> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.scaleflex.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.scaleflex.com/portals/portal-settings/datasets/items.md). # Items Write and manage the records themselves, one row at a time. The **Items** tab is where the content lives: a table with one column per field you defined under [Fields](/portals/portal-settings/datasets/fields.md).

The **Items** tab — one row per record, one column per field.

## Working with rows * **Add item** opens a form built from your fields. **Create another** keeps it open for the next one. * **Click any cell to edit it in place.** Enter or clicking away saves that one field; Escape discards. A refused edit marks the cell rather than throwing a message at you. * A row's menu offers **Edit**, **Duplicate** and **Delete**. * **Drag to reorder.** Only in manual order — clear any search, filter or column sort first, and the table tells you which is in the way. This order is what a section's **Manual order** sort follows. * **Click a column heading to sort** by it. A third click restores manual order.

The **New item** form, built from the dataset's own fields.

## Published and Draft Every item has a **Published** switch, on by default. Turn it off and the row becomes a draft: it stays in the table, dimmed, and visitors don't see it — whatever any section's criteria say. Use it for entries waiting on a review. Drafts are visible to you on the builder canvas too, badged **Draft**, so you can lay out a page around an entry before it goes live.

An unpublished item, marked as a draft and kept from visitors.

## Finding your way around a big dataset | Control | Does | | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Search items** | Narrows the table. | | **Filters** | Narrows it by the choice fields, with **Clear all** to drop them. | | **Columns** | Hides columns you're not working on. Remembered per dataset, on this device only. | | **Rows per page** | How many rows the table shows at once. | | **Full screen** | Gives the table the whole window. | These only change your view of the table. They are not what visitors see — that's set per section, under [Criteria](/portals/portal-settings/datasets/connect-to-dataset/criteria.md). When a dataset has translatable fields, a locale switcher appears; the Portal's own language is marked **primary**.

The locale switcher, shown once a dataset has translatable fields.

## Edits are live Changing an item reaches visitors immediately. You don't republish the Portal for it — that's the point of keeping the content in a dataset rather than typed into a page. Changing the *fields*, or how a section reads them, is a builder change like any other and does need publishing. ## Editor and JSON The **Editor / JSON** switch above the tab swaps the table for the rows as a JSON document. The fields they follow stay on the [Fields](/portals/portal-settings/datasets/fields.md) tab — neither document reaches into the other. It's how you load a lot of content at once: paste a prepared list rather than filling in the form a hundred times.

The same rows in **JSON** view, for loading a lot of content at once.

| Control | Does | | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Import JSON** | Loads a file into the editor. *File loaded. Review it, then apply.* | | **Export JSON** | Downloads the rows as `-items.json`. | | **Expand all** / **Collapse all** | Opens or folds the tree, for a long list. | | **Apply** | Saves it. **Discard** drops your edits. | A document that isn't valid JSON is refused as **Invalid document** before anything is sent. {% hint style="warning" %} **Applying replaces every item in the dataset.** Rows carrying a `uuid` keep their identity and are updated; rows without one are created; and anything missing from the document is deleted. Export first, edit that, and apply it back — don't apply a partial list expecting it to merge. {% endhint %} The JSON view is unavailable until the dataset has fields: with none, the switch reads **Add fields first**. There's nothing for a row to hold yet.