Data Sets: keep the list once, use it in every checklist.
Clients, sites, products, suppliers. Keep each list in one table in the Library, link it to the controls that need it, and let picking a record fill in the details that go with it.
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A Data Set in CheckFlow is a reusable table of reference data, such as clients, sites or products, kept in the Library. Link it to a drop-down, multi-choice, sub-task or table control and the control reads the current list. Picking a record can fill other fields with its region, account manager or renewal date. It suits teams whose templates keep asking for the same lists.
A list change should be a data change, not a template edit.
One list, every template
Add a client once and every linked drop-down offers it the next time a checklist loads.
Nothing retyped
Pick the record and its account manager, region and renewal date fill in on their own.
Answers that stay true
Each answer keeps a snapshot of the record, so editing the list later never rewrites old checklists.
How it works
Build the table once. Every linked checklist reads from it.
- 01
Build the table
Create a Data Set in the Library and give it typed fields: Text, Number, Date, Email, URL or True/False. Add records by hand or upload a CSV, and choose the display field people will see, such as the client’s name.
- 02
Link it to a control
In the template designer, point a Drop-Down, Multi-Choice, Sub-Tasks or Table control at one of the Data Set’s views, so each template sees only the records that apply to it.
- 03
Let the record fill the checklist
Each field of the chosen record becomes a dynamic value, such as
{{content.client.region}}. Bind it to another field to pre-fill it, or drop it into a Text or Mail-To control as a placeholder.
Linking
Live lists in drop-downs, snapshots in tables
Drop-down and multi-choice controls fetch their options from the linked view every time the checklist loads, so a client added this morning can be picked in a checklist that started last week. Once a view returns more than 20 records, the control gains a search box.
Sub-Tasks and Table controls are filled once, when the checklist is created: one sub-task per record, or one table row per record with the mapped columns read-only and the rest editable. Whatever someone picks is stored as a snapshot of the record: its ID, the text shown and every field’s value at that moment.
- Editing or deleting a record never rewrites answers already given
- A deleted record still shows in old answers, marked “(deleted)”
- Conditional logic works on linked drop-downs and multi-choice lists
Dynamic values
Pick a record, fill the checklist
Take a client onboarding template. Its first task has a drop-down called Client, linked to the Clients Data Set. Because it is linked, the template gets one dynamic value per field: the client’s name, account manager, region and renewal date.
Bind the account manager to an email field, the region to a short text field and the renewal date to a date field, and put the client’s name in the subject of the welcome email. Now when someone picks Northwind Traders, three fields fill in and the email already names the client. Change the selection and they all change together.
Features
Everything a reference table should do
Typed fields
Text, Number, Date, Email, URL or True/False, so a renewal date is a real date and numbers sort as numbers. Changing a type is checked first, so existing values never become invalid.
Fields (docs)Views
Save a filter, sort order and hidden columns as a named view, up to 20 per Data Set. Link a template to “Active clients” and another to “Clients in EMEA”: one table, many lists.
Views (docs)CSV import and export
Create a Data Set from a spreadsheet, replace its records from a new file, or export it again. Files up to 5 MB. Values that a spreadsheet would read as a formula are made safe on export.
Import and export (docs)Ready-made lists
Ten read-only system Data Sets: countries, currencies, time zones, language codes, US states, months, quarters, days of the week, priority levels and Yes / No / N/A.
System Data Sets (docs)Library permissions
Data Sets follow the folder they are filed in. Library.Creator with Edit can change records; Viewers can browse and export; only Administrators can delete a Data Set.
LibraryGenerous limits
Up to 100 Data Sets per team, 50 fields and 10,000 records each, 20 views, and 500 rows in a linked table. System Data Sets do not count.
Keep it in sync
Sync with your CRM, asset register or HR system
API v3 manages Data Sets in full: fields, records, views and CSV import and export, so another system can keep a table current without anyone touching it. Keys follow the same Library permissions as the person they act as.
Three webhooks push changes the other way: a record created, a record updated and a record deleted. The update event carries only the fields that changed, with their values before and after. Data Sets live in the Library, which updates in real time.
