---
url: /card-guides/selectable.md
description: >-
  Selectables are dropdown lists that can be used to change the context or
  variables of a card.
---

# Selectable

Selectables are dropdown lists that can be used to change the context or variables of a card.

## Common Use Properties

* **Dimension Property**
  Only necessary if the selectable is intended to update the context. The dimension name specified in this property will be the dimension which will have its context updated upon selection.

* **Instructions Property**
  Used to add one or more dimensions to the list that can be selected from.

* **Custom List Property**
  Used to add custom (written in or formulated) items to the selectable that can be selected from.

* **Update Context Property**
  If set to "Yes", the context panel of the card will update to reflect the selection.
  :::info
  This will not work without the Dimension Property being filled.\*

  This will not work if the selected element is not present in the dimension defined in the Dimension Property.\*
  :::

* **Update Variable Property**
  If set to "Yes", the variable defined in the Variable property will update to reflect the selection.

  :::info
  This will not work without the Variable Property being filled.\*
  :::

* **Variable Property**
  The name of the variable to have its value updated if the Update Variable Property is set to "Yes".

* **Persist Property**
  Controls whether this selectable's selection is cached in the browser's local storage and reused on return visits. When a cached selection exists, it takes precedence over a [Set Default Using The Next Instruction](/set-instructions/set-default-using-the-next-instruction) on the underlying set - set this to "No" if the set's default should win every time instead of whatever a user last picked.

  Card selectables are the only ones with this explicit toggle. A Dashboard's Selectable widget persists automatically when it updates dimension context, but not when it's configured to update a variable instead; a Workview's title selectables always persist, with no way to turn it off.

  :::tip Persist is also how linked-to values arrive
  Local storage is what a screen link writes into. When a user arrives from a [Workview header link](/set-instructions/link-to-another-workview-using-formula) or a Card link carrying a dimension in the query string, the value lands in local storage against that dimension's ID - so a selectable bound to the same dimension only picks it up if it persists. A selectable set to "No" ignores the passed element and shows the set's default instead.
  :::

## Card context

A selectable that updates context changes the card's **Card Context** - the list of dimension/element pairs the card renders against, shown in the Context panel of the editor.

![The Card Context panel, annotated to show each dimension and its selected element, the change-selection action and the add-dimension action](/card-guides/card-context-annotated.png)

Each row pairs a dimension with the element currently selected for it. The pencil changes that selection, and **+** adds another dimension to the context. A selectable with **Update Context** set to Yes writes to the row for the dimension named in its Dimension property.