Add your own fields to contacts

Every contact has the usual details: name, phone, email, address and so on. A custom field is one more detail that you add yourself, so each contact can carry what matters to your business. It then appears on every contact, in the same place.

Add a field

You need the right to manage custom fields. Admins have it to begin with, and a custom role can be given it. Others see "Only workspace admins can manage custom fields."

1. Open Settings, then Customize Contact. The page is called Custom Fields (Contact) and lists the fields you have.
2. Choose Add Contact field.
3. Pick the Field type (you cannot change it afterwards): - Text: a short answer, such as a clinic size. - Email: an email address. It is checked when someone types it on the contact. - Textarea: a longer answer over several lines. - Select: a dropdown where you choose one answer. - Radio: a short list where you choose one answer. - Checkbox: a tick box.
4. Type the Label. It is the name people see, up to 150 characters.
5. For Select, Radio and Checkbox, type the Options (comma-separated), for example Small, Medium, Large. You need at least one.
6. Choose Add field.

There are no number or date types. Use Text for a number or a date and write it as you like.

Fill them in

• On a contact: the field appears in the details on the side of the contact page. Choose its value to change it: a box opens with a ✓ to save and a ✕ to cancel, and an empty one reads "Add …". A dropdown or tick box saves as soon as you choose. Leaving a value empty removes it. A Select or Radio value must be one of the listed options.
• Adding a contact: the same fields come after Background on the Add contact form.
• Adding a new option: on a contact, someone who can manage custom fields can choose + Add new option in a Select or Radio to add an answer without leaving the page.

Every member who can edit contacts can fill the fields in. There is no way to hide one field from some people.

Bring values in automatically

• From a CSV: in the import, each field appears in the column mapping under its label. See import contacts from a CSV. Values are cut to 500 characters, and a blank cell adds nothing.
• From a web form: a Text, Email or Textarea field can be added to a form. In the form builder, choose Add a field and pick it, then tick Required if the visitor must answer. Select, Radio and Checkbox fields cannot be asked on a web form yet. See capture leads with a web form.
• From a webhook or Facebook form: the Map fields step lets you send an answer into a custom field. See send leads from any website or tool.

Imports and webhooks do not check an answer against the options of a Select or Radio, so a value can arrive that is not on the list.

Switch off or remove a field

• Switch it off: use the Status switch on the list. The field disappears from contacts, forms and the import mapping, but its values are kept, and come back if you switch it on again.
• Delete it: choose the bin. This removes the field and every value on every contact, and it cannot be undone.
• Change it: you can change the label and the options. Values already saved are not changed when you rename or remove an option.

The order of the list is the order you created the fields in. It cannot be rearranged.

Good to know

• Mandatory can be ticked on a field, but at the moment it is only a label: EnableLeads does not stop you saving a contact without it. If you need an answer every time, make it a Required question on your web form.
• You cannot search the Contacts list, filter it or add a column by a custom field, and the contacts export does not include them yet.
• Custom fields are sent with the contact when you send events to your own system.
• When two contacts are merged, their custom values go with the contact that is kept.

If it does not work

• I cannot find Customize Contact. Your role does not include the right to manage custom fields. Ask an Admin.
• The field is not on the contact. Check its Status is on.
• The field is not offered on my web form. Only Text, Email and Textarea fields can be asked there.
• "Choose one of the listed options". Pick from the dropdown, or an Admin adds the option first.