Custom Fields

As an administrator, you can create custom fields in GivePulse that can be used in various forms across your platform. These custom fields help collect data in registration forms, impact forms, affiliate applications, membership applications, and more!

Subscription Note: Users with a free/basic group account have a limited number of custom fields available to use. Users with a paid subscription have an unlimited number of custom fields available to use. To learn more, please visit the GivePulse Pricing Page.

This article will cover the following information:

• Managing Custom Fields
• Creating Custom Fields
• Custom Field Types & Settings Defined
• Editing Custom Fields
• Viewing the Responses and Uses of a Custom Field
• Adding Existing Fields to a Form Builder
• What Fields are Available by Default? 
• Video Tutorial

Managing Custom Fields:

To access your Custom Fields, navigate to your group dashboard, and click More Tools > Custom Fields.

The next screen will be a Manage Grid for all custom fields within your network. The default grid will display custom field information, such as its unique Field ID, name, field type, and more. 

GivePulse Pro Tip: We recommend getting familiar with Configure Layout - Admin Panel to hide and show columns on the grid. You can also drag and drop the order of the columns and be sure to scroll down and click "Apply" to see the changes. 

Creating Custom Fields

From here, you can click the Blue Actions Button > Create New Field.

After selecting , you will be directed to the custom field workflow to add your field type, field label, help text, and select the answer type. 

Custom Field Types & Settings Defined

When selecting the field type, here are the available options: 

Field Types

• Agreement Checkbox: Displays text that requires the person to agree with it.
• Checkbox Field: Provides a checkbox with accompanying text for user selection.
• Date Field: Shows a calendar widget to select a date.
• Decimal Field: An input field that accepts only decimal values.
• Document Agreement Field: Allows Admins to upload a document that the user can download and uses a checkbox as a user agreement. (Note: The document privacy Level must be set to Public for the document to be accessed by users)
• Document Upload Field: Requires users to upload a document upon submission.
• Dropdown Field: Provides a dropdown menu for selecting from multiple options.
• Radiolist Field: Displays options in a radio list for selection.
• Likert: Implements a Likert scale question type.
• Integer Field: An input field that accepts only integer values.
• Multiselect Field: Allows selecting multiple choices.
• Text Field: An input field for accepting text only. Used for shorter responses; 160 character limit.
  
• Textarea Field: An input field for larger text inputs. Used for longer responses; no character or word limit.
• Section Header Field: Headers can be used to identify sections within the form i.e. Overview, Budget, Objectives, etc. Headers can act as page breaks and will split the application into multiple pages. (Note: Page breaks do not show up in Preview Mode)

Custom Field Settings

• Single answer: When a field is set to single answer, a user's previous response will be saved for the next time they view the field. (Note: If a user updates what is in the field, the system will erase the old response and save the most recent response).
• Multiple answers: When a field is set to multiple answers, a user's responses will be recorded each time and the admin can see the history of responses.

GivePulse Pro Tip: Single answer responses should be used to collect information that stay the same for users overtime (i.e. Date of Birth, Phone Number, etc.) and Multiple Answer responses should be used to collect information that might change from time to time (i.e. event satisfaction questions, feedback, etc.). 

Editing Custom Fields

You can edit and view details about the custom fields that you have already created. To edit a custom field, click the drop-down menu to the far right of the custom field: 

• Edit: Allows administrators to edit the custom field and view where it is being used within the network. 
• Archive: Allows administrators to archive a custom field from the custom field library. If a field is archived, it will not be a visible option when creating new forms. 
• Unlock: Allows top administrators to lock or unlock a field to allow subgroup admins to edit or update fields. 
• Delete: Deletes a custom field (Note: Custom fields can only be deleted if there are 0 responses to that field. 

When making edits to a custom field, admins can edit aspects such as the Field Name, type, response options (if applicable), the answer type, and more. 

GivePulse Pro Tip: When exporting data with custom fields, expect the format CUSTOM FIELD NAME (CF) [CUSTOM FIELD_ID_NUMBER].

In the example below, the field is titled/named 'Color'

(CF) = Custom Field (this means it is a created field, not a default field) 

[12345] = Custom Field ID assigned

Color (CF) [12345]

Viewing the Responses and Uses of a Custom Field

To view where in your network a custom field is being used, click on the name of the custom field. This will bring you to a page where you can see where you have already used this custom field, as well as user responses. You can access this through the pencil icon as well as the 'Edit' option in the drop down menu.

Adding Existing Fields to a Form Builder

To add custom fields that you have created, while you are in the form builder, you can click "Add Existing Saved Fields" on the form in question: 

This will then provide a list that you can either scroll through or search by the field label name to find the custom field you are looking to add: 

More specifics about custom fields and how they can be used in a variety of settings can be found in our articles discussing the Community Impact Database. 

What Fields are Available by Default? 

Video Tutorial

Check out the video below for more info on Custom Fields!