When you change a step’s account, app, or table, or change which fields it uses, the fields available to the step can change too. If a field the step used is no longer available, Quickbase preserves as much of the step’s configuration as possible and loads it back automatically when the field is added back.
Every change happens in the same order, and the order determines what you can and can’t lose.
Switch to a different account
Quickbase checks the account first. If the account doesn’t have the right permissions, the change stops with an error and nothing on your step changes.
Next, Quickbase gets the new list of available fields from the connected system. If that fails because the service can’t be reached, the request times out, or the credentials are rejected, the change stops and your step stays exactly as it was.
Field values that match the previous account stay unchanged. Values for fields the new account can’t see are saved rather than deleted, and load back automatically when those fields are available again.
When the switch succeeds and your step had values, a banner appears below the account selection to confirm the change. If you’d rather set the step up from scratch, select Clear values in the banner.
If your step had no values, the switch completes without a banner.
When the new account can’t use your step’s fields
If the account you choose can’t access your step’s fields, the account selection goes back to your previous account. A warning explains this and asks you to clear the values before you switch.
The warning has two actions:
Cancel closes the warning and leaves your step on its original account, unchanged.
Clear values and switch removes the step’s configuration, then switches accounts automatically. The step then shows Fields cleared, and you select new values to continue.
Clearing is the only way to complete this switch. You can’t switch and keep your existing values, because they can’t be matched to anything in the new account.
Reconnect the same account
Reconnecting an account from the accounts page doesn’t change any of your steps. You might reconnect after the account’s credentials expire or after its access is revoked. The account keeps its identity, and every step that uses it keeps using it.
You can’t reconnect with credentials that belong to a different account, so reconnecting never moves your steps to another account.
Switch to a different realm
A selected table belongs to one realm. When you switch a step to an account in a different realm, the table you selected usually doesn’t exist there, so Quickbase can’t get its fields and shows an error. Nothing on your step changes, and it keeps its previous configuration until you choose a table the new account can use.
Saved field values
When a field your step uses is no longer available, its value is saved instead of deleted. The value loads back automatically when a field with the same name is available again.
Saved values are stored on the individual step as part of its configuration, and encrypted at rest like the step’s other settings. A value saved on one step is never used on another step.
A saved value stays on the step until its field returns, until you discard or clear it, or until the step has more than 500 saved values. At that point, the oldest values are deleted to make room. As a step nears the limit, it shows how many saved values it has. Once it reaches the limit, it warns that each new saved value deletes the oldest one and prompts you to discard values you no longer need.
A saved value loads back only into an empty field. Anything you’ve entered since is never overwritten. If a field returns and already has a value, the older saved value is discarded.
Find saved values
Find saved values on the step. If your step has saved values, a collapsed Fields with saved values section appears above the step’s filters, with the number of fields it has. Expand it to see each field by name with its saved value. The section links to the connected table and has a Refresh schema button, which brings a field back after you add it to the source. The source is the table, form, or other resource your step’s fields come from. The five most recent fields are shown. Select Show all to see the rest.
Find saved values in the side panel. The side panel has a Fields with saved values tab, which shows an indicator when any step in your pipeline has saved values. The tab shows the total number of fields and how many steps they’re on, and groups the fields by step so you can review them in one place. If nothing is saved, the tab says there are no fields with saved values on this pipeline.
Each field in the list has two actions:
Copy value copies the saved value to your clipboard. Use it to move a value into a field other than the one it came from.
Discard deletes the saved value permanently. To discard every saved value on a step, or on the whole pipeline from the side panel, use Discard all. Discarding takes effect immediately, and you can’t recover a discarded value.
To use a saved value again, its field needs to be available on the step. Select the field in the step’s field selection, or add it to the source and refresh the schema. You can’t load a value into a field that isn’t available on the step.
Clear a step’s values
To remove everything you’ve set up on a step, select Clear values. In one action, this removes the step’s field values, filters, settings, and every saved value it has.
Clearing works differently from saving. When a field becomes unavailable on its own, Quickbase saves its value. When you clear a step, its values are discarded.
Other ways field values are saved
Values are saved whenever a field leaves your step’s available fields, not only when you change an account, app, or table. It doesn’t matter why the field left. This happens when:
A field is deleted in the connected system.
You remove a field from the step’s field selection. This works the same as a deletion, and selecting the field again loads its value back. It’s the most common case when you edit a step.
The connected account can no longer access a field because of a permission change.
Later steps may or may not update automatically. When automatic propagation is active, changing one step also refreshes every step that uses its data, directly or through a chain of steps. Those steps save and load back their own values in the same pass. When it isn’t active, later steps keep their previous field lists until you open, save, or refresh each one. Either way, their configuration doesn’t change.
When a change can’t be completed
If a change fails, your step’s configuration is never left half-changed. Quickbase gets the new list of fields before it looks at your step’s values, then applies the result all at once. An interrupted change leaves your step exactly as it was.