Sub-Items — Parent-Child Work, Built on Linked Records
Nest subtasks, line items, and child records under their parents using linked child Tables—full field support, dependable formulas, and structure that scales with your Solution.
What Is Sub-Items?
Sub-Items is SmartSuite's legacy field type for nesting related records under a parent to model a one-to-many relationship. SmartSuite has deprecated the standalone field in favor of Linked Records: existing Sub-Items fields are automatically migrated into a dedicated child Table plus a bidirectional Linked Record field connecting parent and child. Teams modeling subtasks, line items, or other hierarchies today build them with Linked Records—gaining full field support, reliable formulas, and better performance as Solutions grow.
Automatic Migration
Move From Sub-Items to Linked Records Without Lifting a Finger
Workspaces with existing Sub-Items fields are migrated automatically: SmartSuite creates a new Table for the sub-item data and a Linked Record field linking it back to the parent Table, with the relationship navigable in both directions.
Formerly nested data then appears in standard table and grid views like any other Linked Records—no manual rework, no lost hierarchy.
Why Linked Records
Model Hierarchies That Behave Like Real Data
Child records in a linked Table are first-class Records: they support every field type, work dependably in formulas and rollups, load and update flexibly through integrations, and scale with your Solution's growth—the stated reasons SmartSuite made the change.
A parent Task can roll up completion across its Subtasks, and an Order can sum its Line Items, because the hierarchy is part of the relational model.
Lightweight Alternative
Use the Checklist Field When a Table Is Too Much
Not every sub-step deserves its own Record. The Checklist field—a distinct, fully supported field type—keeps simple in-record checklist items for task and sub-task tracking that doesn't need a linked Table.
Pick the weight that fits: a Checklist for quick steps, a linked child Table for structured, reportable hierarchy.
Sub-Items
Parent-child structure runs through governed work—test steps under controls, remediation tasks under findings, attestations under policies. Modeled with Linked Records, the hierarchy stays reportable.
Keep individual test steps as child Records linked to each control, so every step carries its own owner, evidence, and status—and the control rolls up completion.
Break a finding into linked remediation subtasks with their own due dates and assignees, while the parent finding shows aggregate progress at a glance.
Model document-request items as child Records under each audit engagement—each with its own owner, due date, and status, visible from the parent in both directions.
Track individual attestation entries under each policy in a linked child Table, so outstanding items, completions, and dates stay reportable from the policy itself.
Pair child Tables with Lookup & Rollup Fields—parents aggregate cost, effort, or completion across their children automatically.
For sub-steps that don't warrant their own Records—quick checks inside a single test walkthrough—use the Checklist field for in-record tracking next to the structured hierarchy.
Parent-child structure runs through governed work—test steps under controls, remediation tasks under findings, attestations under policies. Modeled with Linked Records, the hierarchy stays reportable.
Sub-Items is SmartSuite's legacy field type for nesting related records under a parent Record. It has been deprecated in favor of Linked Records, which model the same one-to-many hierarchy with a dedicated child Table and a two-way link.
They were migrated automatically. SmartSuite creates a new Table for the sub-item data and a bidirectional Linked Record field connecting it to the parent Table, so the relationship remains navigable in both directions with no manual rework.
Linked Records offer more reliable formula support, more flexible data loading, updates, and integrations, full support for all field types on child records, and better scalability and performance as a Solution grows.
Create a dedicated child Table—Subtasks, Line Items, Test Steps—and connect it to the parent Table with a Linked Record field. Child records get full field support, and Rollups summarize them on the parent.
Use the Checklist field—a distinct, fully supported field type that keeps checklist items directly on a Record for lightweight sub-step tracking that doesn't warrant a linked Table.
Yes. Linked Records—the current way to model parent-child hierarchies—are available on all SmartSuite plans, with per-Table field counts that scale by plan tier.
Model Hierarchy That Holds Up at Scale
Link a child Table to its parent and get sub-items with full fields, rollups, and room to grow.