Way to expand the comments column on Attributes ?

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Jessica Hilton
Jessica Hilton ✭
Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hello everyone,



I'm trying to work out if the 'comments' column on Attributes is a limited field, or if there is some way of changing it so I can fit more information in the comments section? At the moment I'm struggling to fit it all in without using strange abbreviations!



Thanks in advance for any help! smiley



Jessica
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  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    The Constituent Attribute Comments field has a limit of 50 characters.  I get around this by putting "see ConstNote" in that field and then putting the entire text on a Constituent Note.  If you think you'll do this a lot, you could also create a specific Note Type for this.  I usually ensure that the date on the Attribute matches the date on the Note, but if necessary, I would add a Title to the Note and then put "see ConstNote: [Title]" on the Attribute Comment.



    I also use strange abbreviations sometimes.  Which are spelled out in documentation (usually).
  • Jessica Hilton
    Jessica Hilton ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply

    Jennifer Claudy:

    The Constituent Attribute Comments field has a limit of 50 characters.  I get around this by putting "see ConstNote" in that field and then putting the entire text on a Constituent Note.  If you think you'll do this a lot, you could also create a specific Note Type for this.  I usually ensure that the date on the Attribute matches the date on the Note, but if necessary, I would add a Title to the Note and then put "see ConstNote: [Title]" on the Attribute Comment.



    I also use strange abbreviations sometimes.  Which are spelled out in documentation (usually).

    Thanks very much Jennifer - that's a really helpful suggestion! I'll try that.

  • Bradley Henry
    Bradley Henry ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Photogenic Loyalty
    Adding to what Jennifer said, you may want to look at creating a Constituent Default.



    This will allow you to add the attribute you want with the specific text in the attribute comments that will then match the specific Title or Description of the Note. Then all you need to do is confirm that everything is Ok and put the rest of the text in the notes and your done.



    Bradley.
  • Christine Cooke 2
    Christine Cooke 2 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    If the info in that Attribute is so ripe with verbage, you might consider if there is some other place this info is better suited.  Like Actions.
  • Jessica Hilton
    Jessica Hilton ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
    Thanks very much to you both for your help - at present we do not have the Events modules so log attendance at events as an Attribute - not ideal but working(ish!) so far! Directing people to longer pieces of information in the Notes will probably work better.



    Thanks very much,



    Jess
  • Alan French
    Alan French ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 3 Name Dropper Photogenic
    I second Christine's idea of putting the information somewhere else. Rather than having an attribute directing people to a note (which I imagine would be fine if you were actually in a record but would be a nightmare to report on, if you ever needed to export both the attribute and the note together - particularly when constituents have attended many events) you could instead have an action with any necessary attributes and/or notes on the action itself.
  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    In your situation, using Attributes to track Event Participation, I agree...Actions might be your better option.  It really depends on the volume of data you're needing to track.  Actions have Notes as well as Action Attributes, and you can group them using Action Type or even an Action Category (if you're not using Advocacy or Task/Other you could use one of those for Events and easily query on those Actions).



    You should also consider RE:NXT...because you could get the Event Module included, plus lots of other tools you don't have now.  Some organizations are reporting actual savings by moving to NXT, so it's well worth looking in to and talking to your BB Account Executive.

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