Database views, filters and sorts

A database can show its rows in several ways: a table to edit, a board to follow a status, a calendar for dates, a chart to count. Each way is a view, with its own tab above the rows. Views never copy anything: they all show the same rows.

Each view keeps its own settings: filters, sorts, grouping, hidden columns, column widths and totals. A filter only hides rows from the view, it never deletes them. The tab you are on is remembered on this device.

Add and set up a view

1. Click + next to the view tabs (Add a view). A menu opens to choose the layout of the new view.
2. Choose a layout: Table, Board, Calendar, Gallery, Charts, Timeline or Form. The view appears, named after its layout ("Board", then "Board 2").
3. To rename it or change its layout, click the small arrow next to its name. The view menu opens, with View name and Layout.

The same menu offers Duplicate view and Delete view. A database always keeps at least one view.

The layouts

Table

The table is where you type. On top of what Databases inside your notes describes:

• Group arranges the rows under headers you can fold, by a Select, Multi-select, Checkbox, Person, Date (by month) or Text column. Totals are then computed for each group too.
• Properties shows or hides columns in this view, with Show all and Hide all but the first.
• Under each column, Calculate adds a total (see below).

Board

The board shows each row as a card, in one column per option of a Select column, plus No value for the rows without one. Pick that column in Group by, at the top left.

Drag a card to another column: its value changes. A card dragged from To do to In progress now has the status In progress.

Each column has New card at the bottom. A card's menu offers Move to… and Open as a page. The gear at the top right opens Board options:

Option	What it does
Swimlanes (second axis)	Splits the board into rows, by a second Select column
Column summary	Shows under each column title the total or average of a number, progress or checkbox column
Card size	Compact, Regular or Detailed
Tint cards	Colors each card with its option
Hide empty columns	Hides the columns with no card
Work-in-progress limits	Sets a maximum of cards per column. Going over is flagged, never blocked.

Calendar

The calendar places each row on the day of a Date column. If the database has several, choose one in the view menu under Date column. Drag a row to another day to change its date, or click the + of a day to create a row there. Rows without a date are counted apart: drag one onto a day to schedule it.

Gallery

The gallery shows each row as a card with its values, in a grid. Use Properties to choose which values the cards show.

Charts

Charts count your rows. Choose the kind (Bars, Line or Donut), the column that makes the Slices, and the Measure: Row count, Sum, Average, Minimum or Maximum. Except for Row count, also pick the column to measure.

Timeline

The timeline draws each row as a bar in time. Choose its Start column and its End column, or None (milestones) to show each row as a single day. Dependencies can draw links between bars, from a Relation column that points to the same database. The scale is Day, Week or Month.

Form

The form turns the view into a questionnaire: one field per column, and an Add button that creates the row and shows Row added. Use it to enter rows one by one, without the rest of the table in view.

In the view menu, you can set the form's Title, its Instructions, the text of its button, which fields are Required, and Open the record after submitting. To remove a field, hide its column with Properties. The form never asks for computed columns (formulas, rollups, times filled by Filarr). Relation, Person, Vault file and Note columns are filled in on the record afterwards, and the form tells you which ones.

Filter rows

1. Click Filters, then Add a filter.
2. Choose the column, the condition and the value.

With several filters, choose whether a row must match all conditions or any condition. Add a group combines a few conditions with their own and/or rule, and counts as one condition in the list. The Filter on this column item of a column menu starts a filter on that column.

The conditions depend on the type of the column:

Column	Conditions
Text, URL, Email, Phone, Person	Contains, Does not contain, Is exactly
Number, Rating, Progress, Rollup	=, ≠, >, <, ≥, ≤
Select	Is, Is not
Multi-select, Relation	Contains, Does not contain
Checkbox	Checked, Unchecked
Date, Created time, Last edited time	Before, After, On

Every type except Checkbox also offers Is empty and Is not empty. Note, Vault file and Formula columns offer only these two. The bar of views says how many rows the filters hide. A row you add in a filtered view gets the values it needs to stay visible.

Filters and sorts do not read the result of a formula: to them, every cell of a Formula column is empty. See Relations, rollups and formulas.

Sort rows

Click Sort, then Add a sort, and choose a column and a direction. Add more sorts to break ties: they apply in order. Empty values always come last. Sort ascending and Sort descending in a column menu do the same in one click.

While a sort is on, you cannot move rows by hand.

Search

The Search… box at the right of the bar shows only the rows that contain what you type. It is not saved with the view.

Totals under the columns

In the table, click Calculate under a column and choose a total. It is computed on the rows the view shows, so a filter changes it.

Column	Totals
All	Count all, Not empty, Empty, % not empty
All except Checkbox	Unique values
Number, Rating, Progress	Sum, Average, Median, Min, Max, Range
Date	Min, Max
Checkbox	Checked, % checked

Related articles

• Databases inside your notes
• Relations, rollups and formulas
• Turn a folder into a database
• Build a reading tracker