This is the page where you can add, modify and delete items on various picklists - besides the ones for people to assign tasks to.

TaskMeister uses picklists instead of free-form text entry for several reasons:

1.) Databases need them for reports. A task under the Beach Info Project, for example, will not be listed with tasks related to the Beach Information Project. Any software will consider those separate projects, even if a human sees two names (Info vs Information) for the same project. Moreover, any software would consider a typo or abbreviation, BeachInfo Project for example, as yet another project.

2.) Although it takes longer to enter terms into a picklist initially, picking from a list will always be faster thereafter than typing the term each time.

3.) Users unsure of what to type into a field face a simpler problem when asked to just pick from a list.

4) If users find picklists too restrictive, the account sysadmin can easily add, edit, or delete picklist values.

You can not only add, edit, and delete picklist values, but you can edit the label itself. If you don't have departments, for example, but do have divisions, you can click the edit pencil icon next to the picklist label "Department" and change it to "Division". From then on, TaskMeister will refer to divisions throughout your account instead of departments. You may then wish to also update the "Department" help records to say "Division".

If you want to revert such a custom picklist label to TaskMeister's original term, click the reset icon next to the label. If your company converts divisions to departments, you can click that reset icon next to "Division" to convert it back to "Department".

When you use the edit pencil icon to change a picklist value, all existing uses of that picklist value will be changed to the new value you entered.

To delete a picklist value, you can use the trash can icon next to it, or to delete a bunch of them all at once, check the checkbox to their right, and then click the "Delete Selected Picklist Values" button at the bottom of the page below all the picklists. To reverse all the checkboxes within a picklist, click its blue "Flip" command text.

When deleting a picklist value, TaskMeister checks if any tasks or events use that picklist value. If it finds any, it asks you if you want to change those values to one that is still on the active picklist. If not, TaskMeister inactivates the picklist value instead of deleting it. Such an inactive value no longer appears on your picklists, but it does remain in the field where it was entered, and it is listed near the bottom of this picklist admin table, greyed out and with the deleted icon next to it.

Picklist values are sorted in the order you wish. You can click the "Alpha Order" button below a picklist to sort the values alphabetically, the most common way to present them, but you may wish a different order. You may wish to put the most important near the top of the picklist, or a value like "Misc" at the bottom to be used only in case none of the above values fit. To rearrange the sort order manually, use the up and down arrows to the right of the trash can icon. Clicking the up arrow icon moves the corresponding picklist value up one place in the list that users will see. Clicking the down arrow icon moves it down one place.

When a picklist is displayed, one of its values has to be selected, even if it's a blank value. The radio buttons in the "Default" column of a picklist is how you specify which value will be selected by default. You can make it a blank or the value "Please pick one" to encourage users to select one of the other values. Alternatively, you can mark as the default the picklist value most likely to be selected, thus cutting down on the work of the user entering the picklist value. Use the "Set" button below the column to save a default change.

The "Add" button at the bottom of a picklist is how you add a new picklist value. When you enter a new picklist value, it is available immediately on the relevant picklist.

Note that the Status picklist is shown for reference only and is not editable here. See the Workflow preference for that.

Don't forget to mouse over or click the blue field names of each picklist for help about each.