Choose the right field type for each Attribute

A certificate Attribute is not always a line of text. A graduation year is a date, a portfolio is a URL, a workshop rating is a number, and a signed consent form is a file. Storing all of them as text makes the import forgiving and the output wrong.

Attributes now have types.

The types

• Text for names, colleges, teams, and award wording.
• Date for completion, graduation, or expiry-adjacent values.
• Phone for contact fields that should keep their formatting.
• URL for portfolio, project, or profile links.
• Choice for a fixed set of options such as track or session.
• Checkbox for yes/no values such as consent or attendance.
• Rating for feedback scales.
• Attachment for a file supplied with a form or recipient record, where supported.

Set the type when you create the Attribute under Configure on a certificate. The import mapping and the design both use that type.

Why the type matters

A date column imported as text may sort and display differently from a date column imported as a date. A URL stored as text is not clickable on the certificate. A choice field becomes a controlled list instead of three spellings of the same track. The type is a small decision that prevents a class of cleanup work later.

If a value does not fit the type, fix it at import or in the recipient record. The certificate will not guess what a malformed date or URL was meant to be.