Manage Fields
How to manage your custom fields: add a field and choose its type, build the choices for dropdowns, radio buttons and checkbox groups, edit and copy fields, organize them into categories, drag to reorder, move several at once, see which leads and forms use a field, search and filter the list, and delete a field safely.
On this page
Custom fields hold the details that are special to your business: a price range, a move-in date, the kind of home someone wants. The Manage Fields page is where you create those fields, decide what kind of answer each one takes, and keep them organized. The page was rebuilt with category cards, drag and drop, a new Add and Edit window with a live preview, a working Copy button, search and filters, and a count on every field of the leads and forms that use it.
To get here, go to Settings and click Fields.
The page uses your account’s own names. If your account calls Fields, Forms or Leads something else, you will see those names on the buttons and column headings instead.
The page at a glance
From top to bottom, the page has four parts:
- The toolbar – add a field, add a category, or open Help.
- Search and filters – find a field by name, by type, or by whether anything uses it.
- Your categories – one card per category, each listing the fields inside it.
- Uncategorized – always the last card. It holds every field that has not been put in a category.
The toolbar
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Account Settings | Goes back to the Settings page. |
| Add Field | Opens the window for creating a new field. |
| New Category | Creates a category. It can start empty and be filled later. |
| Help | Starts the one-minute tour of the page, or opens this guide. |
Under the toolbar, the line next to the filters tells you how many fields and categories you have. Collapse all folds every category down to its title, and Expand all opens them all again.
Reading the list
Each category is a card. The top line of the card belongs to the category, and each row under it is one field.
The category line
- The handle (six dots, far left) – drag it to move the whole category up or down.
- The name – click it to fold the category away, and click it again to open it. The page remembers which categories you folded, in the browser you are using.
- The number – how many fields are in the category.
- Show on lead detail – whether this category appears as a heading on the lead detail page. See Categories on the lead detail page below.
- The pencil renames the category. The bin deletes it.
The field rows
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Handle | Six dots at the start of the row. Drag it to reorder the field, or to drop it into another category. |
| Tick box | Selects the row so that you can move several fields at once. The box in the heading row selects every field in that category. |
| Name | The name of the field. Click it to edit the field. |
| Type | The kind of answer the field takes, such as Text, Date or Dropdown. |
| Leads | How many leads have a value saved in this field. |
| Forms | How many forms the field is on. Click the number to see which forms. |
| Actions | Four buttons: the pencil edits the field, the folder moves it to another category, the two pages copy it, and the bin deletes it. |
Adding a field
- Click Add Field in the toolbar.
- Type a name.
- Click the type you want. A one-line description of the type appears under the tiles.
- For a Dropdown, Radio Buttons or a Checkbox Group, enter the choices. For a Hidden field, enter its value.
- Pick the category the field belongs in, or leave it on Uncategorized.
- Click Add field. The new field appears at the end of its category, highlighted for a moment so you can see where it went.
The panel on the right, How it looks on a form, changes as you type and as you switch types, so you can see what people will be filling in before you save anything.
Rules for names
- A name can be up to 50 characters long.
- Every field needs its own name. Two fields cannot share one, even with different capital letters.
- Quotes, underscores and square brackets are taken out of the name when it is saved.
The field types
| Type | Use it for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Text | A short answer of letters and numbers, up to 200 characters. | Lot number |
| Text Area | A longer answer, one or more paragraphs. | Special requests |
| Number | Any number. | Number of bedrooms |
| Currency | An amount of money. | Down payment |
| Date | A date. | Move-in date |
| Checkbox | One box, for a yes or no answer. | Has a trade-in |
| Checkbox Group | Several boxes, where any number of them can be ticked. | Features wanted |
| Dropdown | One choice from a list that opens when it is clicked. | Price range |
| Radio Buttons | One choice from a list where every choice stays in view. | Own land or need land |
| URL | A link to a web page. | Listing link |
| Hidden | A set value for your own use. The public never sees it on a form. | Campaign code |
| Label | A heading that splits your list into sections. It holds no value and cannot be added to leads or forms. | |
| HTML | Prints HTML as the value. |
Choices for dropdowns, radio buttons and checkbox groups
When you pick one of these three types, a list of choices appears under the tiles. A new field of these types needs at least one choice.
- Type a choice and press Enter to move to the next one. A new line is added when you reach the end.
- Click Add a choice to add a line with the mouse. For a Checkbox Group the button reads Add a checkbox.
- Drag the handle at the start of a line to change the order. The order here is the order people see.
- Click the × at the end of a line to remove that choice.
- A choice can be up to 100 characters long, and each one can appear only once.
If you already have the list somewhere else, click Paste a list. The lines turn into one box where you can paste the whole list, one choice per line. Click Back to the list to return to the separate lines.
Hidden fields
A Hidden field has a Value box in place of choices. That value is saved every time a form with the field on it is submitted, unless someone changes it by hand. It is useful for marking where a lead came from without asking the lead anything.
Editing a field
Click the name of a field, or the pencil at the end of its row. The same window opens, filled in with the field as it stands now.
- Change the name, the choices or the category, then click Save.
- The Where it is used panel on the right shows how many leads have a value in the field and lists every form it is on. Click a form name to open that form in a new tab.
- Click Cancel, the × in the corner, or anywhere outside the window to close it without saving.
Changing the type of a field
A field that already exists can only change to a type that stores its answers in a similar way, so the window offers only the types that are allowed:
- Text, Dropdown, Radio Buttons, Checkbox Group, URL and Hidden can each be changed to any of the others.
