Overview
Below is a quick, step‑by‑step guide you can follow any time a drop‑down (Majors, Terms, Degrees, Campuses, or Schools) isn’t showing the choices you expect.
Quick Reminder: Filters read the live answers a student gives and compare them to the relationships you build in Available For. A mismatch at either point is what hides the options. Fix the relationship or the filter settings, publish, retest, and your drop‑down should snap back to life.
In applications, filters now apply throughout the whole application, not only on the screen where an applicant chooses which application to start.
1. Confirm the Field Can be Filtered
Filtering works on the data sources below. If the drop‑down you’re troubleshooting isn’t one of them, filtering won’t work:
Majors
Terms
Degrees
Campuses
Schools
Student Type
Any regular data source that has a Filter Many column. If the data source you are troubleshooting does not have one, add it and set the values per row.
📌 Note on tests: Available For settings live on each row of a custom test resource data source, and the control only appears on tests you have marked Active. If your Test Name field is bound to the master test catalog instead, Available For is ignored and every test appears. Re‑bind the field to your custom test resource data source for the restrictions to apply.
2. Check the “Available For” Relationships in Data Sources
Filtering relies on the relationships you define in each item’s Available For panel.
Go to Data Management › Data Sources.
Open the data source that should appear in the drop‑down (e.g., Majors).
Edit the option that’s missing and verify that its Available For values include the selections the student made earlier (e.g., the right Term or Degree).
If you need to update many records, download the list, edit it in bulk, and re‑upload.
📌 Note: Schools now has an Available For panel, scoped by Applications, Student Types, Terms, and Campus. If you last configured Schools before this existed, those values will be empty, which means every school shows everywhere.
3. Verify Filter Settings on the Form/Application Field
Inside the form or application builder:
Open the field that should receive the filtering (e.g., Major).
In Field Options, toggle Use Filters ON.
Decide which switch to use:
Filter available options? – trims this drop‑down based on a previous answer.
Filter another field? – uses this answer to trim a later field. This runs the same relationship in reverse, which is how you filter a source that does not itself carry the dimension you want.
In Field, choose the controlling field (the one answered earlier). In applications, this field can live in an earlier step or on the registration form. It does not have to be in the same section.
In Dimension, choose the matching data‑source name (it usually mirrors the field you picked).
Tip: Field and Dimension names should almost always match (Term ↔ Terms, Campus ↔ Campuses, etc.). Mismatches are the #1 cause of empty drop‑downs.
4. Check the Field Order and the Pairing
Two things have to be true.
The controlling field must be answered first. It can sit in an earlier section or an earlier step, but it cannot come after the field it filters. If the order is reversed, the filter has nothing to read and the drop‑down appears empty.
The pairing has to exist. A data source can only be scoped by the dimensions it actually carries, and those differ by source. Open an item’s Available For tab to see what it offers.
Data source | Can be filtered by |
Majors | Application, Term, Campus, Degree, School, Student Type |
Degrees | Application, Term, Campus, Student Type |
Schools | Application, Campus, Term, Student Type |
Terms | Application, Campus, School |
Campuses | School |
Any regular data source | Whichever dimensions you add as Filter Many columns: Applications, Student Types, Campus, Terms, Schools |
📌 Note: if the pairing you want is not listed, use Filter another field? on the other field instead. Terms cannot be scoped by Major, for example, but a Major carries its Terms, so you set the filter on the Major field and point it at Term.
5. Save & Retest
Save changes.
Publish the form or application.
Use a fresh incognito window to test (caches can hold on to an old version).
Still not working?
Quick Diagnostics Chart
What to look for | Why it matters | Fix |
Blank “Available For” on the option | No relationship = option is always hidden | Add the needed Term/Degree/Campus, etc. |
You just changed Available For and nothing happened | Data source results are cached on our side for roughly 30 minutes, so a new relationship is not visible right away | Wait for the cache to expire, then retest. This is separate from your browser cache, so an incognito window will not bypass it. |
Duplicate integration codes | Can cause mismatches in look‑ups | Ensure each item has a unique code |
Repurposed data sources (e.g., Schools used for Concentrations) | Field/Dimension names might not match | Point Field to Concentrations and Dimension to Schools as documented |
Old browser cache/autofill | Can show stale option lists | Hard refresh or use incognito |
Troubleshooting Video Guide