---
title: How to set up a job table
description: Record a list once when the job is created, such as every weld or every test point, and have your steps draw their rows from it instead of asking for the same detail twice.
published: 2026-08-25
updated: 2026-08-25
---

# How to set up a job table

Some jobs carry a list: every weld on a spool, every test point on a vessel, every
item on a client's request. Stratum Track gives that list one home. A job table is
typed in once when the job is created, and every step that needs it draws its rows
from there, so the same weld number is never entered twice and two steps can never
disagree about it.

This guide sets up a weld register and points a step at it. It takes about fifteen
minutes.

> Building the list in Settings is available to everyone. Pointing a step at it is
> switched on per company, so if **Allow extra rows** in step 5 is missing from your
> form builder, ask us and we will turn it on.

## What you need

- A manager login.
- A form with a step that should have one row per item on the list.

## Step 1: Open Job Tables

Go to **Settings**, then the **Job Data** section, then press **Configure job
tables**.

![The Job Tables screen before any table exists](/assets/screens/job-tables-01-settings.webp)

## Step 2: Create the table

Press **New table** and name it after the list it holds. The description is the
line your team reads under the heading when they fill it in.

![Naming a new job table](/assets/screens/job-tables-02-new.webp)

Two more boxes matter if you print the list in a report. **Report name for the
list** is the whole list, and **Report name for one row** is a single row, so the
line in your Word document reads the way you would say it out loud: for a list of
welds, `welds` and `weld`. Stratum Track shows you that line as you type. **Most
rows a job may record** is a safety rail, not a target.

Leave **Use on every template** on and the list appears on every job, including
forms you add later. Switch it off and you pick the forms it belongs to.

## Step 3: Add the columns

Add one column for each thing the list records. Choose what each one holds, add a
line of help text if the name is not enough, and tick **Required when a job is
created** for the ones a job cannot go ahead without.

![Three columns on the weld register](/assets/screens/job-tables-03-columns.webp)

Names can change later. The reference beside each one cannot, because your report
prints it.

## Step 4: Fill the list in on a job

The table now appears on the create and edit job forms. Your office types the list
in once, or pastes a block of cells straight out of a spreadsheet and the rows are
added to fit.

![The weld register filled in on a job](/assets/screens/job-tables-04-on-the-job.webp)

## Step 5: Point a step at the list

Now the step. Open the form with **Actions**, then **Review**.

On the **Structure** tab, find the table on the step and press **Allow extra rows**.
A step table starts life with one row; this is what lets it hold as many as the job
needs.

![The Allow extra rows control](/assets/screens/job-tables-05-allow-extra-rows.webp)

Switch to the **Preview** tab, click the table, and set **Rows come from** to your
job table, then press **Save changes**.

![Rows come from, set to the weld register](/assets/screens/job-tables-06-rows-come-from.webp)

## Step 6: Carry the columns across

Click a cell in the table, then **Carry from the job**, and choose which column of
the list it shows.

![Choosing which column of the list this cell carries](/assets/screens/job-tables-07-carry-column.webp)

Press **Save link** and repeat for each column you want carried. A carried cell
shows the job's answer and cannot be typed over on the step, so the same value is
never recorded twice.

## Step 7: Check it on a job

Open a job and go to the step. There is one row per row on the list. The carried
columns are already filled and greyed, and the columns you left alone are waiting
for your technician. The line above the table counts the rows the step is using,
because a step can be narrowed to part of the list rather than all of it.

![One row per weld, carried columns filled in](/assets/screens/job-tables-08-on-the-step.webp)

## Worth knowing

- **The list is recorded once and read everywhere.** Two steps pointed at the same job table always agree.
- **A carried column cannot be typed over on the step.** That is the point: the register answers it.
- **Changing the form on a live job saves a draft.** Nothing changes for your team until you press Activate Template and confirm.
- **Once a step draws its rows from the list, the list decides them.** Your technician does not add rows on that step. Add the missing item to the job's list instead and the step follows.

## Common questions

#### Can I paste the list out of a spreadsheet?

Yes. Paste a block of cells into any cell on the job form and the rows are added to
fit.

#### Can two different steps use the same list?

Yes. That is what it is for. Point both at the same job table and both get the same
rows.

#### What happens if the list changes after work has started?

Edit the job and change the list. The steps follow it. A row your team has already
recorded work against, and which is then taken off the list, is not thrown away: it
stays on the step marked as no longer on the list, so nothing is lost quietly.

#### Why is there no Allow extra rows on my step's table?

Pointing a step at a job table is switched on per company. Ask us and we will turn
it on. Building the list in Settings works either way.