- Text Area, Number, Currency, Date and Checkbox keep the type they were created with.
- A Label can be changed to HTML. An HTML field can be changed to Dropdown, Radio Buttons, Checkbox Group, URL or Hidden.
If leads already have a value in the field, a yellow note appears when you pick a different type. Save the change, then open one or two of those leads and check that the value still reads the way you expect.
Seeing where a field is used
Two columns tell you how much a field is used, before you change or delete it:
- Leads – the number of leads with a value saved in the field. None means no lead has one.
- Forms – the number of forms the field is on. None means it is not on any form.
Click the number in the Forms column to see the list of forms. Each name is a link that opens the form in a new tab.
Copying a field
Click the copy button (two pages) at the end of a row. A new field is created straight away, right under the original, in the same category. It has:
- the same name with (Copy) added, or (Copy 2) and so on if that name is taken;
- the same type;
- the same choices, or the same value for a Hidden field.
The copy starts clean: no lead has a value in it and it is not on any form. Click its name to rename it.
Organizing with categories
Categories group related fields together, for example everything about financing or everything about the home itself. They make a long list easier to work with here, and they can also appear as headings on the lead detail page.
Creating a category
Click New Category in the toolbar, type a name and click Create category. The new category is added after your other categories and starts empty. Drag fields into it, or use the Move button on any row. Each category needs its own name.
Renaming and reordering
- Click the pencil on the category line to rename it.
- Drag the handle at the start of the category line to move the category up or down. While you drag, the card shrinks to its title so that it is easy to place.
- Uncategorized always stays last and cannot be renamed, moved or deleted.
Folding categories away
Click a category name to fold it down to its title, or use Collapse all to fold them all. This is the quickest way to reorder categories, or to drop a field into a category that is a long way down the page.
Deleting a category
Click the bin on the category line. Deleting a category never deletes a field. The fields that were in it move to the end of Uncategorized, in the order they had.
Categories on the lead detail page
On the lead detail page, the Custom Fields panel lists a lead’s fields under their category names, in the same order as on this page.
The Show on lead detail switch on each category line controls this. With the switch on, the category name appears as a heading above its fields on the lead detail page. With it off, the category is used only for organizing this page and its name is not shown on the lead. The change is saved as soon as you click the switch.
Moving and reordering fields
Drag and drop
Drag the handle at the start of a row to move the field. Drop it between two other rows to change the order, or drop it inside another category to move it there. The new order is saved as soon as you let go, and a small green message confirms it.
The Move button
The folder button on a row opens a list of your categories. Click one and the field moves to the end of that category. Choose New category… to make a category and move the field into it in one step.
Moving several fields at once
- Tick the box at the start of each row you want to move. To take a whole category, tick the box in its heading row.
- A dark bar appears at the bottom of the window showing how many fields are selected.
- Click Move to… on the bar and choose the category. The fields are added to the end of it, in the order they were on the page.
Click Clear on the bar to untick everything.
Finding fields: search and filters
The bar under the toolbar narrows the list. The three controls work together, so you can combine them.
- Search – type any part of a field name. Click the × next to the box to clear it.
- Type – show one type of field. The list only offers the types you actually have, each with a count.
- Use – show fields by whether anything uses them.
| Use filter | Shows |
|---|---|
| Any use | Every field. |
| On a form | Fields that are on at least one form. |
| Not on any form | Fields that are not on any form. |
| No leads have a value | Fields that no lead has a value in. |
| Unused (neither) | Fields that are not on any form and that no lead has a value in. These are the safest ones to tidy up. |
While a search or filter is on, each category shows how many of its fields match, for example 3 of 8, and categories with no match are left out. Dragging is switched off until you clear the search and filters, because a filtered list does not show every row.
Deleting a field
Click the bin at the end of a row. What happens next depends on how the field is used.
A field that is on a form
A field cannot be deleted while it is on a form. The window lists the forms it is on. Click each one, take the field off that form, then come back and delete it.
A field that leads have values in
Deleting a field also removes the value every lead has saved in it, and this cannot be undone. The window tells you how many leads are affected, and the Delete field button stays switched off until you tick the box to confirm.
A field nothing uses
If no lead has a value in the field and it is not on any form, the window says so and you can delete it straight away.
Who can change fields
- With the Manage Fields permission you can do everything on this page.
- With permission to add fields but not to manage them, you can add new fields, which go into Uncategorized, but not change what is already there.
- Without either permission the list is read-only: the handles, tick boxes, buttons and switches are left out, and a note at the top of the page explains why. Your account administrator can turn the permission on for you.
Help and the tour
Click Help at the right end of the toolbar for two options:
- Take the tour – a nine-step walk through the page that takes about a minute. Each step highlights one part of the page and explains it.
- Open the help guide – opens this page.
The first time you visit, a small tip above the Help button offers the tour. It stays there until you click Don’t show again.
Tips
- Use the Unused (neither) filter now and then to find fields nobody is using, and delete the ones you no longer need. A shorter list is easier for everyone.
- Before deleting a field, look at its Leads and Forms numbers. If either one is not None, something still depends on it.
- Put the fields your team fills in most often in your first category, so they come first on every lead.
- To make a second field that is nearly the same as an existing one, copy it and change the name. It is faster than typing the choices again.
- Use Paste a list when you have a long list of choices in a spreadsheet or a document.
- Keep names short and clear. The name is what appears next to the box on your forms and on every lead.