Relation drop down filter (Notion)
It seems you can't filter the content of a dropdown box that is populated through a relation - And it's remarkably inconvenient.
The real-world-solution to this problem is painfully obvious: have a SQL statement for populating the relation, that can include a filter. That has probably been the standard solution since early '70s.
If you're desperate enough, there are some workarounds, but none seems satisfying - See separate chapters below.
Examples
- Associating people with tasks: I can't filter out people with status Not working here anymore.
- Items that are associated with tags (clusters) that are not relevant anymore, like FamilyGathering2022 or Release2023.01
Use an intermediate table?
Maybe one workaround could be (for the first example above):
- Have a second table
people_2 - Somehow copy content from first table
peopleto second tablepeople_2with a filter - Use
people_2to populate dropdown box.
When I would have to resort to such an elaborate workaround, I don't think I should be doing it at all - Unless this would be the only issue in Notion.
Have a filter in front of the table?
Another potential solution: Have a lookup based on a view or filter and not on a table. That's how I would do such a thing in e.g., Microsoft Access. But I don't think you can do that in Notion, can you?
Remove outdated records?
For something more radical: Remove the outdated records. Problem: Associated data becomes corrupt (less accurate).
Remove outdated data to backup?
Slightly more radical:
- As before: Remove all fields that are outdated
- But first move all affected data to a backup-database.
This might be the only 'real' solution, without corrupting data. But it might also be highly inpractical. Maybe it's something to do at the beginning of each year: Make a complete backup of the system, and remove the outdated fields in the current version of the system. This way, it hopefully becomes clear where certain data has gone - If you're aware that you're missing something.