Watch our tutorial video “How to create a CRM Custom Field”
What are CRM Custom Fields?
Fields are the data titles under which your customer account information is stored in the CRM. You can create Custom Fields to meet your business needs.
Custom Fields can be added to all the major forms or ‘objects’ within the CRM including Accounts, Contacts, Activities, Tasks and Opportunities. Customisation allows you to remove or change most of the Standard Fields* that come with the basic CRM system set up.
The CRM Custom Fields feature is available as standard with all CRM plans.
*Please note, some Standard Fields cannot be changed as they are intrinsic to the functionality of the CRM.
Adding a New Custom Field – Step by Step
To create a new CRM Custom Field go to Settings/System Settings and select ‘Custom Fields’.
Selecting Custom Fields will open a list of the forms and tables you can customise. Choose which object (Account, Contact, Activity etc.) where you want to customise the fields.
Selecting the object you wish to customise will display a form showing the CRM Custom Fields available to use.
In an unused field (e.g. Custom Field 1) box:
- Check the Live box. This will switch on the field
- Add a Long Description – this is what will be displayed on the page
- Add a Short Description – this will be used by the Report Writers. Make sure the Short Description does not have any spaces in it
- The Type will determine what kind of field it will be: a number, some text, a checkbox. See the Field Types section (on the tab above) for a list of Types.
- If it is a numeric field, the Decimals field will control how places of decimals will be shown. So put 2 there for currencies
- The LookUp Table field will choose which LookUp Table will be used to provide a dropdown list for the field, if you want one. Leave blank for free text entry.
- If you want the field to have a Default Value, enter that in the Default Value field
- Tick the Mandatory box if data must be entered in that field. (N.B. don’t make too many fields mandatory, or users will get annoyed!)
Deleting a Custom Field
To delete a Custom Field or Standard Field* just untick the Live box for that field. The data will remain in the field, and if you turn the field back on again later, that data will reappear. Be careful if you later reuse that field with a different Field Type after data has been entered, for example if you change from a CheckBox to a Date type, as it may produce unpredictable results.
If in doubt, contact Customer Support to clear the existing data.
*Please note, some Standard Fields cannot be changed as they are intrinsic to the functionality of the CRM.
Multi-Line CRM Custom Fields
If you want to create a field where you can select more than one option within the dropdown, you can use Multi-Line Custom Fields, for example for Products, where a customer may buy more than one product from you. Create a Drop Down List as normal and when you add the table to your Custom Field, select the table Type as ‘Multi-Line’.
Field Types
The table below details the possible Field Types available in CRM Custom Fields:
| Field Type | Maximum Size | Driven by a Look Up Table | Comments |
| Checkbox | n/a | No | Shows as a tick box |
| Date | n/a | Yes | |
| 50 | Yes | Will be hyperlinked for mailing when displayed | |
| Number | n/a | Yes | Will be totalled in Listing reports |
| Currency | n/a | Yes | Shown with a currency symbol. Will be totalled in Listing reports |
| Memo | Unlimited | Yes | Shown as a large box on forms |
| Percent | n/a | Yes | Can be entered with a trailing % |
| Text | 100 characters | Yes | |
| Textarea | 10,000 characters | Yes | Shown as a small box on forms |
| URL | 100 | Yes | Will be hyperlinked for browsing when displayed |
| multi-line | 100 | Yes | Allows multiple values from a Look Up table to be selected. Stored and shown as multiple values separated by semi colons. |
Cross-refer fields with Derived Tables
The Derived Tables feature gives a number of options to cross-refer fields within the CRM. For example, whilst an Opportunity or Task is held at the Account level you can add a Custom Field to the form to link it to a particular Contact within the Account. This means you can record which is the main Contact for that Opportunity or Task.
The Derived Tables are “hard coded” into your CRM so you do not need to create a new Look Up Table – nor do they appear on the Look Up Table lists. You will need to type them into the Custom Field table using the text format as shown in the list below.
Adding a Derived Table
In Settings/System Settings go to Custom Fields. Click on the name of the form/table you wish to add the Derived Table to, e.g. Opportunities. Create a new Custom Field and set the ‘Type’ field to ‘text’. In the Look Up Table field add the Derived Table you wish to use in the same text format as shown in the list below (the fields are not case sensitive):
| Derived Table | List Details |
| Users | List of user login initials on your system |
| LiveUsers | List of “live” user login initials on your system |
| ContactName | List of contacts in the associated account |
| ContactPhone | List of contacts combined with their phone and mobile numbers in the associated account |
| OpportunityName | List of opportunities in the associated account |
| ActiveCampaigns | List of all the active campaigns in your marketing system |
The field will initially suggest that you need to create this table – but just save the changes and the CRM will accept your new table.
If you then take a look at the form/table you have customised, the Derived Table will appear. In the example below and new field of ContactName with a dropdown list of all the Account’s contacts has been created within the Opportunity. Selected the Contact for the Opportunity and save.
You will then be able to run reports on any of these fields.