Custom fields on contacts and companies

Standard fields cover what every business needs. Custom fields cover what yours needs — a licence number, a renewal date, an account tier.

The type you choose matters more than most people expect.

Who this is for

Admins shaping the data model, and anyone who has been asked for a new field.

Before you start

• Permission to manage custom fields.
• A clear answer to who fills the field in and what it is used for.

Text is the expensive choice
A date stored as text cannot be filtered by range. A fixed set of options stored as text collects half a dozen spellings. Both look fine on the record and both fail the moment you try to report on them, which is usually months later.

Add a field

1. Decide it belongs on the person or the organisation
   A renewal date usually belongs on the company; a job title on the contact. Putting it in the wrong place means duplicating it later.
2. Pick the type that matches the data
   Dates as dates, money as currency, fixed options as a dropdown. This is what makes the field usable beyond the record.
3. Set validation and whether it is required
   Validation at entry costs far less than cleanup later. Required should be rare.
4. Publish it
   The field becomes available on records once published.
5. Filter and report on it
   Properly typed fields work in saved views, reports and automation conditions — which is the return on choosing the type carefully.
6. Remove fields nobody fills
   An always-empty field costs everyone attention and gives you nothing.

What you get

• A data model that fits your business.
• Fields that work in filters, reports and automations.
• Cleaner data, because validation happens at entry.
• No engineering dependency to add a field.

Frequently asked questions

Contact or company — where should the field go?

Wherever the fact actually belongs. If it is true of the organisation rather than the person, put it on the company so it is not repeated on every contact.

Can I change the type later?

Treat the type as a decision to get right up front. Converting types is where existing values get lost or mangled.

Why does the type matter so much?

Because filters, reports and automation conditions read the type. A date stored as text cannot be filtered by range no matter how it looks on screen.

How many custom fields is too many?

When people stop filling them in. If a field is consistently empty, it is not earning the attention it costs.