Custom field settings control the field name, stored value, form requirements, choices, and default value for new records. You manage custom fields by record type in the setup area for the application that owns that record type. For background, see Custom Fields Explained.
Where to Find It
In each application's Console, open the Custom Fields setup entry for the record type you want to extend. If that entry uses a different name, use the path below. The page opens as Manage [record type] Custom Fields.
| Console | Record type | Path |
|---|---|---|
| Submissions | Submissions | Setup › Submissions › Custom Fields |
| Submissions | Reviews | Setup › Reviews › Fields |
| Sponsorship | Applications | Sponsorship Setup › Applications › Custom Fields |
| Sponsorship | Sponsorships | Sponsorship Setup › Sponsorships › Custom Fields |
| Membership | Memberships, applications, chapters, committees, sections | Membership & Committees Setup › Membership (or Applications, Chapters, Committees, Sections) › Custom Fields |
Other applications follow the same pattern. CRM manages contact and organization fields from the Contacts & Organizations setup area. That means you or another administrator can add a contact or organization field for an external integration to populate, without asking Rhythm to create it. For a custom object's fields, go to System & Security › Custom Objects, choose the object, and open its Custom Fields tab.
Rhythm does not provide one list of every custom field name and ID across your applications. Before you delete several fields you no longer use, open each record type's Custom Fields list and use Copy ID to Clipboard for each field you plan to remove. This gives you a record of their names and IDs before you delete them.
The Custom Fields List
The list shows the record type's custom fields in Name, Type, Required, and Last Changed columns below the Create [record type] Custom Field button. Each row includes Clone, Edit, and Delete icons. Clone starts a new field with the selected field's settings, but it does not copy the identifier. The hash icon at the start of each row opens Copy ID to Clipboard, Audit Logs, and Relationships.
- Use the filter box to match any part of a field's name or identifier.
- Inactive fields stay hidden until you click (show all). When you show them, they appear in muted text, and the list still has no status column.
- Locked rows do not show the Edit or Delete icons, but you can clone them.
The Settings
These settings appear on the form that opens when you select Create [record type] Custom Field or Edit.
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field type (selector at the top) | Twenty-two types; see Custom Field Types | Your last choice in this browser; otherwise Text (Single Line) | Sets what the field stores and which option cards you see |
| Field Name | Any text | Empty | Appears on forms, in reports, and with the value. You can change it at any time |
| Field ID | Lowercase letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens; ends in __c | Suggested from the name; "Favorite Track" gives favorite_track__c | Permanent identifier. Rhythm adds the record type in front, and you cannot change it after the first save |
| This is a required field | On, off | Your last choice in this browser; otherwise off | Makes the field required on forms. Each form can override it. A required field also blocks saving in Console setup screens, not only portal forms, unless you turn on Make this field optional in the console |
| Make this field optional in the console | On, off | Your last choice in this browser; otherwise off | Appears only when the field is required, and only for custom fields. Standard built-in fields do not offer this option. Staff can leave the custom field empty in the Console while a form still requires it in the portal. Built-in fields cannot have different required settings in the Console and the portal |
| Form Prompt | Any text | Empty | The question shown on forms. Rhythm uses the field name when this is blank |
| Help Text | Any text | Empty | Guidance shown under the field on forms |
| Maximum Number of Words | A number | Empty | Text (Multiple Lines) only |
| Acceptable Values: | One per line; Label|value shows the label and stores the value | None | List types. Blank values are removed when you save |
| Use data from a curated dataset?, Select the Curated Dataset: | On, off; a dataset | Off | List types. Choices come from a list Rhythm maintains |
| Sort this list alphabetically? | On, off | Off | List types. Sorts choices by label. A value you add later can stay appended at the end instead of moving into alphabetical order, and Console forms may sort correctly while some portal pages do not |
| Use the first value as the default? | On, off | Off | List types. Forms preselect the first choice |
| Allow user to enter in custom values? | On, off | Off | List types. People can type a value that is not in the list |
| Parent/Child Picklist Relationships, Select Parent Picklist:, Field Value Mappings | Enabled, Disabled; a parent; child values per parent value | Disabled | Picklist types. Narrows choices by the parent's value |
| Reference Type: | Contacts, Organizations | None | Reference only; required |
| Number of Decimal Places | 0 to 4 | 0 | Number, Percent, Currency, Rating. A Currency field displays with thousands separators and this many decimal places. If the setting is ever unset, it displays with 0 decimal places |
| Maximum Rating:, Theme:, Meaning of Minimum:, Meaning of Maximum: | A number; Squares, Stars, Horizontal Lines, Movie; text | Squares | Rating only. The scale runs from 1 to the required maximum |
| Custom Object: | One of your custom objects | None | Table/List only; required. Shapes each row. Adding or editing a row opens a popup window, with Add New at the top right of the table, instead of replacing the full screen |
| Default Value, Enter the Value:, Javascript Web Hook: | Enabled, Disabled; a fixed value, or expression / Web + Expression | Disabled | Forms apply this starting value to new records |
A Number field accepts negative values and has no minimum-value setting, so it will not stop someone from entering a value below zero. If new records should start at a sensible number, give the field a default value such as 1.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Forms can override the field. Each form or page layout starts with the field's own settings, then can use a different label, change whether the field is required, make it optional in the Console, or offer fewer choices for that form only. See Page Layouts and Web Forms. When you rename a field's label on one form, the change applies only there. The Console and other forms keep their own label for the same field until you change them too.
