Settings > Custom Fields is the central place to manage custom fields for all entity types.
Tabs per entity
Each tab corresponds to one entity: Contacts, Companies, Deals, Donations, Grants, Volunteers, Programs, Events, Memberships, Pledges. The Donations tab only appears on Nonprofit; Deals only on B2B.
Adding a field
Click + Add Field. Configure:
- Label — what users see.
- Internal name — auto-generated from label, used in API and merge fields.
- Type — text / long text / number / currency / date / dropdown / multi-select / checkbox / URL.
- Required? — block save if empty.
- Default value.
- Help text — appears as a tooltip next to the field.
- Limit to program (NP) — only show on records carrying a specific tag.
Reordering
Drag fields up and down to change form order. Updates immediately in all create/edit forms.
Editing existing fields
Edit label, help text, options (for dropdowns), and required status freely. Changing field type after data exists is restricted to compatible conversions:
- Text → Long Text: OK.
- Number → Currency: OK.
- Anything → Date: blocked if existing data isn't all valid dates.
Archiving
Archive (soft-delete) hides the field from forms while preserving historical values. Records keep their old data; new records can't write to the archived field. Useful when phasing out a field without losing history.