Data Types (Columns) in Atwork
Understanding Data Types in Atwork
Atwork provides a wide range of data types (columns) to help you organize, structure, and customize your workspaces. Each data type is designed to meet specific business needs, making it easier to manage your workflows, track progress, and visualize results. Below is a complete guide to each available column type and how you can use them to boost your productivity.
General Data Types
🟢 CheckBox
Description:
The Checkbox column is a simple yes/no field that allows users to track the completion status of tasks, confirm decisions, or mark important items.
Common Use Cases:
Tracking task completion (e.g., ✅ Completed / ❌ Not Completed)
Marking approvals (e.g., ✅ Approved / ❌ Rejected)
Indicating attendance or participation
🟢 Short Text
Description:
The Short Text column is used for storing brief pieces of text, such as names, titles, or short descriptions.
Common Use Cases:
Task titles (e.g., "Design Logo")
Contact names (e.g., "John Doe")
Product codes (e.g., "SKU12345")
Description:
The Email column is specifically designed to store email addresses. Users can click the email field to directly open their default email client and send an email.
Common Use Cases:
Storing customer or client email addresses in a CRM sheet
Sending follow-up emails directly from Atwork
Managing team communication within a project
Practical Tip:
Use this column to automate emails using Atwork’s Action Button feature for faster communication.
🟢 Phone Number
Description:
The Phone Number column is a dedicated field for storing phone numbers, which can be used in CRM, contact lists, and other sheets.
Common Use Cases:
Storing customer contact numbers
Tracking team members’ phone numbers
Using phone numbers in sales pipelines
Practical Tip:
Use consistent formatting for phone numbers to maintain data clarity.
🟢 Status
Description:
The Status column helps users define various statuses for their workflow. Each status represents a different stage in a process, making it easier to track progress.
Common Use Cases:
Task statuses (e.g., "To Do," "In Progress," "Done")
Sales pipeline stages (e.g., "Lead," "Qualified," "Negotiation," "Closed")
Bug tracking (e.g., "Open," "In Review," "Resolved")
Practical Tip:
Customize your status labels and colors to make your workflow visually clear and easy to manage.
🟢 Long Text
Description:
The Long Text column is ideal for storing detailed information, such as notes, instructions, or descriptions. Unlike Short Text, this field allows for multiline text input.
Common Use Cases:
Detailed task descriptions
Meeting notes and summaries
Customer feedback or testimonials
Practical Tip:
Use the Long Text field to store information that may require more context or elaboration.
🟢 Multi-Select
Description:
The Multi-Select column allows users to add multiple tags to a single record. This feature is great for categorizing and filtering data.
Common Use Cases:
Categorizing tasks by multiple tags (e.g., "Design," "Development," "Marketing")
Adding multiple skill sets to employee records (e.g., "Project Management," "Sales," "Technical")
Tracking customer preferences (e.g., "Email," "Phone," "In-Person")
Practical Tip:
Use Multi-Select to organize your data by applying relevant tags and easily filter your sheet based on those tags.
🟢 File
Description:
The File column allows users to upload and manage file attachments directly within their sheets. This feature is useful for storing documents, images, or reports.
Common Use Cases:
Uploading project files (e.g., designs, proposals, contracts)
Storing product images in an inventory sheet
Attaching meeting minutes to a task
Practical Tip:
Ensure files are named clearly and consistently to make it easy for users to find the right attachment.
🟢 URL
Description:
The URL column is used to store clickable links to websites, documents, or other online resources.
Common Use Cases:
Linking to project resources or reference documents
Adding website links to CRM contacts (e.g., LinkedIn profiles)
Linking to cloud storage files (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox)
🟢 Select
Description:
The Select column is a dropdown field that allows users to choose a single value from a predefined list.
Common Use Cases:
Selecting a task priority (e.g., "High," "Medium," "Low")
Choosing a department for employee records (e.g., "Sales," "Marketing," "HR")
Defining product categories (e.g., "Electronics," "Furniture," "Apparel")
Practical Tip:
Keep your dropdown values short and clear to improve usability.
