How to define custom statuses

Statuses are the values your staff select on a client, case, event, or payment record. You create them yourself on the **Statuses** page, and each one carries settings that control messaging, colors, and how the status behaves on event records.

### Overview

- **What it does:** Lets you create a named status for one record type, then adjust its **Color**, **Disable Messages**, **Default Status**, **Auto-Archive Record**, and **Failed to Appear?** settings.
- **Why it matters:** Records store the status you pick, so your agency's own terminology drives the **Status** dropdowns, the search filters, and whether eCourtDate keeps generating messages for a record.
- **Who should use it:** Agency administrators and anyone whose role includes permission to create and update statuses.
- **Expected outcome:** A working list of statuses for each record type your agency uses, ready for staff to select and for you to filter on.

### Prerequisites

Before you create statuses, make sure you have:

- Access to **Admin** > **Settings** > **Statuses**
- A role that can view, create, and update statuses. The **Admin** sample role on the **Roles** page includes those permissions, while the **Editor** sample role can view statuses but cannot create, update, or trash them
- A list of the status names your agency uses, grouped by record type
- Agreement on which statuses should stop message generation

### How-To Steps

#### Step 1: Open the Statuses page

1. Click **Admin** in the top navigation bar.
2. Select **Settings** from the dropdown menu.
3. Click the **Statuses** tab.
4. Review the existing list. The table shows **Name**, **Type**, **Disable Messages**, **Auto Archive**, **Fail to Appear**, **Creator**, **Created**, and **Updated**.

#### Step 2: Create a status

1. Enter the status name in the **Name** field of the **Create Status** card.
2. Select a **Type** for the record this status belongs to. The list holds client, case, contact, event, payment, warrant, citation, violation, checkin, and submission.
3. Click **Create**. The new status appears at the top of the list, and a status saved with the blank **Type** option is created as an event status.

#### Step 3: Import a sample set

1. Scroll to the **Import Sample** card on the left side of the page.
2. Review the sets: Client, Event, Case, Payment, Citation, and Checkin. The badges under each heading list the names that set creates.
3. Click **Import** under the set you want.
4. Rename or trash anything in the imported set that does not match your terminology. The import turns on **Disable Messages** for canceled, rescheduled, sentenced, paid, void, and refunded.

#### Step 4: Configure a status

1. Click the edit icon next to a status in the list.
2. Adjust the **Name** or **Type** in the **Edit Status** card if needed.
3. Pick a **Color** with the color picker, or type a hex value such as #3979AC. Click **Clear** to remove the color.
4. Select **Disable Messages** to stop message generation for records that carry this status.
5. Select **Default Status** to sort this status first in the status lists that **Waitlists**, the check-in screens, and the form submission screens read.
6. Select **Auto-Archive Record** to flag the status for auto-archiving. Flagged statuses show an **Auto-Archive** badge in the list and answer the **Auto Archive Status** filter.
7. Select **Failed to Appear?** to move an event status out of the event **Status** dropdown and into the **Appeared** dropdown. This checkbox appears only while **Type** is event.
8. Click **Save**.

#### Step 5: Apply a status to a record

1. Open a record from **Clients**, **Cases**, **Events**, or **Payments**.
2. Select your value from the **Status** dropdown. Only statuses whose **Type** matches the record appear there.
3. Click **Save**.

#### Step 6: Set client statuses in bulk

1. Click **Bulk Actions** in the top navigation bar.
2. Select **Update Clients** in the **Action Type** field, then click **Create**.
3. Select the status you want in the **Update Status** field.
4. Set your search filters so the action reaches only the clients you intend to change.
5. Click **Live Run**.

#### Step 7: Filter records by status

1. Open **Clients**, **Cases**, **Events**, or **Payments**.
2. Select a value in the **Status** field of the search form on the left side of the page.
3. Click **Search**.

### What to Expect

A new status is available right away in the **Status** dropdowns and search filters for its record type. Records store the status by name rather than by a link, so a record keeps the text it was given even after you rename or trash the status it used. When a client or event carries a status that has **Disable Messages** turned on, a red badge showing the status name followed by "Messages Disabled" appears at the top of that record's edit page and links back to the **Statuses** page.

Statuses also reach the rest of the platform. **Status Conditions** on a flow message limit that message to the statuses you select, status is a field you can filter on when you build a datapoint under **Analytics** > **Datapoints**, and the color you set on an event status paints the status badge on **Events** > **Waitlists**.

### Best Practices

- **Create one status at a time per record type.** The **Type** you choose decides which dropdowns show the status, so a case status never appears on an event.
- **Start from the sample sets.** Import the set closest to your workflow, then rename the entries you keep and trash the rest.
- **Turn on Disable Messages for closing statuses.** Statuses such as canceled, rescheduled, and paid stop reminders for records that no longer need them.
- **Match your upload values.** Uploads compare the values in your file against status names, so consistent spelling avoids near duplicates like "Complete" and "Completed".
- **Trash retired statuses instead of renaming them.** Renaming leaves older records holding the previous text, while trashing removes the status from the dropdowns and leaves existing records alone.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: What happens to records when I trash a status?**

A: They keep the value they already store. On the client edit page, a stored status that is no longer in the list is added back to the **Status** dropdown so the record does not lose it.

**Q: Why is an event status missing from the Status dropdown?**

A: Event statuses with **Failed to Appear?** turned on are removed from **Status** and offered in the **Appeared** dropdown on the event edit page instead.

**Q: Can I add several statuses at once?**

A: Yes. Click **Import** on a set in the **Import Sample** card, or turn on **Auto Create Statuses** in the **Post Processing Settings** of an upload template so client, event, and payment statuses found in your file are created as the upload processes.

**Q: Who can create and edit statuses?**

A: Your role needs the status permissions. The **Admin** sample role on the **Roles** page grants all of them, while the **Editor** and **Guest** sample roles can view statuses without creating, updating, or trashing them.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** A status you created does not appear in a record's **Status** dropdown.

**Symptoms:** The status is on the **Statuses** page, but staff cannot select it on a client, case, event, or payment.

**Solution:**

1. Go to **Admin** > **Settings** > **Statuses** and open the status.
2. Confirm the **Type** matches the record you are editing.
3. Confirm the status is not trashed. Select the **Trashed** checkbox in the **Search Statuses** card to look for it, then open it and click **Tools** > **Restore**.
4. On an event status, confirm **Failed to Appear?** is off, since those statuses move to the **Appeared** dropdown.

**Issue:** Messages stop generating for an event after a status change.

**Symptoms:** Scheduled messages disappear once staff set a new status on the event, and a red "Messages Disabled" badge sits at the top of the event's edit form.

**Solution:**

1. Open the event and click **Tools** > **Troubleshoot**.
2. Look for the "Event status disables messages" issue, which names the status that is blocking generation.
3. Go to **Admin** > **Settings** > **Statuses**, open that status, and clear **Disable Messages** if it should not block messages.
4. Check the assigned location as well, since **Auto-Disable Messages** on a location under **Admin** > **Locations** blocks generation the same way and raises its own issue on the same screen.

### Related Articles

- [How to manage statuses](/how-to-manage-statuses)
- [How to Disable Messages based on Status](/how-to-disable-messages-based-on-status)
- [How to Update Clients via Bulk Actions](/how-to-update-clients-via-bulk-actions)
- [How to create upload templates](/how-to-create-upload-templates)
- [Roles and Permissions](/roles-and-permissions)