Compared
Lists inside templates, or Data Sets
If the same list appears in more than one template, it should live in one place. The free IT capacity planning checklist, for example, reads its services, owners and targets from one, and the ESG and CSRD reporting checklist keeps its datapoint register and emission factors in another.
| What matters | Lists inside templates | Data Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Where the list lives | Typed into every template that needs it | One table in the Library, linked where needed |
| Adding a client | Edit each template by hand | Add one record; linked drop-downs show it on next load |
| The details that go with it | Retyped into every checklist | Filled in from the record |
| Different lists per template | Separate copies that drift apart | Views of the same table |
| What an answer stores | The option text | The record ID, its text and every field |
| Loading from elsewhere | Copy and paste | CSV import, REST API and webhooks |
Data Sets are included in the Business plan at $10 per user per month, or $9 billed annually. Teams keep clients and accounts, sites and offices, products, suppliers, equipment, cost centres, line managers and approvers, software licences and environments in them.
Hand an assistant the spreadsheet.
Reference data changes all the time. An AI assistant can build and maintain Data Sets for you, within your Library permissions.
21 Data Set tools over MCP
Through the MCP server, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Copilot or any other AI assistant can create a Data Set from a CSV, add, update or delete records, manage fields and views, export to CSV and list which templates read from a Data Set before you change it.
Read the MCP guideA template that uses your lists
Generate a template with AI, then link its drop-downs to your Data Sets in the designer. Over MCP an assistant can build the links into the template for you.
Try the AI generatorData Sets in the REST API
API v3 covers Data Sets, fields, records, views and CSV, with idempotent writes and the three record webhooks.
Developer overview
Here is our site list as a CSV. Make it a Data Set called Sites so the audit templates can use it.
name: "Sites" csv: "sites.csv · 42 rows"
Done. Sites has 42 records with Name, Address, Region, Site manager and Opening date. Want me to add an "Open sites" view and link it to the site audit template?
Templates that read from Data Sets.
Their lists of services, datapoints and assets live in one table, not in the template.
Related features
Data Sets questions
What is a Data Set in CheckFlow?
A Data Set is a reusable table of reference data that lives in your Library. It has typed fields (Text, Number, Date, Email, URL or True/False), records, and views that save a filter, sort and hidden columns. Instead of typing a list of clients, sites or products into each template, you keep it in one Data Set and link it to the controls that need it.
Which controls can use a Data Set?
Four controls in the template designer. Drop-Down and Multi-Choice fetch their options from the linked view every time the checklist loads, and gain a search box once the view returns more than 20 records. Sub-Tasks and Table are filled once, when the checklist is created; a table gets one row per record, with mapped columns read-only and unmapped columns editable. A linked control also gives you one dynamic value per field.
What happens to a running checklist when a record changes or is deleted?
When someone picks a record, the checklist stores its ID, the text shown and a snapshot of every field value at that moment. Editing the record later does not rewrite answers already given, and if the record is deleted the stored answer still shows, marked “(deleted)”. Drop-downs and multi-choice lists that have not been answered yet pick up the current list the next time the checklist loads.
Can I import from a spreadsheet?
Yes. Save the sheet as a CSV and create a Data Set from it, or replace an existing Data Set’s records from a new file, up to 5 MB. You can export any Data Set to CSV at any time. Each team can have up to 100 Data Sets, each with up to 50 fields, 10,000 records and 20 views. An import that would break a limit is rejected in full, leaving the Data Set untouched.
Can I manage Data Sets through the API?
Yes. REST API v3 manages Data Sets, fields, records and views, including CSV import and export, so a CRM, asset register or HR system can keep a table in sync. Subscribe to webhooks for data_set.record.created, data_set.record.updated (only the changed fields, with before and after values) and data_set.record.deleted. See the developer overview or the Swagger UI.
Are there built-in Data Sets?
Yes. Ten read-only system Data Sets are ready to link: Countries, Currencies (with a Major Currencies view), Timezones, Language Codes, US States, Months of Year, Quarters of Year, Days of Week, Priority Levels and Yes / No / N/A. They are offered in the template designer rather than the Library, and they do not count towards your 100.
Who can create and edit Data Sets?
Administrators, and Members with the Library.Creator permission and Edit rights on the folder the Data Set is in. Members with view access can browse and export it. Linking a control needs template edit rights, and only Administrators can delete a Data Set, because one can feed controls across many templates.
Which plans include Data Sets?
All of them. Data Sets are part of the Business plan at $10 per user per month, or $9 billed annually, along with every other feature. Try them free for 14 days, no credit card required. Full pricing at checkflow.io/pricing.
Stop retyping the same reference data.
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