Custom fields and columns

Your jobs rarely fit a fixed template — a fibre span carries different information from a maintenance visit. Custom fields add typed columns to the Jobs table, one set per workstream.

The seven types

Type	Holds
Text	free text, over as many lines as you need
Number	numeric values (sorted and filtered as numbers)
Date	day-first dates (14/07/2026)
Dropdown	one of up to 30 options you define
Checkbox	yes or no
File	up to 15 files per field, 25 MB each
Link	a web address (a bare domain gets https:// added)

Defining fields

Open Jobs set-up (the tune icon in the Jobs header) and choose Fields. On a phone it is the Fields chip above the list. The Job fields dialog reads "Manage the fields available on jobs in this workstream."

The list shows each field's Type and Visibility, with a search box for long lists. To add one, fill in Add field:

• Name and Type. A dropdown also needs its Options, separated by commas.
• Scope — Shared (all workstreams), or one workstream. Scoping keeps a Route type column out of your maintenance table. A workstream tab shows its own fields plus the shared ones.
• Show to field staff — see below.

To move an existing field to a different workstream, or make it shared, change its Scope in Edit column: the pencil on its row in Fields, or Edit column in the column's header menu. The Field scope menu on its row does the same.

Moving a field never deletes anything. Values already on jobs stay where they are: jobs in a workstream the field no longer covers stop showing them, and they come back if the field covers those jobs again. Before you save, the dialog says which jobs will stop showing it, such as "Jobs in other workstreams stop showing it. Their values are kept and come back if the field covers them again."

Maliru leaves the field where it is, and says why, when:

• another field with the same name is already there;
• a route stage in a workstream it would leave is paid per that field. Change the stage rate's Quantity in Pay › Job and stage rates first;
• you manage only some workstreams and choose Shared (all workstreams).

A workstream the field leaves also stops using it in its completion report columns and in the job details its measures tick by default.

Who can see a field

Every field has a Show to field staff switch, off by default:

"Workers assigned to the job read this on the job record. Off by default — leave it off for commercial detail."

This is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the app, so an unshared rate never reaches a worker's phone. The Visibility column in the fields list reads Field staff or Office.

Editing values

Values are edited right in the table, and in the job record's field list:

• Checkbox — tick the cell.
• Dropdown — pick from the cell's menu, or Clear.
• Link — Open, Edit or Clear from the cell menu.
• File — Upload file or Add file, open any file, or remove one. "A field holds at most 15 files." and "Files are limited to 25 MB."
• Text, number and date — click the cell to edit in a small dialog.

Changing or removing a field

From a column's header menu, or the pencil on its row in Fields, Edit column renames it, changes its options, moves it to another scope or even changes its type — "Existing values are kept — ones that no longer fit the type show as plain text until edited."

Delete field (from the header menu, or the field's Field options menu in Fields) hides the column: "Values already stored on jobs are kept but no longer shown, and job history is not touched."

Deleting a field also takes it out of every workstream's completion report columns and the job details its measures tick by default.

Maliru won't delete a field that a route stage is paid per, because the stage would quietly go on to pay once per route job instead. It names the workstreams whose pay rates use the field, such as "Pay rates for Fibre Routes are paid per "Metres". Give them another quantity in Pay first." Change the stage rate's Quantity in Pay › Job and stage rates, then delete the field.

Move values out of the wrong column

If an import put values in the wrong field, you don't have to import again. In Fields, open the source field's Field options menu and choose Move values…. Pick the destination under Move into and read the preview of what will move and what will be skipped. Delete "field name" afterwards removes the source field once the move is done; clear it to keep the field. It follows the same rules as Delete field: if a route stage is paid per the field, Maliru says so and moves nothing. Confirm with Move values.

Arrange the table for the workspace

The column layout is shared: every change you make is what everyone in the workspace sees on that tab.

• Columns in the toolbar (or Arrange columns… in any header menu) opens Arrange columns: "Drag to reorder, untick to hide. Everyone in the workspace sees this layout." Reset to default puts it back. The title column always shows.
• Each header menu also has Sort ascending, Sort descending, Move left, Move right and Hide column.
• Drag the grip at a column's edge to widen it. The width is saved for the workspace. Double-click the grip to reset that column.

Agree a sensible order with the people who share the workstream, because the layout is theirs too.

Columns in route reports

On a route workstream, the workstream's Report columns setting picks the columns a route completion report prints, and their order — up to seven. The first few also show on the route list itself. See Workstream settings.

Tip: name your spreadsheet headings after your fields — the importer files values under matching columns automatically, and any new heading can become a new field during import.

The job's built-in Notes column holds its one current note — what the field wrote with a status, or what the office typed. Use Updates on the job record for the dated conversation.