What are Auxiliary Tables?
Many forms ask the respondent to pick an item from a long list: the collaborator who did the inspection, the branch visited, the product evaluated, the customer's city. When that list is typed in as the options of a question, it has to be repeated in every form and fixed one by one whenever someone joins, leaves or changes their name.
Auxiliary Tables solve this problem: you register the list only once, in a table, and several forms use it as their source of options. When the table is updated — through the web, an Excel spreadsheet or an external system — every form that uses it sees the change, without editing any of them.
Besides offering the options, the table can fill other questions automatically. For example: when the collaborator is chosen, the form already fills in their employee ID, job title and department, using the data in the table itself.
A table can also belong to the company and be shared by all of its workspaces, with filters per workspace: each workspace sees only the records that matter to it, such as the collaborators of its own branch. Learn more.
To access Auxiliary Tables, use the side menu → Auxiliary tables.
Main concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Auxiliary table | A supporting list, such as "Collaborators" or "Branches", with columns and rows, like a spreadsheet. |
| Field | Each column of the table, for example Name, Employee ID or Job title. Each field has a Title (the name shown), an Internal name (the identifier used by the system) and a Type: Text, Number or Selection. |
| Key | The field that identifies each row without repetition, such as a collaborator's employee ID or a branch code. Every table must have exactly one key. |
| Record | Each row of the table, that is, each collaborator, branch or product registered. |
| Scope | Who the table belongs to: a Workspace or a Company, shared by all of its workspaces. Learn more. |
| Feeding | How the records get into the table: Manual input (typing or importing a spreadsheet) or Via API (sent by an external system). Learn more. |
| Auxiliary table question | A form question whose options come from an auxiliary table. There are two: Single selection (Auxiliary table) and Multiple selection (Auxiliary table). Learn more. |
| Display template | How each record appears as an option to the respondent, for example {name} - {job_title}. |
| Mapping | The link between a table field and another question of the form, so that it is filled automatically. Learn more. |
How it works in practice
- Whoever manages the workspace creates the table and defines its fields — Learn more about how to create and configure a table;
- The records are registered: typed in on the web, imported from a spreadsheet or sent by a system — Learn more about how to feed the data;
- Whoever creates the form adds an auxiliary table question, chooses the table, applies filters and defines how the options will be displayed — Learn more about auxiliary table questions;
- Optionally, they map fields of the table to other questions, which are then filled on their own — Learn more about automatic filling;
- The respondent chooses the option on the web or in the app, even without internet — Learn more about answers and results.
Workspace or Company?
Every table has a scope, chosen when it is created:
| Scope | When to use | Who manages it |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace | The list only matters to one workspace, for example the equipment of a single unit. | Anyone with the Manage auxiliary tables permission in the workspace. |
| Company | The same list serves several workspaces of a company, for example the single register of collaborators. It is registered once and used by every workspace of the company. | Only the company managers. |
A Company table can also limit which records each workspace sees — for example, each branch only sees its own collaborators. Learn more about company tables.
If you are not a manager of any company, the creation window does not show the Scope option, and the table is automatically created in the workspace.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Manage auxiliary tables | See the Auxiliary tables item in the Main Menu, create, edit and delete workspace tables, define fields and register records. |
| Manage forms | Add auxiliary table questions to forms and choose, among the workspace and company tables, which one provides the options. |
| Collect data | Answer forms with auxiliary table questions, on the web or in the app. |
To manage a Company table (change fields, register records, configure filters per workspace, edit or delete), besides the permission you need to be a company manager. Anyone who is not a manager sees the table for reference only.
The workspace owner already has the Manage auxiliary tables permission automatically.
Learn more about how to grant permissions to the collaborators of your workspace.
Availability
Auxiliary Tables depend on the workspace plan. When the feature is not included, the Auxiliary tables page shows the notice "Feature not available in your plan" and the "Contact support" link. The Single selection (Auxiliary table) and Multiple selection (Auxiliary table) questions are also blocked in the form elements list.
If the plan changes later, the forms that already had auxiliary table questions keep working: they can be edited and answered normally. The block only applies to adding new questions of this type.
Where to find it
- Auxiliary tables, in the Main Menu — where tables are created, configured and fed. The page shows the list of tables on the left and the details of the selected table on the right;
- Forms → open the form → Add element → Single selection and Multiple selections sections — where the Single selection (Auxiliary table) and Multiple selection (Auxiliary table) questions are;
- Forms → open the form → Results → Data — where the answers to auxiliary table questions can be filtered.
Next steps
- Learn more about how to create and configure a table;
- Learn more about company tables and filters per workspace;
- Learn more about how to feed the data;
- Learn more about auxiliary table questions;
- Learn more about automatically filling other questions;
- Learn more about answers and results.