A Number field holds a numeric value. Think of a box on a form that takes digits and nothing else.

Here is the test: is the answer a quantity, a count or a measurement? If yes, you want a Number field. For money, use a Currency field. For a share, use a Percent field. For a score picked by eye, use a Rating or Number Slider field.

Example: a Vendors table with a field called Employee Count. Each vendor's headcount tells the risk team how large the organization behind the service is. A formula bands vendors as small, mid-size or enterprise.

The Employee Count field in a vendor record, showing 250 employees with the circled 1 icon beside the label.

The field settings panel opens. It has four tabs: Settings, AI Field Agent, Defaults and Help Text. The rest of this article takes them in that order. Save at any point with Add Field (or Update Field on a field that already exists) and come back to the other tabs later.

The field settings panel, Settings tab, with the Display Format preview, Precision, the separators, Large number abbreviation, Include Labels and the three Options switches.

The Settings tab holds how the number is shown and the rules around it. Top to bottom: Display Format, Precision, Thousands and decimal separators, Large number abbreviation, Include Labels and Options.

A preview of a sample value, such as 1,000, in the current settings. There is nothing to choose; it updates as you change the settings below it. With a suffix set, it reads 1,000 employees.

How many decimal places are shown. The default is 1, a whole number. The options run from 1 (none) to 1.000000 (six decimals). Employee Count keeps whole numbers, because nobody employs half a person.

Which characters separate thousands and decimals. The default is Depends on Member's Locale, so each person sees the separators of their own locale. The fixed choices are Comma, period (1,000,000.00), Period, comma (1.000.000,00), Space, comma (1 000 000,00) and Space, period (1 000 000.00). Keep the default for a workspace that spans countries; fix the format when a view feeds a document that must look the same for everyone.

How large values are shortened. None (the default) shows the full value. Thousand (K), Million (M) and Billion (B) shorten it, so 12,000 reads as 12K. The abbreviated value keeps the selected precision.

Off to start. Turn it on and two boxes appear: Prefix, shown before the value, and Suffix, shown after it. The Prefix and the Suffix each hold up to 20 characters. Employee Count uses the suffix "employees", so a cell reads 250 employees.

The Include Labels switch on, with the Prefix box empty and the Suffix box reading employees.

Three switches. Each one is a rule for the people who fill in records.

Allow negative numbers. Off by default. On, a value below zero can be entered. Leave it off for Employee Count. Turn it on for adjustments, variances and balances.

Require an entry in this field. Off by default. On, the field shows a REQUIRED label and a record cannot be saved until a value is typed. The message is "Employee Count is required". Turn it on when a blank means something is missing.

Display thousands separator. On by default. Off, 12,000 shows as 12000.

Off by default. The field works fully without it. Turn it on to let SmartSuite AI fill the field from instructions you write.

An instruction must include at least one field from the record, inserted as a chip with the + at the right of the Instructions toolbar, so the agent reads that field's value. Example for Employee Count, with the Vendor Profile field inserted as a chip (shown here in bold): "Read Vendor Profile and find the vendor's total number of employees. Set this field to that number with no separators or words. If no headcount is given, leave the field empty." A person still reviews what the agent wrote. A number the agent writes is an estimate read from text, not a calculation. Keep it out of rollups and formulas that need an exact figure; a count or a total belongs in a Formula or Rollup field. The AI Field Agent article covers connections and instructions in full.

The AI Field Agent tab turned on, with a connection, the instruction for Employee Count showing the Vendor Profile chip, and Run Automatically.

Default Number is the value every new record starts with. The box reads Enter number, with the field's suffix shown beside it.

Employee Count has no default. Every vendor's headcount is its own, so the field stays empty until it is typed or the agent finds it.

A note for the person filling in the record, up to 800 characters. Help Text Appearance shows it As A Tooltip (the default, behind an info icon next to the field name) or Below The Field Name (always visible).

Write it for someone who has never seen the field. For Employee Count: "The vendor's total headcount, from its website or latest filing. A round figure is fine."

Field Permissions. Every field can carry its own permissions, which control who can see the field and who can edit it. Open the column menu and select Edit Field Permissions. Let the risk team edit Employee Count while everyone else reads it. See Field Permissions.

Dynamic Record Permissions. A Number field can also drive record-level rules: who can see or edit a record based on the value it holds. Every field type except Button can drive a rule. See Dynamic Record Permissions.

In a record, the field is one box showing the value with its label, such as 250 employees. In Grid View, double-click the cell to open the editor. The number sits at the left, the suffix is grayed at the right, and up and down arrows step the value. Type the number and press Enter. The saved cell shows the value right-aligned with its label.

A grid cell being edited, with the number, the grayed suffix and the stepper arrows.

The operators are is equal to, is not equal to, is greater than, is less than, is equal or greater than, is equal or less than, is empty and is not empty. A view of the vendors whose Employee Count is less than 50 is the list of small vendors to check for continuity risk. Spotlight uses the same operators. Find searches the value as it is displayed, with its separators and labels.

Group by this Field puts one group per value. Headcounts rarely repeat, so group by a Formula that bands them instead, such as Small, Mid-size and Enterprise. The formula is under Formulas, below.

Sort 1 → 9 or 9 → 1 from the column menu. Sort 9 → 1 puts the largest vendors first.

A Rollup on a Vendor Groups table with SUM totals Employee Count across the group's linked vendors. The field also works in Lookup fields and in the Auto-Generated Title. The column footer can show Sum, Average, Median and other totals. See Rollup Field.

A formula reads the value as a number. Put this formula in a field called Vendor Size:

A formula that returns a number is formatted on the formula's own Formatting tab, not by this field's settings. See Formula Field.

An Update records or Create a record action can write the field. It can set a value, or add, subtract, multiply or divide the current one. See Automation Actions explained.

A Number field can be placed on a form. See Form View.

Change a value. Double-click the grid cell or open the record, type the number and press Enter.

Change how it shows. Open the column menu (⋮), select Modify Field Settings, pick another Precision, separator, abbreviation or label, then Update Field. The stored values do not change; only how they show.

Allow negative values. Turn on Allow negative numbers under Options, then Update Field.

Change the field type. The dropdown at the top of the panel turns a Number field into Text, Text Area, SmartDoc or Currency. See Changing a Field's Type.

Delete the field. Open the column menu and select Delete Field. The values go with it. Deleted fields sit in the Recycle Bin for 30 days.

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Last verified 1 Nov 2026.