How your organisation defines custom fields (Properties), how integrations and Orbit manage owned fields, and how both appear on records such as orders, shipments and tours.
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Note
Properties are custom fields your organisation defines or fields managed by an integration or Orbit. They capture information Orbit doesn't hold as standard, such as a reference number, a service level or a flag, on the records where you need it.
Orbit models the common parts of logistics for you: orders, shipments, tours, carriers, vehicles, addresses and more. But every organisation has a few details of its own that don't fit a standard field — an internal reference, a customer category, a "fragile" flag, a required certificate. Properties are fields your organisation defines or that an integration or Orbit manages, attached to the record types where they belong.
Key highlights:
A Property has two parts. First, a definition — the field itself: its label, its type, and, for a list, the options it offers. Second, the value stored against a particular record. You define the field once, then set its value on each order, shipment or other record where it matters. A record only shows a property once a value has been set on it.
When you create a property you choose its type, which controls how the value is entered and shown:
An administrator creates properties in Orbit MissionControl under Settings → Properties. Use Add Property, give it a label, choose its type (and its options, for a list), and choose which record types it should attach to — for example orders, shipments, tours, carriers, vehicles and drivers. Each property can also carry an identifier, used when the field appears in exports, webhooks and the Orbit API.
Some properties are managed by an integration or by Orbit. A managed by [owner] badge names the owner in Settings → Properties and beside the property value. You can read a managed value, but only its owner can change or clear it.
While a property is managed, you cannot rename or delete its definition, remove a record type, change its list options or change its value rules. You can still edit its description, colour and icon, and add record types. The delete hint names the owner that must be removed first.
When the owner releases a property, its stored values remain and the property becomes editable. Any value rules on the definition still apply.
Once a property is attached to a record type, it appears in a Properties section on records of that type. There you set or update values for properties your organisation defines — Orbit checks the value fits the field's type, so a Select only accepts one of its defined options. Managed values are read-only. A property attached to orders, say, appears on orders but not on tours, so each field shows up only where it belongs.
For properties your organisation defines, their meaning is yours too — a field called "Service Level" means whatever your organisation decided it means. To bring property values in from a spreadsheet or an external system in bulk, see Structured Data Import.
A logistics company needs to track a customer purchase-order number on every job and mark which shipments are temperature-controlled. An administrator opens Settings → Properties and adds two fields: a Text property, "PO Number", attached to orders, and a Checkbox property, "Temperature Controlled", attached to shipments. From then on, an operator sees a "PO Number" box on every Order and a "Temperature Controlled" tick on every Shipment, capturing details Orbit didn't hold as standard — without any change to how the rest of Orbit works.
An administrator creates custom properties in Orbit MissionControl under Settings → Properties. Anyone working on the relevant records can fill in values for those properties; managed properties are owned by an integration or Orbit.
Most record types, including orders, shipments, tours, carriers, vehicles and addresses. You choose the types when you create the field.
Yes. Use a Select for one choice or a Multiselect for several, and define the options yourself.
Only on the record types you attach it to. A property on shipments won't appear on tours unless you attach it there as well.
You can read its value, but only its owner can change or clear it. The badge names the owner. You can edit its description, colour and icon, and add record types; its name, existing record types, list options and value rules remain protected while it is managed.
