Custom Fields for People

Audience: This article is for church administrators.

Custom Fields let you track additional information about your people beyond the standard name, email, phone, and address fields. Whether you need to record allergies, t-shirt sizes, spiritual gifts, volunteer certifications, or any other data specific to your ministry, custom fields give you the flexibility to capture it all.

Accessing Custom Fields

1. Navigate to Settings in the left sidebar.
2. Click the Fields tab.

Field Types

TimelyChurch supports ten different field types to accommodate various kinds of data:

Field Tabs (Categories)

Custom fields are organized into tabs to keep related information grouped together:

When a staff member views a person's profile, these tabs organize the custom field data into logical sections.

Creating a Custom Field

1. Go to Settings > Fields tab.

2. You will see a field builder interface. Choose a field type from the palette on the left.

3. Fill in the field details:

   • Name (Required) -- The label that will appear on the person's profile (e.g., "T-Shirt Size," "Allergies," "Spiritual Gifts")
   • Tab -- Which category tab this field belongs to (Custom, Spiritual, Volunteer, Medical, or Other)
   • Placeholder -- Hint text shown inside the empty field (e.g., "Enter size...")
   • Help Text -- A brief description shown below the field to guide data entry (up to 500 characters)

4. Configure field options:

   • Required -- Whether this field must be filled in when editing a person's profile
   • Options -- For Dropdown and Multi-Select fields, enter the list of available choices
   • Show in Directory -- Whether this field's value appears in the people directory list
   • Show on Profile -- Whether this field appears on the person's detail profile (default: yes)
   • Allow Member Edit -- Whether the person can edit this field themselves through the member portal
   • Internal Only -- Whether this field is hidden from the member portal entirely (admin/staff eyes only)

5. Click Save or the create button.

Tip: For sensitive information like medical conditions or background check results, enable "Internal Only" to ensure the data is only visible to authorized staff members.

Managing Existing Fields

Editing a Field

1. Find the field in the Fields tab.
2. Click the Edit button on the field card.
3. Update the name, tab, placeholder, help text, or any options.
4. Click Save.

Note: You cannot change a field's type after creation. If you need a different type, create a new field and migrate the data manually.

Reordering Fields

Fields can be reordered within their tab by dragging and dropping:

1. Click and hold a field card.
2. Drag it to the desired position.
3. Release to drop. The new order saves automatically.

Fields can also be moved between tabs by dragging them to a different tab section.

Activating and Deactivating Fields

Instead of deleting a field you might need later, you can deactivate it:

1. Find the field in the list.
2. Toggle the Active switch.

Deactivated fields:

• Are hidden from person profiles and edit forms
• Retain all their stored data
• Can be reactivated at any time

Deleting a Field

If you permanently no longer need a field:

1. Find the field in the list.
2. Click the Delete button.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Warning: Deleting a field permanently removes all data stored in that field for every person in your directory. This action cannot be undone. Consider deactivating the field instead if you might need the data in the future.

Practical Examples

Tracking Allergies (Medical Tab)

• Name: Allergies
• Type: Long Text
• Tab: Medical
• Help Text: "List any known allergies (food, medication, environmental)"
• Internal Only: Yes
• Allow Member Edit: Yes

T-Shirt Size (Volunteer Tab)

• Name: T-Shirt Size
• Type: Dropdown
• Tab: Volunteer
• Options: XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL
• Allow Member Edit: Yes

Spiritual Gifts (Spiritual Tab)

• Name: Spiritual Gifts
• Type: Multi-Select
• Tab: Spiritual
• Options: Teaching, Leadership, Administration, Mercy, Giving, Hospitality, Encouragement, Serving, Wisdom, Faith, Discernment, Prophecy, Evangelism, Shepherding
• Show in Directory: Yes

Background Check Date (Volunteer Tab)

• Name: Background Check Date
• Type: Date
• Tab: Volunteer
• Internal Only: Yes
• Help Text: "Date the most recent background check was completed"

Emergency Contact Phone (Medical Tab)

• Name: Emergency Contact Phone
• Type: Phone
• Tab: Medical
• Allow Member Edit: Yes
• Help Text: "Phone number for their emergency contact"

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is there a limit on how many custom fields I can create? A: The number of custom fields may be limited by your subscription plan. Check your plan details on the Billing & Plans tab.

Q: Can members fill in their own custom field data? A: Yes, if you enable Allow Member Edit on the field. Members will see editable fields in their profile within the member portal. Fields marked as Internal Only are never visible to members.

Q: Can I use custom fields for family records? A: Custom fields are currently attached to individual person records. To track family-level information, you can add the field to the primary family contact's profile.

Q: What happens to custom field data when I export people? A: The standard CSV export available at Settings > Export currently includes only the built-in fields (ID, name, contact info, address, membership status, family, classes, notes, created date). Custom field values are not yet included in the CSV export. They are still visible on each person's profile. We plan to add custom field columns to the CSV export in a future release.