---
title: Simplify data entry by using Input Masks
description: SYSPRO's Input Masks feature lets you format how data is displayed and entered on screen letting you do things like pre-populate the year with 20.
---

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## [Simplify data entry by using Input Masks](https://customer.syspro.com/simplify-data-entry-by-using-input-masks)

Posted by [Canada Support Team](https://customer.syspro.com/author/canada-support-team)

 Sep 11, 2014 7:30:00 AM

SYSPRO’s Input Masks feature lets you format how data is displayed and entered on screen.

For example, you could make a phone number field containing 6045551234 more readable by formatting it to display with parentheses and hyphens, like this: (604) 555-1234.

Importantly, you can also speed up data entry. For example, in date fields, rather than entering all four digits of the year, an Input Mask can default the first two digits to “20” so the user only needs to enter the last two digits. See the instructions below.

## Notes about Input Masks

The Input Mask applied to a field will take effect on all screens where that field appears. You don’t need to re-apply the mask to every screen.

Input Masks only affect how data is displayed. They do not affect how data is stored in the database.

## Default the First 2 Digits of Year to “20” in Date Fields

### In SYSPRO 6.1:

1. In the **Home** tab of the ribbon menu, select **Customization Tools** -> **Field Properties for All Forms**. Alternately, right click on any field in any entry form and select **Field Properties for All Forms**.
2. In the **Field Properties for All Forms** screen, select **New**.
3. In the **Caption** column, enter the exact name of the field for which you want to allow six character date entry.
4. In the **Input mask** column, enter *\_0\_0/\_0\_0/20\_0\_0*.
5. Click **Save and Exit**.
6. Close the program and reopen it (if you setup the Input Mask from within a SYSPRO program).

 

### In SYSPRO 7:

1. In the **Administration** tab of the ribbon menu, select **Customization** -> **Customization Tools** -> **Field Properties for All Forms.** Then follow the above procedure from Step 2.

## Explanation of the Input Mask Characters

 

| **Mask characters             ** | **Explanation** |
| --- | --- |
| \_0\_0/\_0\_0/20\_0\_0 | The full input mask in our example. |
| \_0\_0/\_0\_0 | Restricts user to entering two digits for month and two digits for day. |
| 20\_0\_0 | Prepopulates first two digits of year with 20. Restricts user to entering last two digits of year. |
| \_0 (underscore zero) | Underscore is a placeholder for a single character. Zero means the character in the underscore position can be any numeric character between 0-9. |
| / (slash) | Displays the slash character. |

 

 

 

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