Configuring separate test steps and test results

TestRail supports either entering test steps and expected results for test cases via simple text fields (the default configuration), or you can configure TestRail to manage test steps separately in a more structured way (including specifying separate test results for the test steps). The following screenshot shows the the separate test steps configuration and this guide explains how to configure TestRail this way.

Please use the following steps to configure separate test steps in TestRail:

1. Select Administration > Customizations
2. Under the Case Field table, click the Add Field button
3. For the Label enter 'Steps', for the System Name enter 'steps_separated' and select 'Steps' as the Type
4. Before you save the new field, click the Add Projects & Options link in the Projects table below. In the dialog, just click OK to use the defaults and to assign the custom field to all projects
5. Now click the Add Field button to submit the field

Now, in addition to the test steps for the cases, you can also configure TestRail to display the steps in the Add Test Result dialog. This will allow you to select results for separate steps like this:

To configure separate test step results, just add a custom field to the Add Test Result dialog:

1. Under the Test Field table, click the Add Field button
2. For the Label enter 'Step Results', for the System Name enter 'step_results' and select 'Step Results' as the type
3. Add the field to all projects again
4. Click the Add Field button to submit the field

When you configure separate test steps, we recommend disabling the generic Expected Result field and entering the expected results as part of the test steps instead like this:

------------
[Step 1]
Open the New Document wizard by selecting File | New.

* The dialog is displayed
* All default templates have been loaded
* The Empty template has been pre-selected
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[Step 2]
Select the Corporate template and confirm it by clicking OK.

* A new document is opened, using the Corporate template
* The page counter in the status bar displays `1/1`
* The document area is focused
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This way the expected result is also displayed in the Add Result Dialog, and TestRail automatically formats the lines with the asterisk as a list (due to the Markdown rich-text formatting TestRail supports).

You might also want to delete or disable the preconfigured custom fields such as Preconditions, Steps and Expected Results. To disable a field, edit it and simply remove the entry from the Projects table; this will remove the fields from all projects without deleting the entered data so you can restore the fields later if needed.

We usually recommend adding a Description text fields to cases and disable the Preconditions, Steps and Expected results fields when configuring separate steps, but this can be configured as needed. You can also keep the built-in steps text field temporarily in order to migrate your existing data to the new format, in case you have any.