Use Append Fields

When a user edits a field in your QuickBase application, he overwrites the existing value with a new value, replacing whatever had been there before. But what if you want to keep a record of changes to a particular field? For example, say you have a notes field in which many different staff members enter progress updates and explanations. If you want to keep a record of everybody's entries in a running log, you can do so with an Append field.

Append fields are regular text fields which record each entry and stamp the text with the name of the user who made the change and the date on which they did it. All entries display when the field is viewed or edited (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 - An append field on an edit form. Whatever you type in the white box would append as a third entry.

To create an append field:

Create a new field and make its type text.
Open the field's properties.

Within the Fields tab, click the field name to open its properties page.
Within the Text Options section, click the Append Only dropdown and select an option:
- Yes - Tight Style. This option records the entry and information about it on the same line. This format is usually best for scenarios in which you'd like to use a formula field to extract or locate specific entries in your append field. Tight Style entries look like this:
- Yes - Expanded Style. This format is less condensed and a bit easier to read. It places the entry and information about it on separate lines separated by a series of dashes, like this:
Tell QuickBase where to add the latest entry.

Just below the Append Only dropdown, you can tell QuickBase to prepend (add the latest entry to the top of the list of entries) by turning on the Prepend rather than append new text checkbox. Leave this box turned off, if you want QuickBase to append (add the latest entry to the bottom).
Format user name entry.

Within an entry, QuickBase can record the user's full name, or screen name. To insert a full name, turn on the Use full names rather than screen names checkbox. To use a screen name instead, turn this checkbox off.
If you want, include a timestamp.

To insert a time after the date, turn on the Include the time-of-day checkbox. When you do so, the append field records date and time of each entry.
Click Save.

Tip: If you include an append field in a report, it often takes up a lot of room because it contains so much text. If you want, you can display only the last entry in the append field. To do so, create a formula-text field to hold the value and display that field instead of the text field. If the append field is set to prepend the most recent entry, use this formula to design the formula-text field: Part([appendfieldname],2,"[")
If the field appends entries, try this formula instead: Right([appendfieldname],"[")

If you find that you want to edit some previously entered data in your append field you can by temporarily turning off the append feature. To so do, access the field's properties page (right-click the field label on any form and select Edit the field properties for this field). Click the Append Only dropdown and select No. Return to the record in question and edit the data. Then return to field properties and select one of the Yes options again.

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