Conditions

How to use the conditions builder to show or hide fields based on other fields’ values.

Overview

Conditions let you create visibility rules so that a field only appears when another field has a particular value. For example, you might show a “Please specify” text field only when a collector selects “Other” in a dropdown, or reveal a detailed damage assessment section only when a checkbox is ticked. Conditions are configured per-field in the Notebook Editor and evaluated dynamically during data collection.

An expanded field showing a configured condition banner

See Conditions on Sections and Fields for details of creating and editing conditions.

How Conditions Behave

  • Conditions are evaluated dynamically — fields appear and disappear instantly as the controlling field’s value changes.

  • Conditions can only reference fields in the same form. You cannot reference fields in a different form or in a parent/child record.

  • Sections hide automatically when all their fields are hidden by conditions, keeping the form tidy.

  • Hidden fields retain their data. If a collector fills in a field and it is subsequently hidden by a condition change, the data is preserved (not deleted).

  • Validation on hidden fields is filtered from the visible error display. However, be cautious about marking conditionally shown fields as Required — if the field is hidden but still required, it may cause confusion.

Tips

  • Start with the “Other — please specify” pattern. The most common use of conditions is revealing a free-text field when a collector chooses “Other” in a Select or Select one option field. This is a good first condition to try.

  • Keep conditions simple. A single condition per field (e.g., show when Feature type = “Burial”) is easy to understand and debug. Compound conditions (AND/OR) are powerful but harder to test — use them sparingly.

  • Test conditions in a deployed notebook, not in the Notebook Editor preview. The Editor shows the condition configuration but does not simulate the dynamic show/hide behaviour.

  • Be careful with Required on conditional fields. If a field is marked Required but hidden by a condition, collectors cannot see or fill it. Consider whether the field should truly be mandatory in all cases.

  • Conditions cannot reference complex fields like Take Photo, Take GPS Point, or Map Field directly. If you need to branch based on whether a photo was taken, use a Checkbox as a gateway question (e.g., “Photo taken?”) and condition on that instead.