How to Remove or Deactivate Fields on a Form in Assurance

Fields can be removed or deactivated in Assurance. Deactivating a field means it can be made Active again.

A couple of important notes:

Note: A field cannot be removed if the template has been used since you created the field e.g. a form using the template is created. This applies even if the field itself was not used in the submission. In this case, you would need to 'deactivate' the field instead.

You may need to deactivate a field for a variety of reasons. You can change a field if you are happy for the field to be changed everywhere it is used and you have taken into account existing data.

Reasons to deactivate a field: 

• The field has been used in more than one template, but only in your new template it requires different parameters (such as Single Select options, not Short Text) or you want to rename the field. Note you will still need to rename the new field if you want to change the parameters. 

Deactivating will only remove the field from the template you are working on. If a field is simply updated, the updates will apply across the field wherever it is used. If you do not want the changes to be made across the field in all templates, deactivate the field in your new template and recreate it.

Important note when re-creating fields: Your new field will need to have a different name to the original field. If your new field serves a similar purpose, make the differences in the fields clear from the Title. Insignificant changes to the field can cause bugs. A new word in the field is a sufficient difference, but ideally your future self will be able to find exactly the field you are looking for when adding an existing field from the field library to a template.

• You may no longer require the field in a template. However, you want to be able to report on past responses to the field.

Note: If you are deactivating a field from a template, any data that was entered into that field for the specific template will only be available in the 'History' tab of the form/register in the PDF generated when the register item/form was created.

If you still need to report on the information, we suggest the following:

1) make a report of all data in the field you wish to deactivate, before you deactivate it. Here is a quick way to create a report directly from the register. 

2) export the data

2) create a new field to capture the data

3) import the data into the new field - instructions here. You only need the Key of each record and the data in the correct column (field name). You will need to ensure the imported data matches the parameters of your new field. Don't delete the other columns, just leave them blank. 

4) deactivate the older field

For help on the above, contact the Service Desk. 

To deactivate a field

1) Select the check-box next to the field

2) Go up to the 'Deactivate' button that appears in the top row of buttons and select it

3) The field is now deactivated and can be activated again by selecting the 'Show Inactive' button 

To remove a field 

1) Select the check-box next to the field

2) Go up to the 'Remove' button that appears in the top row of buttons and select it

3) The field is now removed from the template and can't be added back into the template unless it is added from the field library or created again.