Booking data set reference

A data set is a reusable list of options that Autocomplete fields read from — a key, a display text, and an import. Every setting on the screen, and when to use one instead of a Select field.

Updated 20 Aug 2026

A data set is a reusable list of options that Autocomplete fields read from. Define it once and every booking form can point at it — which is what separates it from a Select field, whose options live on the one field that declares them.

Open Data set

Booking and Visiting keep separate data sets. A set built here is offered to booking form fields only; the visiting form has a screen of its own.

The data set itself

The editor opens on Settings, and the entries live on the second page of its rail.

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Name	Names the data set in the picker on a field	Name it after what it holds — this is all somebody configuring a field sees
Branch management	Limits the data set to one branch of the organisation	Only on a multi-branch site where each branch keeps its own lists
Entries	The rows themselves, on the second page of the rail

An entry is a pair

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Key	The code stored alongside the answer	Set it to whatever your other system reconciles on. Renaming the display text later then leaves past bookings intact
Display text	What the person booking reads

Both matter, and for different reasons. The key is what gets written next to the booking, so it is the half your finance or facilities system will match on; the display text is the half a person recognises. Give the display text in every language your site uses — one given only in English renders in English on a Japanese screen.

Import and export

The entries page carries Import and Export buttons, and an empty data set offers Import from Excel directly.

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Import	Loads the rows from a spreadsheet	For any real list — a chart of accounts is not worth typing
Export	Writes the rows back out	Take one before a bulk change, so a bad import can be undone
Add row	Adds one entry by hand	For a correction, not for the initial load

The entries, with Import and Export above them.

What people see

A field of type Autocomplete names one data set, and the person booking searches it as they type rather than scrolling a list. That is the whole reason to prefer a data set over a Select field once the list is long, shared between forms, or maintained by somebody other than you.

The same set on the booking form, searched as the person types.

Pointing a field at a data set is done on the field, not here — see Fields you add yourself, and Ask for a cost item and project ID on every booking for the whole job end to end.

What this does not control

Which fields use it. A data set is offered to every booking form; the fields that read it are the ones you point at it.
Whether the answer is required. That is Required, on the field.
Who can read the answer. The field’s own Show switches decide that.
Visiting’s data sets. A separate screen, and the two never share entries.