🟢 Date
Description:
The Date column allows users to add dates and set reminders using the built-in Date & Time picker.
Common Use Cases:
Tracking due dates and deadlines
Scheduling meetings and events
Recording customer interactions
Practical Tip:
Use the reminder feature to receive notifications for important dates.
🟢 Timer
Description:
The Timer column helps users track the amount of time spent on tasks. This feature is useful for monitoring productivity and tracking billable hours.
Common Use Cases:
Tracking time spent on client projects
Measuring team productivity
Recording time for specific tasks or activities
🟢 Number
Description:
The Number column allows users to input numerical data, format it, and perform calculations.
Common Use Cases:
Tracking sales figures or budgets
Recording inventory quantities
Calculating discounts or percentages
Advanced Data Types
🟡 AIText
Description:
The AIText column integrates Atwork’s AI Assistant directly into your sheets. It can generate insights, summaries, suggestions, or predictions.
Common Use Cases:
Automatically generate meeting summaries from notes
Provide content suggestions based on keywords
Summarize customer feedback for faster analysis
Practical Tip:
For better results, use more professional prompts.
🟡 Document
Description:
The Document column provides a rich text editor that allows users to create detailed documents directly within their sheets. It supports advanced formatting, such as bold, italic, bullet points, and more.
Common Use Cases:
Writing detailed project briefs
Creating client reports or proposals
Documenting meeting minutes
Practical Tip:
Use this column to centralize documentation within your projects and avoid the need for external word processors.
🟡 Vote
Description:
The Vote column allows users to upvote or downvote items within a sheet. This is particularly useful for prioritizing tasks or gathering feedback.
Common Use Cases:
Prioritizing feature requests in a product backlog
Gathering team feedback on ideas
Voting on project proposals
Practical Tip:
Use the Vote column in decision-making processes to ensure team consensus on priorities.
🟡 Rollup Chart
Description:
The Rollup Chart column creates an inline chart based on data from related sheets. It allows users to visualize aggregated data without needing to export it to external tools.
Practical Tip:
Customize the chart type (e.g., bar, line, pie) to best represent your data.
🟡 Action Button
Description:
The Action Button column allows users to execute predefined actions on records with a single click. Actions can include sending emails, updating fields, or triggering workflows.
Common Use Cases:
Sending automated follow-up emails to clients
Marking tasks as complete with one click
Triggering custom workflows or integrations
Practical Tip:
Use Action Buttons to automate repetitive tasks and save time.
🟡 DocX
Description:
The DocX column enables users to inject sheet data directly into pre-designed Word document templates. This is useful for generating contracts, invoices, or reports with dynamic data.
Common Use Cases:
Generating client contracts with personalized details
Creating automated invoices from project data
Producing detailed reports with live data
Practical Tip:
Prepare your DocX templates in advance to ensure a smooth data injection process.
🟡 Relation
Description:
The Relation column links your current sheet with other sheets in Atwork, creating a relational database. This allows users to pull related data into a single view.
Common Use Cases:
Linking customers to their orders
Connecting projects to assigned team members
Associating tasks with specific milestones
Practical Tip:
Use Relation columns to reduce data duplication and improve data consistency across sheets.
🟡 Rollup
Description:
The Rollup column allows users to perform calculations or aggregations on specific columns from related sheets. It’s ideal for summarizing data from multiple entries.
Common Use Cases:
Calculating total sales from related orders
Summarizing hours worked across projects
Aggregating feedback scores from customer surveys
Practical Tip:
Use Rollup with the Relation column to automatically pull and calculate data from other sheets.
🟡 Formula
Description:
The Formula column enables users to write complex formulas that manipulate data from other columns. It supports mathematical, logical, and text-based functions.
Common Use Cases:
Calculating total project costs
Automatically generating task deadlines based on start dates
Creating conditional logic for task priorities
Practical Tip:
Use built-in functions and operators to simplify your formulas and make them more readable.
🟡 Mirror
Description:
The Mirror column displays a column from a related sheet within your current sheet. This allows users to view important data from other sheets without duplicating it.
