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Understanding field character limits
Who is this article for?
Users who need to understand how much text they can enter in different fields.
No special access or permissions are required.
The system applies character limits to fields throughout the system to ensure data integrity and performance.
This article outlines the limits for each field, to help you better determine what data to enter.
Standard field limits
The following table shows the character limits for common field.
| Field | Character limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Titles (Audit, Risk, Action, Control, Finding, etc.) | 256 characters | |
| Type names (Audit Type, Risk Type, Action Type) | 64 characters | |
| Managed list names and list items | List name 256; each list item 64 | The list itself can have a longer name than the options inside it. |
| Descriptions (rich text) | 8,000 characters of plain text | Formatting counts too - see the section on rich text below. |
| Comments and notes (rich text) | 8,000 characters of plain text | Same rich text rule. |
| Action progress updates (rich text) | 8,000 characters of plain text | Same rich text rule. |
| Timesheet line comments | 1,000 characters | Plain text only - no formatting. |
| Matrix cell labels (risk / control matrices) | 4 characters | |
| Matrix axis codes (likelihood, impact, design, operation) | 2 characters | |
| Matrix axis display names | 64 characters | |
| Reference (Ref) fields on audit methodology entities | 16 characters | |
| Custom field definition name | 256 characters | The name an administrator gives a custom field. |
Custom field limits
Custom field character limits depend on the field type an administrator chose when creating the field:
| Custom field type | Character limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short text | 256 characters | |
| Long text | 8,000 characters | Plain text box - no formatting. |
| Rich text | 8,000 characters of plain text | Formatting counts too - see the section on rich text below. |
| Number | No character limit | Accepts a number within any range the field is set up to allow. |
| Currency | No limit on the amount | The currency is chosen from a dropdown, not typed. Available currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD, CNY, SGD, HKD, NZD. |
| Date | N/A | Chosen from a date picker. |
| Yes / No | N/A | A toggle. |
| List | N/A | Chosen from a list of options. |
Rich text limits
Rich text fields (descriptions, comments and notes, action progress updates, and the rich text custom field) let you apply bold, italic, underline, bullet lists, and similar formatting. Behind each formatting choice, ARC adds hidden markup around your text, and that markup counts towards the field's total capacity.
What this means in practice:
- You can type up to 8,000 characters of plain text - that is the number the field is showing you
- The field's total capacity is 16,000 characters, which includes your text plus its formatting
- If you paste or write heavily formatted content (lots of bold, italic, lists, line breaks), you may reach the total capacity before you reach 8,000 plain characters. The editor will stop you at that point
Best practices
Copying a record shortens the title limit
A record's title can normally be up to 256 characters, but when you copy a record (Audit, Risk, Action, etc.) the Copy window only lets the new title be up to 64 characters. If the original title is longer than 64, you will not be able to reuse it exactly - you will need to shorten it when you copy.
Timesheet comments are shorter and plain only
Timesheet line comments are limited to 1,000 characters and do not support formatting, unlike most other comment fields in ARC.