How to use Custom Fields

What are Fields?

A field is the basic unit of data entry in a record. To define a new field, we need to create and give it a name. A field can be text, string, integer, etc. On our platform, one can create the following field types:

1. Strings – A string can be anything (alphabets, numerals, symbols, special characters, etc.) It has a maximum length of 255 characters. (No default value required)
   
   
2. Integer – An integer is a whole number (not a fraction) that can be positive, negative, or zero. It has a maximum length of 11 digits. (Default value is needed to save this field)
   
   
3. Boolean – Boolean field type is a binary variable that can have one of two possible values, 0 (False) or 1 (True). This is also known as a True/False field. (Default value is ‘True’, but can be changed to ‘False’)
   
   
4. Date/Time – This field type is used for values that contain both date and time parts. We store it in 'YYYY-MM-DD/HH:MM:SS-05:00' format. (No default value required)
   
   
5. Text – A text field type can be anything in text. (No default value required)
   
   
6. Float - Shows any number with decimal points (example - Currency)

Whatever field you create, you can store an appropriate default value or leave it blank (only if the field type allows a blank value). It will not be applied to existing contacts, but when you modify/update the contacts, the field will be created for them.

What are fields use for?

Fields are used to identify contacts based on the imported contact data. E.g. You want to differentiate between contacts in terms of their gender, so you can create a field and select the appropriate value (Male/Female) while storing contacts in Maropost.

You can also utilize segments to organize these contacts in the field assigned to their contact information.

To create a new field, please follow these steps:

1. Hover your cursor over ‘Email’. Scroll to ‘Contacts’ and click ‘Fields’.

2. This will open the fields index page. This page contains default fields (default fields; first name, last name, email, phone, and fax) and custom fields.

**On the fields index page, we will only display first name and last name as default.**

3. To create a new custom field, click on the + sign

IMPORTANT: You can set the default value for the 'First name' and 'Last name' default fields on the field index page. This will add these values for the contacts whose first name or last name is not present at the time of import. This is useful while using contacts tags in content or subject line of campaigns.