# Drop-down fields: choices, sources, multi-select

The field-configuration reference for lists: the three places choices can come from, the allow-new and multi-select switches and how they exclude each other, and the dependent lists that narrow with each answer.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: catalog-administrator · Time: 15 minute read · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/drop-down-fields-choices-sources-multi-select

**By the end of this page you'll know the three places a drop-down's choices can come from, the switch combinations that govern typing versus picking, and the dependent-list setups that make the second field's choices obey the first — the reference behind clean capture and clean search alike.**

Everything here lives in the field editor: **Administration** > **Global Fields** > open a field (**Manage Global Field Details**), or a document type's **Fields** page for its local settings. The relevant panel is **Field Options**.

## Where choices come from — pick one source

| Switch | Choices come from | Use when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Create drop-down from choices.** | A list you type, under **Field Entry Choices (one per line)** | The list is yours to own — departments, statuses, categories |
| **Create drop-down from external data source.** | A database, via **Data Source:** / **Table:** / **Column:** | The truth lives elsewhere — your ERP's vendor table, updating itself |
| **Create drop-down from an Integration.** | A connected integration | The list belongs to a connected system |

The sources are exclusive — turning one on disables the others. External data sources themselves are defined once under **Administration** > **External Data Sources** (name, **ODBC DSN**, credentials, **Test Connection**) and then reused by any field; [Look up field values from another system](/content-central/integrations/look-up-field-values-from-another-system) covers that setup end to end.

## The behavior switches

- **Allow new entries.** — the drop-down accepts typed values that aren't in the list. Without it, users pick or nothing.
- **Add new entries to choice list.** — appears once new entries are allowed: typed values join the list for everyone after. Together these make a self-growing list; the first alone makes a list-plus-exceptions.
- **Allow multiple selections.** — the field takes several values (tag-style). **This one and Allow new entries are mutually exclusive** — a multi-select field only ever offers existing choices. If you need both behaviors, that's two fields.
- **Keep choices sorted** (with a one-shot **Sort now**) — alphabetical forever, however entries arrive.

*[Screenshot: A typed-choices drop-down with new entries allowed and self-adding: the exact switch combination behind a vendor list that grows itself.]*

## Dependent lists: the second field obeys the first

**Choice list depends on field** turns a flat list into a cascade — pick the parent field, and then:

- **Typed-choices fields** get per-value lists: for each of the parent's values ("Choices for `<value>`:"), enter the choices that apply. Department → Cost Center, where Finance sees only Finance's centers.
- **External-source fields** get **Filter choices by criteria** — a criteria builder matching source columns against the parent field's value (or static values). The classic: Vendor filters the PO-number list to that vendor's POs.

One editor quirk worth knowing so it doesn't look like a bug: with criteria-based filtering on, the flat **Field Entry Choices** column disappears — the criteria *are* the choices now, so there's nothing flat to show (and **Keep choices sorted** goes with it).

## Where these decisions surface

Every capture form, the coding queue, Edit Properties, and search filters all render the field the way this panel says. The user-side behaviors — the combo that accepts typing, the message when it doesn't — are covered from the user's chair in [Change a document's type, catalog, or fields after filing](/content-central/documents/change-a-document-after-filing).

**Success check:** configure a test field with typed choices + both allow-new switches, capture a document typing a brand-new value, then open the field editor again — the value is in the list. Flip on multi-select and note **Allow new entries** grey out: the exclusion, demonstrated.

## What's next

- [Look up field values from another system (ODBC)](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/look-up-field-values-from-another-system)
- [Set up your first catalog, fields, and document types](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-up-catalogs-fields-and-document-types)