Properties & Columns

A property is one piece of data an item can carry: a card name, a board region, a token value, a die face, artwork, or rules text. In a Data grid a property is a column; in a layout it is something you can bind an element to.

Properties are scoped to the active component type. A board property does not appear as a column in your card collection, and a token layout only offers token properties to bind. Get them right early: layouts, conditions, previews and exports all read from them.

Adding a property

1. Click the + at the far right of the column header row (its tooltip reads Add property).
2. Type a Column name.
3. Pick a Type (see the table below). A Select property needs at least one option before you can add it.
4. Optionally set a Default value, so new cards start with it filled in. (Image, Icon and Icon list properties don't take defaults.)
5. Toggle Required if every card must have a value.
6. When the collection has exactly one front design, Show it on the card (Adds it to "") is on by default. Leave it on to put the new column on that design as a layer of its own, or turn it off to add only the column.
7. Click Add Property, or press Enter in the name field.

With Show it on the card on, the new layer is styled like a similar one already on the design and placed in the first clear spot inside the safe area. A toast reads Added "" to with Open design, which opens the editor with the new layer selected, and Undo, which takes the layer off again. If someone else is editing that design at the moment, the column is still added but the layer isn't, and a message says so. The switch doesn't appear when the collection has no front design or several, or when you can only view the project.

A project with no properties yet opens on Define your card schema, with an Add Property button that opens the same popover and an Import button for bringing the columns in from a file.

The column appears at the right end of the grid. Move it into place with Move Left / Move Right (below).

Property types

ShuffleKit has eight types. Pick the narrowest one that fits: it changes the cell editor, and it changes which operators you get in conditions.

Collection quantity is different from a Number property. QTY is a system value managed per collection, so do not add a custom quantity column just to control how many copies print. See Card Collections & Quantities.

Tip: if you plan to switch layouts based on a value ("all space cards use the Tarot layout"), make that property a Select, not Text. Fixed options mean no typos, and typos silently break conditions.

For a first card set, a small schema is enough: title as Text, artwork as Image, Type or Rarity as Select, and ability as Text. A board might instead start with region, artwork, and rules; a die can use a simple face label. Add Number, Icon, Icon list or Color properties when the component actually needs them. Every extra property is another value to keep consistent.

Select options are editable with the property. Open Edit Column, find Options, then use Add option (or press Enter in the last option) to add a value, or the × beside an option to remove it. Click the swatch beside an option to give it a colour; the cell shows it as a coloured pill, and a layout element can take its colour from it. If you import a value that is not already in an existing Select property's option list, ShuffleKit adds it to that list, so scan the options after a large import for spelling variants.

Reading a column header

Each header carries, left to right: the type's icon, the link icon for the layout in the preview, the column name, and an asterisk if it's required. Hover the name for the full name and type (Rarity · Select) when a narrow column cuts it off.

The link icon has five states, and its tooltip names the one you're looking at:

• On the card (link in the accent colour): an element on the layout shows this column.
• A grey link: the layout uses the column without printing it. The tooltip says whether it sits on a hidden element, shows or hides an element, or picks which layout a card uses.
• Not on the card yet (grey broken link): nothing on the layout uses it.
• Required, and not on the card yet (amber warning).
• Not used by this layout (faint broken link): the column's data lives only on cards that this layout doesn't draw.

Click the icon to connect the column to an element without leaving the sheet. On a column this layout doesn't use, the click opens the layout in Design instead. See Connecting Properties to a Layout.

The system columns (Status, QTY, Decks) have a smaller menu: their ⋮ or right-click offers only Hide column. Bring them back from View → Columns → System.

Editing an existing property

1. Hover the column header and click the ⋮ (column options) icon, or right-click the header.
2. Choose Edit Column.

The menu also tells you two useful things at a glance: the property's type (the grey TEXT label) and how the layout in the preview uses it. Shown in layout RPG Split. means it prints on the card. Other lines say when a column sits on a hidden element, only shows or hides an element, only picks which layout a card uses, or isn't connected at all (Not connected to RPG Split. It won't appear on cards.).

In the Edit Column dialog you can rename, change the type, edit Select options, set a default and toggle Required. For an Icon list property the dialog also holds its icon presets. Click Save (or press Enter in the name) to apply, or Cancel.

Careful with type changes. Switching a property's type doesn't convert existing values. Turn a Text column into Number and cells that aren't numeric keep showing their old text, but the moment you edit one of those cells its old value is gone. Export a CSV backup first if you're not sure.

Required properties

Toggling Required on does two things:

• An asterisk (*) appears next to the column name.
• Layouts start warning you when the property isn't connected to any element: the column header shows an amber warning icon, the Design editor's Layers panel reads 1 required property isn't on this layout: powers, and the live preview shows 1 required column not connected, which expands to a Connect in editor link.

That warning is deliberate: a required property that isn't on the layout is data that will never reach the printed card. See Connecting Properties to a Layout.

The warning is layout-specific, not a demand that every property appear everywhere. A property that a layout rule reads, such as Type, never gets it, since choosing the layout is its job. If it is not meant to be printed or used by a layout, leave it optional. An optional column that isn't on the card gets the grey broken link on its header and no warning.

Reordering, freezing and hiding

All from the column options menu:

• Sort Ascending / Sort Descending sorts the whole grid by this column.
• Move Left / Move Right moves one position per click. (Greyed out at the ends.)
• Freeze column pins the column to the far left, where it stays visible while you scroll horizontally. One column at a time, remembered per project in this browser. Do this for title on wide projects. The same item reads Unfreeze column once a column is frozen.
• Hide column removes it from view without deleting data. Bring it back from View → Columns.
• Delete Column permanently removes the property and every value in it. When layout elements use the column, the confirmation tells you how many will lose their connection. There is no undo for this.

To change a column's width, drag the right edge of its header; double-click that edge to reset it.

Image cells

Image properties get their own cell menu. Hover the cell and click the ⋮:

• Preview opens a full-size view.
• Adjust framing… repositions and scales the art inside its frame, without re-cropping the source file.
• Replace swaps in a different file.
• Remove clears the cell.

To fill a whole image column at once, open its column options menu and choose Add images by file name…. Pick the pictures or a folder, and each card gets the file whose name matches one of its values, such as its name or number. See Import & Export for how the matching works.

Hover an empty image cell and it reads Click to upload. One click opens the media library, where you can upload a new file or pick one you've already added. On a touchscreen, tap the cell to select it and tap again to upload.

Column visibility is per view

The View → Columns submenu carries a note worth remembering. On All cards it reads "Saved per view: decks follow this setup until customized"; inside a deck it reads "Saved per view: changes apply to “Starter” only". Hiding a column on All cards sets the default for every deck too, until you customise an individual deck's view. The setup is stored in your browser, so a teammate's column choices don't change yours.