Creating and Using Custom Fields in ActivistCentral

Every organization keeps track of information that is a little different.

A union might need an Employee ID or Worksite. A community organization might track a neighborhood or volunteer interest. A campaign might want to record a precinct, supporter level, or other information that isn't part of a standard contact record.

That's what Custom Fields are for.

Custom Fields let you add your own fields to ActivistCentral so you can store information that is specific to your organization.

Custom Fields vs. Tags

Custom Fields and Tags both help you organize information about contacts, but they serve different purposes.

Tags are labels. They're useful for grouping contacts — for example, Volunteer, Member, or Event Attendee.

Custom Fields store a specific piece of information about an individual contact. Examples might include:

• Employee ID
• Preferred Language
• Precinct
• Member Since
• Volunteer Hours
• Supporter Level

A simple way to think about it is:

Use a Tag when you want to label or group someone. Use a Custom Field when you want to store a value about them.

Creating a Custom Field

To create a field:

1. In the left sidebar, under CRM, select Contacts.
2. Select Custom Fields at the top of the Contacts directory.
3. Select + Add field.
4. Enter a name for the field.
5. Choose the type of information the field will contain.
6. Select Create field.

ActivistCentral supports several Custom Field types:

• Text — names, identifiers, short notes, or other text
• Number — numeric values
• Yes/No — a simple yes-or-no value
• Date — dates
• Select (single) — choose one option from a predefined list
• Multi-select — choose more than one option from a predefined list

For Select and Multi-select fields, you'll also enter the choices that should be available.

Choose the field type carefully. Once a Custom Field has been created, its type and choices aren't currently editable.

Adding Custom Field Information to a Contact

Once you've created a Custom Field, it becomes available when editing contacts.

To enter a value:

1. Open Contacts.
2. Find the person you want to update.
3. Open Edit Contact.
4. Scroll to Custom Fields.
5. Enter or select the appropriate value.
6. Select Save.

You don't have to fill in every Custom Field for every contact. Leave a field blank when it doesn't apply or when you don't have that information.

When viewing a contact's profile, ActivistCentral displays the Custom Fields that contain information. Empty fields are left out so the profile stays easy to scan.

Showing Custom Fields in the Contacts Directory

Custom Fields can also be displayed as columns in the Contacts directory.

From Contacts, select Columns and choose the Custom Fields you want to see.

This can be useful when you want important organization-specific information visible while browsing your contacts without opening each individual record.

You can change the visible columns whenever you need a different view.

Using Custom Fields with CSV Imports

If you're bringing contact information into ActivistCentral from a spreadsheet or another system, Custom Fields can be included in a CSV import.

During the import process, you can map a CSV column to an existing Custom Field.

If your spreadsheet contains information you want to keep but the appropriate Custom Field doesn't exist yet, you can also create a new Custom Field while mapping the import.

This makes it easier to preserve organization-specific information when moving data into ActivistCentral.

Exporting Custom Field Data

Custom Field information can also be included when exporting contacts.

When exporting from the Contacts directory, you can export your visible columns or choose to export all available fields.

Active Custom Fields can therefore travel with your contact data when you need to work with it outside ActivistCentral.

Archiving a Custom Field

Sometimes a field is no longer needed.

From Contacts → Custom Fields, you can archive it.

Archiving a Custom Field does not delete the information you've already collected. Instead, the field is hidden from normal contact editing, imports, exports, and directory columns.

If you need it again later, select Show archived and unarchive the field. Its existing values will become available again.

This makes archiving a safer choice than permanently deleting organizational data.

A Few Tips for Creating Useful Custom Fields

Before creating a new field, think about the kind of information you expect people to enter.

If there are only a few acceptable answers, a Select field is usually better than Text. Instead of people entering North, North Office, and N. Office in different ways, everyone chooses from the same options.

Use clear field names that other people in your organization will understand. Worksite is much more useful than something vague like Location 2.

And don't create a Custom Field just because you can. A smaller collection of useful, consistently maintained fields is usually more valuable than dozens of fields nobody remembers to update.

Build the Contact Record Your Organization Needs

The standard contact record gives you the basics. Custom Fields let you extend it with the information that matters specifically to your organization.

Start with the information you actually use. Add fields as new needs arise, and archive fields when they're no longer useful.

That way, ActivistCentral can adapt to the way your organization works without forcing every organization to keep track of the same information.