A Status field tracks where a record is in a process. Think of a label that moves from New to Resolved as the work moves.

Here is the test: does this record go through stages, and does one stage mean the work is done? If yes, you want a Status field. A Single Select field holds a choice too, but it has no "done" and cannot feed My Work.

Example: an Incidents table with a field called Incident Status. Its statuses are New, Triage, Investigating and Resolved. Resolved is marked complete, so the linked Due Date knows when an incident is closed.

The Incident Status field in an incident record, showing Investigating as a full-width colored bar with the chevron.

Every new table comes with a Status field already in it: Backlog, In Process, Ready for Review and Complete. It is linked to the table's Assigned To and Due Date fields. Edit that one, or add another for a second process.

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 Display Format, the four Statuses rows and Options.

The Settings tab holds the statuses and one rule. Top to bottom: Display Format, Statuses and Options.

A preview of how a status looks: a full-width colored bar with the status name. There is nothing to choose. The bar is the only format for this field.

Statuses are the stages a record can be in. The field starts with four: Backlog, In Process, Ready for Review and Complete.

The order you set here is the order people see in the dropdown. It is also the order of the groups when you group by the field, and the order of columns in Kanban View. For Incident Status that is New, Triage, Investigating, Resolved.

The Statuses section with the four incident statuses, the color picker open on one row and the Mark as Complete circle filled on Resolved.

Require an entry in this field. Off to start. On, the field shows a REQUIRED label and a record cannot be saved until a status is picked. The message reads "Value is required". Turn it on when every record must sit somewhere in the process. For Incident Status it is on: an incident with no status is an incident nobody is working.

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

Example for Incident Status, with the Latest Update field inserted as a chip (shown here in bold): "Read Latest Update. If it says the fix is confirmed, set this field to Resolved. If it describes work in progress, set Investigating. Otherwise leave the field as it is." The agent picks from the statuses in the field. A person still reviews what the agent set. The AI Field Agent article covers connections and instructions in full.

The AI Field Agent tab turned on, with a connection, the instruction for Incident Status showing the Latest Update chip, and Run Automatically.

Default Status is the status every new record starts with. It is set to the first status, Backlog, to begin with. Open the dropdown to pick another, or select the x to start new records with no status.

For Incident Status the default is New, so every incident starts at the top of the process.

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 Incident Status: "Move the incident along as the work happens. Set Resolved only when the fix is confirmed."

Two kinds of permissions apply to this field.

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 incident team set Incident Status while everyone else reads it. See Field Permissions.

Dynamic Record Permissions. A Status field can drive record-level rules: who can see or edit a record based on its status. A rule such as "records whose Status is Resolved are read-only for everyone but the incident lead" uses the field's statuses as the condition. Every field type except Button can drive a rule. See Dynamic Record Permissions.

Once statuses are set, the field answers "where is this?" across the table. In a record or a grid cell, open the dropdown with the chevron and pick a status. The x clears it, unless the field is required. In Grid View, the Delete key clears it too.

A Status field also links two other fields. An Assigned To field points at it under Display in My Work, so each owner's incidents appear in their My Work list. A Due Date field points at it under Linked Status Field, so the due date shows a green check once the status is complete. If the date has passed and the status is not complete, it shows a red badge with the number of days overdue. See Assigned To Field and Due Date Field.

The operators are is, is not, is any of, is none of, is empty, is not empty, is completed and is not completed. "Incident Status is not completed" lists every open incident, whatever stage it is at. Spotlight uses the same operators, and Find searches the values.

Group a view by the field and each status becomes a group, in the order you set under Statuses. In Kanban View the statuses become the columns, and dragging a card to another column changes its status. See Kanban View.

Sort First → Last or Last → First from the column menu. Records order by the position of their status, not by its name.

The field works in Lookup fields, in the filters of Count, Rollup and Lookup fields, and in Auto-Generated Titles. A Count field on a Systems table can count the open incidents linked to each system by filtering on Incident Status is not completed. In Grid View, the footer of the column can show a bar with the share of each status.

A formula reads the field as the status name. This one flags incidents that need attention:

A status change is a common trigger. When Incident Status changes to Resolved, an automation can email the person who reported it. An action can also set the status, such as setting every new incident to New. See Automation Actions explained.

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

Add a status. Open Modify Field Settings, select + Add New Status or the + on a row, name it, then Update Field. Existing records keep their status.

Rename a status. Select the name under Statuses, type the new one and select Update Field. Every record that held the old name shows the new one.

Change which status is complete. Select the circle on another row. The Due Date field and My Work follow the new mark.

Remove a status. Hover over the row, select -, then Update Field.

Change the field type. The dropdown at the top of the panel changes the type. See Changing a Field's Type.

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Last verified 1 Nov 2026.