Data Tables

Open Contacts, a case’s Time Entries, the Transactions ledger, or any page in Settings, and you’ll find the same thing at the center of the screen: a data table. It’s one component wearing a hundred outfits. The columns and the data change from page to page, but the way you sort, filter, add, edit, delete, and export never does. Learn it once and you know how to drive most of Outlaw.

Reading a Table

Each row is one entry: a contact, a time entry, a transaction, a court. Columns carry the fields that matter for that page. Money and number columns that are worth adding up show a totals row at the bottom, and the totals follow your filters. Narrow the table down and the totals recalculate for what you’re actually looking at. Long lists load as you scroll (there are no pages to click through), and on a small screen the table keeps itself readable by dropping its less essential columns and shortening its headings.

The Column Icon Is Talking to You

Every sortable column heading carries a small icon that doubles as a status light. Its shape and color tell you exactly how that column is shaping the table:

When a table looks “wrong” (entries missing, an odd order), glance across the column icons first. A red or maroon icon means a filter is at work.

Sorting

Hold Shift and click a column’s icon to sort by that column. Shift-click again to flip the direction.

Sorts stack. If you sort by Stage and then Shift-click Amount, the table sorts by Amount first and breaks ties with Stage. The column you sorted most recently always takes the lead. To rearrange which sort wins, open any column’s filter window: the sort manager inside lists every active sort and lets you reorder or clear them one by one.

Filtering

Click a column’s icon (no Shift) to filter it. What you get is tailored to the column:

• Text columns offer contains, does not contain, equals, begins with, ends with, and empty or not empty.
• Number and money columns offer equals, greater or less than, between, and top N / bottom N, which answers “show me my ten biggest” in one step.
• Date columns offer on, before, after, between, year to date, and relative windows like today, this week, last month, or next year. Relative filters stay current on their own; you never retype a date.

When a column holds a manageable set of repeating values (types, stages, teams, assignees), the filter opens with a checklist of every value in the column, with its own search box, so you can tick exactly the ones you want. A column that lists several people in one cell splits them apart for the checklist, so you can filter to one teammate no matter who else shares the row.

While you build a filter, the window shows a live match count, so you know what you’ll get before you apply it.

Many tables add two more controls in the bar above the table: a search box that sweeps the whole table at once, and switches for the page’s most common views, like showing only enabled users or only the people who have billed time on the case.

Adding an Entry

The Add button sits above the table. Press it and the form for a new entry opens right where the table was. Fill it in, then confirm with the green or back out with the red . Tables that hold more than one kind of thing show one labeled add button per kind; a notes section that takes both notes and files is the everyday example.

Editing an Entry

Click anywhere on a row to open it for editing: the same form as adding, prefilled. There’s also an edit icon at the row’s right edge if you prefer a precise target. When a row is yours to read but not to change, Outlaw shows an eye instead. You can open and inspect the entry without any risk of altering it.

Deleting an Entry

The trash icon at the row’s right edge deletes the entry, always with a confirmation that names exactly what you’re about to remove. When an entry can’t be deleted (a docket with tasks still assigned to it, for instance), Outlaw tells you why instead of failing silently.

Working with Several Entries at Once

Some tables put a at the left of every row. Tick a few () and an Apply to Selected Items bar appears with everything you can do to the batch: delete them together, or run the page’s own bulk actions, like merging duplicate contacts. The checkbox in the header row selects or clears the whole table at once.

Exporting to Excel

The green Excel icon at the right end of the header row exports the table to an Excel file, and it exports what you see: your filters, your sort order, your columns. If you’ve checked specific rows, only those rows export. It’s the fastest path from “the table shows it” to “it’s in a spreadsheet for the accountant”.

Outlaw Remembers Your View

Sorts and filters stick while you work. Leave the page, come back, and the table is arranged the way you left it. A full browser reload starts you fresh. A few tables also note the entry you have open in the page’s address, so a bookmark can take you straight back to it.

A Few Tables Do More

Where order itself is data (the stages of a case type, for example), you can drag rows to rearrange them. And the Notes & Attachments section accepts a file dropped straight onto it, jumping directly to the new-attachment form.

Where You’ll See It

Everywhere. The big list pages (Contacts, Cases, Tasks, Invoices, Transactions), nearly every section on a record, including Time Entries, Expenses, Transactions, Participants, and Notes & Attachments, and the lists throughout Settings are all the same data table, so every skill on this page travels with you.