Flow.Documentation
BeginnerTables

Column: text

5 steps± 4 minVideoVerified 22 Oct 2026
  1. Step 1 · Open your development environment
  2. Step 2 · Add a text column
  3. Step 3 · Save the structure
  4. Step 4 · Fill in a row
  5. Step 5 · No row without the required text

Text is the default kind of column: names, descriptions, licence plates, anything you do not calculate with. You add a required text column to a table of work orders, fill in a row and see what Flow does when the text is missing.

Watch the whole guide as a video5 steps in one film
Step 1 / 5

Open your development environment

In the portal, under Environments, click Development, and there Open. Flow opens in a new tab and you are signed in straight away.

  1. Click Development
Open your development environment · Click Development
  1. Click Open ↗
Open your development environment · Click Open ↗
Step 2 / 5

Add a text column

Open the table and go to Columns. ＋ Column adds a column; its kind is Text straight away. A column name consists of letters, digits and _: if you type a space, Flow turns it into _ by itself. Tick Required when a row may never be without this value.

  1. Click the table ‘Work orders (text)’
Add a text column · Click the table ‘Work orders (text)’
  1. Click Columns
Add a text column · Click Columns
  1. Click ＋ Column
Add a text column · Click ＋ Column
  1. In Name, type customer name
Add a text column · In Name, type customer name
  1. Click Required
Add a text column · Click Required
Add a text column · The column customer_name: Text, required.
Step 3 / 5

Save the structure

Only after Save structure does the column really exist. A required column you add later applies to new and changed rows; rows that were already there keep an empty value until you change them.

  1. Click Save structure
Save the structure · Click Save structure
Save the structure · The notice Table saved.
Step 4 / 5

Fill in a row

Under Data there is an empty line at the bottom for a new row. A required column has a * in its heading. Fill in the text and click Add.

  1. Click Data
Fill in a row · Click Data
  1. In customer_name, type Jansen Cycles
Fill in a row · In customer_name, type Jansen Cycles
  1. Click Add
Fill in a row · Click Add
Fill in a row · The row is in the table.
Step 5 / 5

No row without the required text

Click Add without filling in the customer. Flow refuses the row and says below the table which column is missing. That holds everywhere: a workflow or a consumer of your API cannot store such a row either.

  1. Click Add
No row without the required text · Click Add
No row without the required text · customer_name: Required field is missing.

This guide was carried out step by step on 22 Oct 2026 by an automated test on Flow (version 3e563176).