How Do I Create a Custom Field?

Among the many options for customizing Virtuous, users can create custom fields to track specific data or capture mission-critical details. Some common uses of custom fields include capturing employer information for Individuals, the fulfillment status of Premiums at the Gift level, or additional accounting requirements on Projects. Whatever the reason, custom fields provide a clear way to track the data your organization needs.

Before creating a custom field, there are a few considerations to take into account:

With these in mind, it's time to add a custom field. Click on "Settings" in the menu, then select "Data Customization." 

Then select "Custom Fields and Collections."

If there are any custom fields already created for your organization, they will be listed on the screen. To create a new Custom Field be sure you've selected the Custom Fields tab within the Data Customization heading.

Then, click the Create Field button.

This will bring up a form where you will enter the settings for your new custom field.

Object: In other words, where should this field live in Virtuous? Is this a field for Gifts records, or for Contacts? This will always default to Contact -- just click to select a different value. These Objects currently support custom fields:

Name: The name for the new field. Each field must have a unique name in the system. Custom field names are limited to a maximum of 100 characters.

Display: This is the text that will display on forms. If you leave this blank, this will default to the Name. So, you might consider having a short Name and then having a question as the Display. 

Group: If you want this Custom Field to be part of a group, select that Custom Field Group. (There will be more information on creating Custom Field Groups later in this article).

Data Type: This field is critical; it determines the type of field to be created, or more specifically, the type of data that can be stored in the new field.  A text or paragraph field may be best for capturing a wide variety of unstructured data. In other cases, a simple True/False flag may be ideal and allow for easy querying and segmentation. To help determine the correct Data Type, consider the use cases for this new field. 

Bear this in mind when planning for your new field. The available types, and recommendations for usage, are:

Once all the information for the new field has been entered, click SAVE to create the new field.

Confirm on the main Custom Fields screen that the new field is Enabled, and it will be ready to use.

Once you have created a custom field, you may need to edit it. For example, you may wish to add a value to a list field. To edit any existing custom field, just click on the edit icon to the right of that field when viewing the Manage Custom Fields screen.

You can rename any existing custom field, but you cannot change the Object or Data Type. If a field is no longer needed, click on the blue checkbox next to "Enabled" to disable it. Once you save, the field will show "No" under the "Enabled column on the main custom fields screen.

Fields associated with Contacts, Individuals, or Gifts will show an additional option, "Show on Import." This is checked by default, meaning that these fields will be visible in the Gift & Contact Import tool, and values can be added (or updated) via import. Click the blue checkbox if you do NOT want these fields to be accessible via the import tool. Note: If you do import a file that includes custom field values, and those custom fields are not set to Show on Import, then the values will be ignored by the import tool.

For list custom fields, you can add additional list values at any time by editing the field and then entering new values, much like you would when creating a list custom field.

Click on the edit icon to the right of any list value to set it as inactive. List values cannot be deleted, but inactive values can not be selected or added to records going forward. At any time, you may also choose to reactive an existing value. Additionally, you can click the three lines next to the edit icon and then drag that list value to reorder your list. 

When adding custom fields, you'll have the additional option to create custom field groups. These groups can be used as a way to arrange custom fields visually and keep fields that are related to a particular theme or topic together when viewing or editing records. To create a new group, click on the Custom Field Groups tab.

Then, click the Create Group button.

This will bring up a form where you can enter information for your new group.

As with custom fields, you will need to select an Object where your group will be visible and enter a name. Group names must be unique for each Object; for example, you may have two groups named "Donor Preferences," as long as one is associated with Contacts and the other is visible for Individuals.

Once you have created a group, you can edit a custom field and add it to your group. Just begin typing the name into the "Group" field when editing a custom field. Custom fields can be moved from one group to another at any time.

On your Manage Custom Field Groups screen, you'll see the preview (eyeball) icon and edit icon to the right of each group. Click on the preview icon to view the specifics for your custom field group, including which custom fields are currently associated with your group.

Click on the edit icon to the right of any group to edit the group name or delete the group.

Custom fields will not be displayed onscreen unless they contain data. For instance, creating a Text field called "Employer" for Individuals will display that field ONLY if there is employer data. Click on the edit icon on any record to see all available custom fields and edit field values as needed.