Custom fields
Standard fields (name, phone, DOB, gender, address) cover most needs, but every church tracks something extra: spiritual gifts, baptismal date, food allergies, ministry interests. Custom fields let you add those without writing code.
Where they appear
Custom fields show up:
- On the member profile overview tab, after the standard fields.
- In the bulk-import column mapper.
- As filter conditions in the bulk-actions module and in workflow triggers.
- As columns you can toggle on the main members list.
They do not appear in the Add member dialog — that flow stays minimal. Fill them in after the member is saved.
Field types
| Type | Use for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Text | short free-form text | "Favorite hymn" |
| Long text | paragraphs | "Prayer requests" |
| Number | integers or decimals | "Years walking with Christ" |
| Date | calendar dates | "Baptism date" |
| Dropdown | one-of-many | "Preferred service" — Morning / Evening |
| Multi-select | many-of-many | "Spiritual gifts" — checkboxes |
| Boolean | yes / no | "Has children's ministry clearance?" |
| URL | links | "Personal blog" |
Adding a custom field
- Go to Settings → Custom fields.
- Click the create button.
- Fill in:
- Label — what members see (e.g. Spiritual gifts).
- Key — internal identifier (auto-generated from label).
- Type — from the table above.
- Section — which group on the profile this lives under. Defaults to General.
- Required? — block saves if empty.
- Visible to — admins only, admins + shepherds, or everyone (including the member themselves).
- For dropdowns and multi-selects, add the options.
- Save.
The field is live immediately. Open any member profile and you'll see it.
Editing fields
Click an existing field to edit. You can rename labels, reorder options, or change visibility safely. Changing the type is destructive — if you switch from text to dropdown, existing free-text answers won't match options and will appear empty.
WARNING
Deleting a custom field removes the column from every member profile. If you might want the data later, hide the field (uncheck visible to everyone) instead of deleting.
Required fields and existing data
If you mark a field as required after members already exist, you don't have to backfill immediately. Existing records stay valid; new edits to those records will prompt you to fill in the value before saving.
RBAC implications
The Visible to setting controls who can read and edit a field. Combined with role scoping, you can have data that:
- Only the senior pastor sees ("Discipleship readiness")
- Shepherds can see and edit for their scope ("Cell meeting role")
- Everyone in the workspace can read ("Birthday")
This is enforced at the database level via RLS, not just in the UI. A shepherd inspecting raw API responses won't see fields they're not allowed to read.
Custom fields in reports and workflows
Once defined, custom fields become first-class:
- Filter by them in the bulk-actions module.
- Use them as conditions in workflow triggers — "when Baptism date is exactly N days ago, send a congratulations message."
- Group by them in reports.
TIP
Add a custom dropdown field called Discipleship stage with options like Visitor → New believer → Member → Leader, then build a workflow that watches for stage changes and notifies the right pastor.
Common questions
Is there a limit on custom fields? No hard cap. We've seen workspaces with 50+. Performance starts to suffer past 100, mostly because the profile page gets very long.
Can I import custom field values from a CSV? Yes. Add the column to your CSV and map it to the custom field on the bulk import column-mapping step.
Are custom fields backed up? Yes — they're stored in the same database as everything else, included in nightly backups, and exported alongside member records.
Next steps
- Member profile — see where the new fields appear.
- Workflow triggers — automate based on custom field changes.
- Bulk import — load values in bulk.