Customize Fields: Add a Field

 

New fields can be added to any Ibidem database.

 

To add a new field:

 

1Click File, Properties to open the Properties dialog.
2Click the Fields tab at the top left of the dialog.
3Click the Add Field button, and change the settings to your preference.
ID: Each field has a two character identification. Any two letters or numbers can be used, provided that field IDs are not repeated within the database.
Field Description: Enter a brief description of the field.
Status: Predefined bibliographic fields are fixed and cannot be changed. All other fields are custom. This setting cannot be changed.
Field Type: There are seven Field Types in Ibidem and data is processed by the program differently depending on the Field Type selected. Select one of the following:
*Name: Data is entered in Name fields with last name first followed by a comma, a space and then the first name; sorting ignores text in angled brackets. See Names
*Title: Data is entered in Title fields with the first word and any proper names capitalized and other words lowercase; sorting ignores initial articles. See Titles
*Text: plain text
*Number: any integer
*Year: Years are entered using 4 digits. See Years
*American date: 3 numbers are entered: month, day, 4 digit year. See Dates  
*European date: 3 numbers are entered: day, month, 4 digit year. See Dates  
Key Field: Key fields can be searched using the Fast Search feature in Ibidem, rather than the slower Text Search. To edit the key fields, press the Index Keys tab on the Properties dialog. See Index Keys
Display Lines: This setting cannot be adjusted.
Align: Choose left, right or center.
5Click OK to save the changes.

Please note that once you have added a field, you will need to customize the data entry templates for the database in order for the new field to be available in the database for data entry.

 

 

See also:

Customize Fields