There is no actual, complete documentation of the currently available field types for Sitecore 8 and 9 – at least no visual preview of them. This post tries to close this gap and provides actual screenshots, in addition to the existing documentation, for all the field types.

Analytics fields

The Analytics field types are for internal use by Sitecore.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Analytics field types.

Profile Card Value

Analytics - Profile Card Value

Profile Cards

Analytics - Profile Cards

Tracking

Analytics - Tracking

Simple Types

The Simple field types represent and individual value. An individual value may have multiple properties, such as the attributes in an Image field or the images and links in a Rich Text field. Sitecore provides the Simple field types described in the following sections.

Checkbox

This field type displays a toggle button. If the user selects the checkbox, Sitecore stores the value 1 (the number one). If the user does not select the checkbox, Sitecore stores a blank value.

Tip Check for the literal value 1 in a checkbox field, or use a property such as
Sitecore.Data.Fields.CheckboxField.Checked. Do not compare the value of a Checkbox
field against NULL, String.Empty, 0 (the number zero), or any value other than 1.

Simple - Checkbox

Date and Datetime

The Date field type providers a user interface allowing a user interface to select or enter a date using manually. The Datetime field type adds a user interface to select or enter a time manually. Sitecore stores the content as a text string with the format yyyymmddThhmmss. If the user does not enter a time, Sitecore stores the value 000000 (midnight). The value stored represents local time for the Web server.

Simple - Date

Simple - Datetime

File

The File field type allows the user to select an item in the media library. Users can click Open file to open the Media Browser and select the desired file from the media library. You can use the Source property of a File field to control the media folder selected when the user opens the Media Browser, or to specify the root item for this selection interface. If the Source property of a File field specifies an item, the Media Browser cannot navigate above that item. The user cannot navigate above the specified media folder. The default Source for File field is the root item in the Media Library (/Sitecore/Media Library). If the Source property of a File field starts with a tilde character (~/Sitecore/Media Library/Files), the Media Browser will show the entire Media Library content tree with the specified media folder selected, allowing the user to navigate above that media folder.

Simple - File

Image

The Image field type allows the user to select an image from the media library and specify image properties. Users can click Open file to open the Media Browser and select the desired file from the media library. The Source property of an Image field controls the selected item in the Media Browser. For more information about the Source property, see the section File Field Type.

Simple - Image

Integer

This field type store a single line of text. With a validation for integer values.

Simple - Integer

Multi-Line Text

Use the Multi-line field type for simple text values spanning multiple lines. This field has no validation and there is no Rich Text support for fields of this type.

Simple - Multi-Line Text

Number

This field type store a single line of text. With a validation for number values.

Simple - Number

Password

This field type store a single line of text. With a mask for password values.

Simple - Password

Rich Text

This field type stores HTML text. The field displays the contents as a browser would display the source HTML, although the field actually stores character encoded HTML. The Show Editor button provides access to a Rich Text Editor, while the Edit Html button provides access to the stored HTML. For further information about Rich Text fields, see the Content Reference manual.

Simple - Rich Text

Single-Line Text

This field type store a single line of text.

Simple - Single-Line Text

Word Document

The Word Document field type allows the user to edit HTML using Microsoft Word embedded in the browser.

Simple - Word Document

List-Types

Each list field types allow the user to select zero or more items using different user interfaces providing different features. The Source property of the field specifies the options in the list.

Checklist

The Checklist field type allows the user to select one or more checkboxes representing the children of the item specified by the Source property of the field. The user cannot order their selection.

List - Checklist

Droplist

The Droplist field type allows the user to select a single item from the list specified by the Source property of the field.

Important The Droplist field type stores the name of the selected item. The Droplink field type stores its ID. For more information about the Droplink field type, see the section Use this field to search for and create a link to an item that is stored anywhere in the content tree.

List - Droplist

Grouped Droplink

The Grouped Droplink field type allows the user to select a single grandchild of the item specified by the Source property of the field. The Grouped Droplink field type stores the GUID of the selected item.

List - Grouped Droplink

Grouped Droplist

The Grouped Droplist field type allows the user to select a single grandchild of the item specified by the Source property of the field. The Grouped Droplist field type stores the name of the selected item.

List - Grouped Droplist

Multilist

The Multilist field type allows the user to select zero or more items from the list specified by the Source property of the field. The user can sort the selected items.

List - Multilist

Multilist with Search

A mulitilist with search field has no limitation and can scale to thousands of items. We recommend that you use this field type when referring to very large lists of items not just items that are in item buckets. Use this field to attach a search query to a multi-list field and display the search results as selectable items. For example, if you want a multi-list of all product items, you can set the source field of the field to TemplateFilter=”Product ID” and this returns the items in the list.

List - Multilist with Search

Name Lookup Value List

This field type is an extended version of Name Value List type having many of the similar features. The only difference here is – Name Lookup Value List uses a Dropdown list to choose the value against a key. The editor is still required to type the key name, the dropdown is only for Value field. This field cannot be rendered.

List - Name Lookup Value List

Name Value List

The Name Value List field type allows the user to enter values for zero or more arbitrary keys. Sitecore stores the values entered as a list of key=value pairs separated by ampersands (“&”). Sitecore uses the Name Value List field type for rendering parameters. For more information about rendering parameters, see the Presentation Component Reference.

List - Name Value List

Treelist

The Treelist field type allows the user to select zero or more descendants of the item specified by the Source property of the field. The user can sort the selected items.

Tip Use the Treelist field type for fields that users edit frequently.

List - Treelist

TreelistEx

The TreelistEx field provides the same functionality as the Treelist field, but only displays the selected items until the user elects to edit the list, which opens a new browser window. The Content Editor loads TreelistEx fields more quickly than Treelist fields.

