---
title: "Filling in structured sections | Trelice User Guide"
description: "Sections that are forms instead of free text, including the Schedule of Assessments table."
canonical_url: "https://www.trelice.com/docs/structured-sections"
---

# Filling in structured sections

Most sections of a [protocol](/docs/glossary) in Trelice are not blank pages. They are forms: labeled boxes, dropdowns, and lists, so you fill in facts instead of drafting paragraphs. Trelice then writes those facts into the finished document in the proper format. Only a few sections, **References** and **Appendices**, are free text (see [Writing and formatting text](/docs/writing-and-formatting-text)).

## How a form section is laid out

From top to bottom:

1. A blue banner with a short explanation of what the section is for.
2. A progress bar with a count such as "12/30 fields", so you can see at a glance how much is filled in.
3. A stack of panels, one per topic. Each panel header shows its title and its own small count (for example "3/5"). Click a header to close or open the panel.
4. At the very bottom, a collapsible panel called **Additional Notes (optional)**, a free-text area for anything the form does not cover.

Inside a panel, fields come in a few shapes:

- Text boxes and larger multi-line boxes. Gray hint text inside or below a box suggests what to enter.
- Dropdowns, which start on **Select**.
- Date pickers and number boxes.
- Checkboxes, and rows of clickable choice chips where you can pick several.
- Lists: click **Add item** to add a row, and the trash icon to remove one.
- Cards for bigger things like study treatments: click the dashed **Add …** button to add a card, fill in its boxes, and use the trash icon in its corner to remove it.

A red asterisk (*) beside a label means the field is required. Some fields become required only because of the countries you chose on the **Title Page**, the badges described next tell you which rule is behind that.

> **Note:** a field with a gray background is calculated by Trelice from other fields, and cannot be typed into.

## The little badges beside field labels

Next to many field labels you will see small chips. Each opens a popover when clicked; click anywhere else to close it.

- A **gray chip with a tiny open book and a number**, regulatory references. The popover is titled **Regulatory References** ("Regulations that require or govern this field") and lists each regulation with its country flag, name, and issuing body. A red **Required** tag means that regulation makes the field mandatory for your trial's countries. Click an entry to open the regulation text in a new browser tab. Entries shown faded apply to countries your trial does not include.
- An **amber chip with a tiny lightbulb and a number**, guidance. The popover is titled **Guidance Recommendations** ("Recommended by regulatory guidance, not a hard requirement"). These are suggestions worth following, not rules.
- An amber **Threaded** chip, this value is shared with other sections. See [Golden threads](/docs/golden-threads).
- A speech-bubble chip, comments on this field. See [Comments and working together](/docs/comments-and-collaboration).

## The Schedule of Assessments table

The **Schedule of Assessments** is the heart of the protocol: a table saying which test happens at which visit. Each **row is a test or procedure** (an assessment). Each **column is a visit**. A tick in a cell means: this test happens at this visit.

Above the table, a **View:** switch offers **Table** (the grid, recommended) and **Form** (the same data as plain lists).

If the schedule is empty you will see two buttons: **Add First Visit** and **Add First Assessment**. Start with visits.

### Adding a visit (a column)

1. Click the small **Visit** button with a plus sign at the right end of the header row (or **Add First Visit**).
2. In the **Add Visit** dialog, fill in **Visit Name** (for example "Screening") and **Short Label** (for example "SCR"), the label is what the column header shows.
3. Under **Timing**, enter the timepoint number and pick a unit and what it counts from. The hint reads: "The timepoint number itself, -28 for screening, 1 for baseline, 4 for Week 4."
4. Under **Visit Window**, you may enter how early and how late the visit may happen (for example -3 and +3). The **±** button makes the window symmetric for you.
5. Check the gray "Displays as:" line, it shows exactly how the timing will print.
6. Click **Add Visit**.

If a visit cannot be described by one number ("Every 28 days"), click **Use custom timing text instead** and type it in words.

To change a visit later, click the small pencil under its column header. The **Edit Visit** dialog also has a red **Delete Visit** link; deleting a visit unticks it from every row.

### Adding an assessment (a row)

1. Rows are grouped by category (Laboratory, Vital Signs, and so on). Under a group, click **Add assessment to** that group; or click **Add new assessment** at the bottom of the table.
2. In the **Add Assessment** dialog, fill in **Assessment Name** (for example "Complete Blood Count (CBC)"), and optionally a **Category**, **Special Instructions** (such as "Fasting required"), and **Notes**.
3. Tick **Mandatory assessment** if it must never be skipped, the row then carries a small red **REQ** tag.
4. Click **Add Assessment**.

Then tick the boxes along the row for each visit where the assessment happens. To edit or delete a row, rest your mouse on its name and click the pencil.

### Footnotes

Real schedules carry footnotes, "Fasting for at least 8 hours.", "Women of childbearing potential only." In Trelice you never number footnotes yourself.

1. Rest your mouse on a visit header, an assessment name, or a ticked cell. A small dashed **+** appears.
2. Click it. A panel opens showing what the footnote will attach to.
3. Type the **Footnote text**, or pick an existing one under "…or reuse one already in this section".
4. Note the blue line: "Appears as N, Trelice numbers and places it; the number changes by itself if visits or rows move."
5. Click **Add footnote**.

**What you'll see:** a small blue superscript number appears at that spot, exactly as it will print. Below the table, a panel headed **Footnotes in this section** lists every footnote in final order ("Numbered by order of appearance"), with chips showing where each one is used. Click a footnote there to highlight its locations in the grid; use the pencil to reword it and the trash to delete it everywhere. Clicking a blue marker in the grid opens that footnote for editing; if it is used elsewhere, an amber note warns you, and **Remove here** detaches it from this one spot only.

> **Note:** whether footnotes show as numbers or letters is an organization-wide setting; the numbering logic is the same either way.

The schedule feeds several other documents automatically, the [site budget](/docs/site-budget), the [study schematic](/docs/study-schematic), and [visit instructions](/docs/visit-instructions), so time spent getting it right pays off many times over.