- A contact's portal profile shows only the fields on the contact form assigned to portal profile updates. In Contacts & Organizations, Setup › Contacts › Forms › Configure Defaults sets that form. Add a field, including a field like organization that needs its own component, or remove one to change what a member can edit in the portal.
- Required and optional settings can affect whether a person can finish a form. On a multi-step registration or application form, a field that is required when it should be optional in the Console, or the reverse, can block staff from completing a step or a member from submitting.
- The Contact Social Lookup component does not offer a required or optional setting for its individual fields, such as email. You cannot make one of its fields required on its own the way you can with a custom field placed in a field group.
- Parent/child picklists. Create the parent first as a Picklist or Radiobuttons field on the same record type, with its values. Then, on the child, add its values, switch on Parent/Child Picklist Relationships, choose the parent, and map child values to each parent value.
- Table/List appears in the type list only when custom objects are switched on for your organization. The custom object must exist before you create the field. See Custom Objects.
- Defaults apply only through forms, so records created without a form start empty.
- Multi-select fields have no built-in limit. Rhythm does not offer a setting to cap how many values someone can choose in a Picklist (Multi-Select) or Checkboxes field. If you need to enforce a maximum, you need custom logic outside the field's own settings.
Change Impact and How to Revert
After you save a custom field, there is no undo, so plan your changes before you save.
- Renaming is safe because the identifier and every stored value stay the same. You can rename the field back later.
- Changing the type is allowed even after records already use the field, but existing values are not converted to the new type. Before you change a field's type, export the affected records with a query and keep the results. That way, you can see or restore the prior values later if you need them. When you change a list field between multi-select and single-select, a record can keep a stored value that still appears in query results, even though the record's own screen shows the field as blank.
- Changing or removing choices leaves records holding old values, and record pages show those stored values. When a removed choice is still stored on a record, the Console and portal profile editors show that value as a blank space instead of the old label. To change many records at once, see Update Records in Bulk.
- A field left out of an import can be added afterward. Create the custom field in the right application, then use a downloaded query with Update Records in Bulk to populate it for the records that were already imported.
- An inactive field no longer appears in dropdowns and stays hidden in the list until you choose (show all). Records keep the values they already hold. The field form does not include a setting to make a field active or inactive.
- Deleting a field removes the definition but not the values stored on records. Old values may still appear in exports and query results, and they can resurface during contact merge review even when the field is no longer visible on any profile. As the confirmation explains, recreating a field with the same Field ID effectively restores it. The audit history keeps the field's last state; see Audit History. Saved queries, eligibility criteria, and integrations that reference a deleted field can break or stop running until you remove or replace that reference. There is no built-in way to find every form or configuration that used the field, so review your organization's queries, eligibility rules, integrations, and forms.
Warning
Before you delete a picklist that other picklists use as their parent, switch Parent/Child Picklist Relationships to Disabled on each child and save it. Deleting the parent does not clear the link, so a child that still points to a deleted parent fails to save.
Permissions
You need access to the application's setup area. If your organization's security settings do not let you create custom fields, the create button is disabled, and its hover text names the permission you need. Without delete permission, Delete shows an Access Denied message. Ask your administrator for the named permission.
Validation and Errors
If a required setting is missing when you click Save Changes, a Form Errors card lists "You haven't entered a valid value for [setting]" for each missing setting, and your entries stay on the form. If Rhythm refuses the save, Unable to save [record type] shows the reason:
| Message contains | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Custom field ID should begin with the service" | The identifier does not start with the record type | Let the form build the identifier from the name |
| "Reference custom fields must specify a type of reference" | Reference Type: is empty | Choose Contacts or Organizations |
| "A field cannot be its own parent in a parent/child relationship" | The field names itself as parent | Choose a different parent |
| "The parent/child picklist field mappings would create an infinite loop" | The chain of parents leads back to this field | Change a parent so the chain ends |
| "Unknown/invalid service" | The record type is not recognized | Contact Rhythm Support with the record type and field |
If deleting fails, Unable to delete [record type] Custom Field appears, and the field stays in the list. If a field is missing after you save it, see A Custom Field Does Not Appear Where I Expect.