Month picker

How to add and configure a Month picker field in the Notebook Editor.

What This Field Does

A Month Picker captures a year and month only (YYYY-MM), deliberately avoiding day-level precision. It is particularly valuable for historical documentation where exact dates are unknown or meaningless — preventing the common error of inventing precision where none exists. Use it for field seasons, publication dates, approximate dates of disturbance, or any temporal data where month-level granularity is appropriate.

Adding the Field

To add this field, open the ADD A FIELD dialog, navigate to the DATE & TIME tab, and click the Month picker card. Then click the ADD FIELD button in the lower right.

Adding a Month Picker — the DATE & TIME tab in the ADD A FIELD dialog

Configuring the Field

Click the field’s grey header bar to expand it and see its settings. For an overview of the settings shared by all fields — including Label, Helper Text, Field ID, and the field toolbar — see Field Identity and Field Toolbar.

Give the field a meaningful Label, review the auto-populated Field ID, and add any desired Helper Text.

Month Picker configuration in the {{Notebook}} Editor

Shared Field Options

Configure any of the shared field options as needed.

For settings shared across all field types — including Required, Annotation, Uncertainty, Conditions, Copy value to new records, and Display in child records — see Field Options.

Tips

  • Use when day-level precision is unnecessary or misleading — “Season of fieldwork”, “Month of last survey”, “Approximate date of disturbance”. This avoids the epistemological error of recording a specific day when only the month is known.

  • Watch for Excel misinterpretation — Excel may interpret “2024-03” as “3rd March 2024” rather than “March 2024”. Always import Month Picker data as a text column to preserve the intended format.

  • Consider using Uncertainty plus Annotation to let collectors note whether the month is exact or approximate (e.g., “probably March” vs “definitely March”) or specify a timeframe within the month (e.g., “late March”).