How to Add Note Tracking to Your App

Hi everyone, it’s Ro here from Knack with a short how-to video.

Knack is a great fit for tracking activity on a single record, and today we’re going to walk through how to add a commenting or note tracking workflow to your app.

What does “note tracking” mean?

Let’s say:

• You have a project and want to share general comments or updates with collaborators
• Or, you have a customer and want to log interactions or follow-ups

Whether it’s project comments or customer interactions, the setup in Knack is the same.

Step 1: Understanding the Data Structure

Let’s head over to the Builder.

This app already has the objects and user roles set up, so here’s a quick overview:

• Customers object: holds customer info (currently just a name field, but you can add more)
• Notes object: stores each comment or note
  • Fields: Date, Note/Comment
• Team Members: a user role, allowing users to log in and interact with records

Now let’s complete the setup by connecting Notes to Customers and Notes to Team Members.

Step 2: Create the Connections

1. Connect Notes to Customers

• Go to the Notes object
• Add a Connection Field
  • Connect to: Customers
  • Type: Each Note connects to one Customer, and Each Customer connects to many Notes

2. Connect Notes to Team Members

• Still in the Notes object
• Add another Connection Field
  • Connect to: Team Members (user role)
  • Type: Each Note connects to one Team Member, and Each Team Member connects to many Notes

These connections allow us to track both who the note is about and who made the note.

Step 3: Build the Page for Team Members

Head over to the Pages section to start building the interface.

Create a Login Page for Team Members

• Add a new page
• Restrict access to the Team Members user role
• Name the page: Team Member Dashboard

Show a Table of Customers

• Add a Table View
• Choose to show: Customers
• Add a link to View Details (we’ll use this to view and add notes)

This View Details page is where the commenting workflow happens.

Step 4: Add Notes to the Customer Details Page

Click into the Customer Details Page. Right now it just shows the customer’s name.

Add a Table of Notes

• Click Add View > Table
• Select the Notes object
• Knack automatically filters to show notes connected to this customer
• Click Continue and Add Table

Sort Notes by Date

• Open table settings > Source
• Sort by the Date field in descending order (newest first)

Now we have a full notes list on the customer profile.

Step 5: Add a Form to Create New Notes

Now we want to allow team members to add new notes.

Add a Form

• Click Add View > Form
• Select Notes
• This form will automatically connect new notes to the customer on the page

You can choose whether to display the form as a menu button—we’ll leave this checked to show a button labeled “Add Note.”

Place the button below the customer details but above the notes table for clean layout.

Step 6: Customize the Note Form

Let’s clean up the form a bit:

• Keep: Date and Note fields
• Remove: Customer field (since it’s auto-connected by the page)
• Auto-fill Team Member (instead of dropdown selection)

To do this, we’ll use a Record Rule.

Add a Record Rule

• In the form settings, go to Rules > Record Rules
• Create a new rule:
  • When the form is submitted, update the Team Member field with the Logged-In User

Now, team members don’t have to select their name—it’s auto-filled on submit.

Step 7: Redirect After Submission

Let’s improve the user experience with a redirect.

Add a Submit Rule

• In the Submit Rules tab
• Set the action to: Redirect back to the parent page

This takes the user back to the customer details page where they’ll immediately see the new note appear.

Final Touches and Testing

We’ve now built a full note tracking workflow:

• Team Members log in
• See a list of customers
• View a customer’s notes
• Add new comments seamlessly

Let’s clean up by deleting any extra pages we don’t need.

Test in the Live App

• Log in as a Team Member
• View the dashboard and click a customer
• Add a new note
• On submit, you’ll be redirected back to the customer details page, where the note now appears

Repeat the process for another customer to confirm everything works.

Wrap-Up: Apply This to Other Use Cases

This commenting workflow can be used across all types of apps:

• Projects & Notes
• Tasks & Comments
• Courses & Feedback
• Products & Reviews

It’s all about setting up the right connections between a parent object and a child object, then letting Knack’s Builder handle the logic.

Thanks for joining me today!
I hope this walkthrough helped you understand how to add a commenting workflow to your Knack app.
Until next time—happy building!