Tip Use the TeelistEx field type for fields that users edit less frequently.

List - TreelistEx

Link Types

Link field types allow the user to enter links to items, external URLs, anchors, email addresses, and JavaScript functions.

Droplink

The Droplink field type allows the user to select a single item from the list specified by the Source property of the field using a drop-down list.

Link - Droplink

Droptree

The Droptree field type allows the user to select a descendant of the item specified by the Source property of the field.

Link - Droptree

General Link

The General Link field type allows the user to link to an item, an URL, an anchor, an email address, or a JavaScript function.

Link - General Link

General Link with Search

Use this field to search for and create a link to an item that is stored anywhere in the content tree.

Link - General Link with Search

Version Identity

This field type is for Sitecore internal use only.

Link - Version Identity

Version Link

This field type is for Sitecore internal use only.

Link - Version Link

Developer Types

The developer field types primarily control the appearance of items in the Content Editor. Typical Web site developers do not use the Developer field types for end user data.

Icon

The Icon field type associates a themed icon with each item.

Developer - Icon

IFrame

The IFrame field type display a Web page within a field. The Source property of the field species the URL to display. The following image shows an example of an external Web page.

Developer - IFrame

JSON

No documentation provided.

Developer - JSON

Tristate

The Tristate field type allows the user to select one of three options: Default, Yes, and No. If the user selects Default, the value of the field is an empty string. If the user selects Yes, the value of the field is the number 1. If the user selects No, the value of the field is the number 0.

Developer - Tristate

Sitecore User

No documentation provided.

Developer - Sitecore User

System Types

The system field types provide advanced features to meet specific requirements. Typical Web site developers do not use the System field types for end user data.

Attachment

Sitecore 5.3.1:
Fields of the type Attachment are reserved to be used internally by the Sitecore client. You should not use fields of this type in your API code.

Sitecore 7.2:
Database media items use the Attachment field type to store binary data.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Attachment field type in your data templates.

System - Attachment

Custom

To prevent including irrelevant entries in the list of field types, Sitecore provides the Custom field type for infrequently used custom fields. For example, Sitecore uses the Custom field type for the CachingField, ExperienceTunerField, and TestLaboratoryField field types used in layout details.

System - Custom

Datasource

No documentation provided.

System - Datasource

File Drop Area

The File Drop Area (FDA) field type allows the user to manage files using the WebDAV protocol. For more information see the WebDAV Configuration reference. The value of a File Drop Area field references a media library folder containing corresponding media items. The Source property has no impact on File Drop Area fields.

System - File Drop Area

Internal Link

The Internal Link field type allows the user to select a descendant of the item specified by the Source property of the field.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Internal Link field type in your data templates. It is a Sitecore System field type which is appropriate only for Sitecore internal use and customizations. It is not suited for end user data because it points to a path and item name. This link can easily be broken by end users if they rename an item. Use Droplink, Droptree or General Link instead.

System - Internal Link

Layout

The Layout field type allows the user to manipulate layout details for each item.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Layout field type in your data templates

Page Preview

No documentation provided.

System - Page Preview

Query Builder

No documentation provided.

System - Query Builder

Query Datasource

You can set the datasource for a presentation component using the Sitecore presentation layer. Setting a datasource enables you to create an internal link to specific content. You can select content to use as a datasource from the content tree or by specifying a search query. The search query is then passed to the code in your solution. For example you could search for items based off a particular template and have its results act as the datasource for a presentation component.

System - Query Datasource

Rendering Datasource

No documentation provided.

System - Rendering Datasource

Rules

The Rules field type allows configuration of conditional renderings.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Rules field type in your data templates.

System - Rules

Security

The Security field type allows manipulation of security settings for each item.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Security field type in your data templates.

System - Security

Template Field Source

The Template Field Source field type allows the user to select the Source property in a template field definition item.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Template Field Source field type in your data templates.

System - Template Field Source

Thumbnail

The Thumbnail field type allows the user to select a thumbnail image from the Media Library.

  • Attention
    Do not use the Thumbnail Field field type in your data templates.

System - Thumbnail

Deprecated Types

As the title indicates it already: these types are deprecated. Not sure when they will be replaced or eliminated, but it could be possible anytime.

Recording to a blog-post they can nearly all be easily replaced by standard types (https://markstiles.net/blog/2012/6/8/deprecated-sitecore-field-conversions/).

html

Replace it with Rich Text.

Deprecated - html

link

Replace it with General Link.

Deprecated - link

lookup

Replace it with Droplink.

Deprecated - lookup

memo

Replace it with Multi-Line Text.

Deprecated - memo

reference

Replace it with Droptree.

Deprecated - reference

server file

A field of "Server File" type holds a link to a file located in the root folder of the web site on the server. The link is stored as plane text.

Note: this field type is intended for internal use. You should use Link and Image types instead.

Deprecated - serverfile

text

Replace it with Single-Line Text.

Deprecated - text

tree

Replace it with Droptree.

Deprecated - tree

tree list

Replace it with Treelist.

Deprecated - treelist

Treelist with Search

The treelist with search field allows you to reference items in much the same way as a multi-list field. However, you can also enter a GUID to determine the start location of the search. This overrides the default filter that has been set on the template. You can use the search box to find the items in this field and search adheres to any filters applied.

According to the release notes of Sitecore 7.2 this type is no longer supported:
The "Treelist with Search" field type has been deprecated in favor of the "Multilist with Search" field because the functionality and UI is almost identical to the "Multilist with Search" field. The definition item for the field type has been moved to the "Deprecated Field Types" folder in the content tree. (402428)

Replace it with Multilist with Search.

Deprecated - Treelist with Search

valuelookup

Replace it with Droplist.

Deprecated - valuelookup

Sources used for this article