One thing I’m finding increasingly frustrating is the inability to edit most aspects of Fields after they’re created. Notion seems to be able to handle this much better, even allowing you to convert between field types (e.g. text vs. multi-select) and maintain some of the data.
Another common challenge I run into with this is not being able to set the Default Value after creating the Field. Sometimes I realize later that I want a default value, or sometimes I decide to change it after using it with another value for some time.
This kind of rigidity in certain areas definitely puts a damper on the overall flexible concept and promise of Fibery. I want to feel like I can adjust and modify my setup based on changing workflow or increased understanding of the system over time. But in some ways I really can’t (Move Entity to another Type is another example of where this comes up).
100% agree, couldn’t have said it any better. This is an issue I deal with as well too, many times daily as my Fibery Instance expands.
Re: Default values, I think it’s another feature that is unfinished. It is actually something Notion DOES NOT have, although they solve it in Templates which we chatted about recently. But I don’t understand why the Fibery team passed up doing it in multi-select fields:
But you are right it is a real pain not being able to edit fields/relations after you create them.
FYI I found a workaround for this for some fields. I renamed my “field” to “field_old”. Then create a new “field” with correct schema. I then open Entity in Table View, select whole “field_old” column and copy/paste to “field” column.
It doesn’t work for “Rich text” - so be careful when deciding to use “Rich text” for your fields
this workaround works, but if you have dozens of different views and charts created (which use filter on the field which you want to change), then this trick won’t work
I could be wrong, but I think he means something similar to excel or google sheets where you select the associated field name in the column header and it selects all “cells” within that column. I would naturally like that too, however I know it’s because I developed a false expectation from using spreadsheets my whole career (whereas this shouldn’t be a priority in a database-style system in all reality).
To copy-pasteall values from one field to another, you will need to create a table view (if you don’t already have one) so you can see all entities, with the source and destination columns visible.
Then you need to select all the cells in the source column (and the only way is to manually highlight them using the mouse or shift+cursor keys), press Ctrl-C, then select the top cell in the destination column and press Ctrl-V.
Any update on the ability to change the type of a field? Notion allows this easily after creation, but seems much more rigid here. My current use case is changing a date time to a simple date. I understand in this instance (and possibly most change instances) there will be data loss, but perhaps you could pop up a dialog describing that and let the power users more effectively manage their space?
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