Common Use Cases:
Showing customer names from a linked CRM sheet
Displaying project status from a related project sheet
Referencing employee contact details from an HR sheet
Practical Tip:
Use the Mirror column to ensure your data is always up-to-date and consistent across sheets.
Other Data Types in Atwork
🟡 Job
Description:
The Job column allows you to select pre-defined job titles from your organization’s database and assign them to records. This helps in task delegation and role management.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning tasks based on job roles (e.g., "Project Manager," "Designer")
Tracking the role responsible for a specific project phase
Organizing employee responsibilities within your workflow
🟡 Location
Description:
The Location column allows users to select pre-defined locations from your organization’s list. This can be used to track where tasks, assets, or projects are being handled.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning tasks to specific office locations or branches
Managing multi-location projects
Practical Tip:
Use the Location column to ensure all tasks and items are associated with the correct physical or virtual location.
🟡 Team
Description:
The Team column enables you to assign tasks or records to specific teams within your organization. It improves task management by ensuring the right group is responsible for the job.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning tasks to project teams (e.g., Marketing Team, Development Team)
Tracking team-specific responsibilities in projects
Practical Tip:
Combine the Team column with Employee List for more granular task assignments.
🟡 Summary
Description:
The Summary column automatically generates a brief overview of each record, highlighting the most important details. It can be customized to pull data from specific columns.
Common Use Cases:
Creating a quick project status summary
Providing a brief task overview for team members
Practical Tip:
Use the Summary column to provide high-level visibility of your records without needing to open detailed views.
🟡 Job List
Description:
The Job List column allows users to add multiple pre-defined job titles to a single record. This is useful for assigning various roles to a task or project.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning different job roles to a complex project
Tracking responsibilities across departments
Managing job roles in HR-related workflows
Practical Tip:
Use the Job List column to ensure that each task or project has the right mix of roles assigned to it.
🟡 Employee
Description:
The Employee column allows you to assign a specific employee to a task, record, or project. It’s useful for tracking individual responsibilities within your workflows.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning tasks to employees
Managing employee-specific project assignments
Tracking who is responsible for a particular task
Practical Tip:
Combine this column with Duration to track how long an employee spends on a task.
🟡 7️⃣ Duration
Description:
The Duration column tracks time durations and displays them in various formats, such as hours, days, or weeks. This is essential for time tracking and project management.
Common Use Cases:
Measuring the time taken to complete a task
Tracking the duration of specific project phases
Estimating task completion times
Practical Tip:
Use the Duration column with Timer to get real-time tracking of task durations.
🟡 Team List
Description:
The Team List column allows users to assign multiple teams to a single record. This is helpful for cross-team collaboration and task distribution across departments.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning a project to multiple teams
Managing tasks that require input from various departments
Ensuring collaboration across different teams
Practical Tip:
Combine the Team List column with Vote to allow teams to prioritize tasks collaboratively.
🟡 9️⃣ Employee List
Description:
The Employee List column allows users to assign multiple employees to a single record. This is ideal for tasks or projects that require collaboration between several individuals.
Common Use Cases:
Assigning project tasks to multiple employees
Tracking team member contributions to a project
Managing collaborative tasks across departments
Final Summary
Atwork’s data types are designed to offer flexibility and precision for managing workflows, data organization, and collaboration across teams. Here’s how you can make the most of them:
General Data Types: Use these for everyday data tracking, including text, dates, numbers, and file management. These columns are the backbone of any organized database.
Advanced Data Types: Leverage powerful features like AI, formulas, relational data, and automation to gain deeper insights and streamline complex workflows.
Other Data Types: Manage organizational resources effectively by assigning roles, tracking teams, and managing time durations, making collaboration seamless and efficient.
Key Takeaways:
Choose the right data type for each piece of information to keep your workflow organized and efficient.
Combine multiple data types (e.g., Relation, Rollup, and Mirror) for advanced functionality and data interconnectivity.
Customize your database to fit your unique needs and business processes.
By understanding and utilizing Atwork’s comprehensive data types, you can optimize your workflows, enhance collaboration, and improve decision-making across your organization.
If you need additional guidance, check out our detailed help sections for each data type or reach out to our support team. 🚀