Build a table for the thing you actually track

Every business tracks something its software never shipped. The usual answer is a spreadsheet kept beside the system, which is where data goes to stop being reliable.

In Diract the tables are yours. The ones your template came with are a starting point, not the limit.

Making one

1. The path is Settings, then Schema configuration. The screen lists every table. One marked Template arrived with your template, and nobody can rename or delete it.
2. New table starts one. It takes a Table name, an Icon and a Colour.
3. Private: only visible to me keeps it to yourself, and leaving it unticked makes a shared table.
4. The Create table button finishes it. It appears in the sidebar under Tables.

Only a company admin can create a shared table. Anyone else can create a private one.

The field types

The path is Open full schema map, then the table, then Add field. The types are Text, Number, Date, Yes / No, Dropdown, Link record, Auto ID, Email, URL, Currency, Property, Entity, Project, Relation, ABN, ACN and Image.

• ABN and ACN are real field types, not text boxes with a label on them. The number meets the check digit rules, so a mistyped one fails at the point of entry.
• Two field types join tables together: Link record and Relation. A record on one table points at records on another, which stops anybody typing the same client twice.
• Auto ID numbers the records for you, and never reuses the number of a deleted one.

A field that calculates itself

A Number or Currency field opens for editing. Under Computed value, pick Multiply or % of to calculate it from two fields on the same table.

Sum of related totals the values on a linked table, and Max of related takes the highest. A job's total is then the sum of its own line items, held in the field rather than in somebody's head. A builder's variations register works the same way: each change is a record linked to the job, and the job totals them.

Required, Unique and Show in master table columns each tick as needed.

Then make the page look right

The table opens from the sidebar, and Setup sits inside it. A field clicked appears in the table or the expand panel, a drag reorders it, and a column width sets beside it.

New record adds a row. The Export CSV button downloads the lot, which matters for the same reason the storage choice does. The data is yours, and it leaves whenever you ask.

A table you made is a real table

This is where most custom field features stop being useful. The new thing exists, and then nothing else in the product knows about it.

• It is in the global search. Records on your own tables come back beside matters, contacts and properties.
• Dashboard widgets can read it. A widget points at a table, and yours is one of them.
• Its records can be linked from anywhere. A Link record field on another table can point at it.
• It exports. Export CSV is on your table for the same reason it is on the ones that came with the template.

Current as at 12 September 2026. Diract changes often, so check the screen before relying on a detail here.