Introduction
Dropdown Lists (also known as Option Groups) are sets of predefined choices that you can use to enter values into select lists fields or other areas of CiviPlus. They are particularly useful for fields where you want to control the input to a specific set of values, such as Contact Prefixes, Suffixes and Case Statuses.
CiviPlus ships with over 100 Dropdown lists already configured, some examples are shown below, and of course you can edit these or add your own.
Note: Dropdown lists (Option Groups) labelled as Reserved are "built into" CiviPlus, and whilst it is generally okay to amend them, under no circumstances should you delete them as parts of the system may stop working properly
Within Dropdown list there a a set of allowed values which can be selected by the user when completing a field. Some examples are shown below.
Many of the more commonly used Dropdown lists, typically those that are used in the Contact record, appear on their own menu which you can find at Administer --> Dropdown Options:
The remainder of the Dropdown options can be found at Administer --> System Settings --> Option Groups.
Adding a Dropdown list
Navigate to Administer --> System Settings --> Option Groups and click ADD OPTION GROUP. Choose a name for the Dropdown list and give it a brief description. Next, choose what kind of data types the list will contain, and finally decide whether you want it enabled from the start.
Once you'e created the Dropdown list container you can start adding values. Click the ADD xxxx button to add the first value.
The Label field will be what the user sees in the list, the value is what is stored in the system (generally speaking it's best to accept the value that is provided). You can give a Description (although usually the Label is self explanatory), and the Order field will determine the order that this item will appear in the list presented to a user. Finally, you can say whether this item in the list is available for picking by setting the Enabled field. Click SAVE to save this item, and you can continue to add additional items to the list.
Editing a Dropdown list
It's easy to edit any of the Dropdown lists, simply navigate to Administer --> System Settings --> Option Groups and click Edit Options at the far right of the row containing the Dropdown list you want to edit.
You can now Edit, Disable or Delete an existing Dropdown list value using the links at the right of the screen. You can also add an new Dropdown list value by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.
Note, if you edit or remove an existing Dropdown list value any previous data entries will remain. However, the next time that the field is edited the existing value will be cleared when the record is edited and saved.