code, quotes and [!NOTE] callouts. A single heading at the top becomes the doc's title. • Text (.txt), with its paragraphs and line breaks as they were. • CSV or Excel (.xlsx). Each sheet becomes a table of up to 200 rows. To work with every row, bring the file in as records with Import instead (Importing data). • An image: PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP. An empty doc simply fills with the file. If the doc already has something in it, you choose. Replace first keeps the doc as it was in History, as a version named Before importing and the file's name. Add at cursor puts the file after the paragraph you are in. A spreadsheet or an image is always added at the cursor. Either way, Ctrl+Z takes it back out. Anything a doc can't hold is left out, and the doc tells you what: comments, charts, and images in formats a browser can't show, such as EMF. A PDF can't be imported, because it can't be turned back into editable text reliably. Attach it to the record instead, or copy the text you need. Automations, search and exports A doc's cell holds how it starts (about its first 280 characters), and that is what filters and search in the table see. When an editing session ends, the record counts as updated: automations that watch for a change run once per session rather than on every keystroke, and a condition such as Client brief contains "urgent" tests the whole doc. The record's history shows the words that changed, with a little of the text around them. Export saves a doc as a PDF with page numbers or as a Word document. A CSV export of the table includes each doc's full text. Tips • Put the facts that change, such as the fee or the start date, in fields and bring them into the doc with {{. The doc can then never disagree with the record. • Name the version you send to a client ("Sent 12 May") so you can always find exactly what they saw. • Give a Doc field starting content before people start writing. A brief with its headings already in place gets filled in the same way every time. Good to know • A Doc holds a whole document, not a value, so it cannot be used in formulas, lookups, rollups, grouping or reports. Keep anything you need to count or calculate in its own field. • Filters and search in the table only see how each doc starts. • Turning a field into a Doc is one way. • A PDF cannot be imported into a doc, because it cannot be turned back into editable text reliably. Attach it to the record instead. • A doc can hold about a million characters. Past that it will not save, and it is time to split it into two. Who can do what • Anyone who can see a Doc field can read its doc. Writing needs permission to edit that field, and the doc is read-only on a posted record or on one whose status locks the field. • Starting content is set by workspace Admins. • Field values and mentions are shown to each reader as they are allowed to see them, so a doc never reveals a hidden value.