How to Add a New Custom Field in a Contact Group Form in BoldDesk
Adding custom fields to a contact group form in BoldDesk allows you to capture more specific and relevant information from your users, helping you tailor workflows, improve ticket routing, and enhance overall customer management. In this guide, we’ll walk through the simple steps to create and configure a new custom field, so you can adapt your contact forms to fit your team’s unique support needs.
Steps to Add a New Contact Group Custom Field
To add a new contact group custom field, follow these steps:
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Go to the Contact Group Fields module.
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Click the Add Contact Group Field button on the right.
Consider the following while creating a new custom field:
- Field Type – You can create a contact group field (Custom field) using the following custom field types:
- Textbox (single line)
- Textbox (multi-line)
- Checkbox
- Yes/No
- Date
- Date Time
- Numeric
- Decimal
- Dropdown (single-select)
- Dropdown (multi-select)
- Regex
- URL
- Lookup
- Label for Agent Portal – This is the name of the field that appears in the contact group form in the agent portal.
- API Name – You can specify an API name for the custom field. By providing the API name to a specific field, you can fetch or update the corresponding data.
- Note Message – Specifies an information text for the field.
- Note Message Display – Displays the note message below the field or as an info icon near the field.
- Below field – The note message is shown below the created field.
- Info icon near the field – The info icon has been added near the field; when you hover over the info icon, the note message appears as a tooltip.
Field Display Condition
By using the field display condition, you can show a field only when the specified conditions are met. To know how to configure field display condition, explore how to Dynamically show or hide fields in form using field display conditions.
Field Configuration – Agent Portal
Specifies the field visibility and mandatory status for the custom field.
- By checking or unchecking the Agent can edit option, you can control the field’s visibility. If it’s unchecked, the custom field will appear as a read-only field on the edit contact group form.
- You can make a field mandatory when submitting the form.
If the Agent can edit option is unchecked, you cannot make a custom field mandatory.
Dropdown Option Values
The option values for the dropdown type custom field can be added as strings here. If there are multiple values, use a comma to separate them.
- Option values can be renamed or deleted.
- After an option value is deleted, it cannot be restored.
- Option values can be dragged and dropped for sorting. You can also sort in alphabetical order.
- A default value for the dropdown option can be set, such that its value can be filled by default when a form is loaded in the agent or customer portal.
You also configure field dependency for the dropdown/multiselect fields. Please explore How to Use Field Dependency for Creating a Cascading Dropdown.
Permission for Adding a New Contact Field
To add a new custom field, you should enable the Manage fields and forms permission.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: Can I change the field type after creating a custom field?
No. The field type choice is permanent.
Q2: Can I restore a dropdown option after deletion?
No. Deleted dropdown values cannot be restored, so use caution.
Q3: Can custom fields be used in automation or workflows?
Yes. Many workflow rules, triggers, and routing configurations can reference custom field values.
Q4: Are custom fields available through the API?
Yes. Fields with an API name can be accessed, updated, or queried through the BoldDesk API.
Q5: Can the columns in Contact Group → Contacts be customised to show a different field, such as Job Title, in the column?
No. BoldDesk does not offer the ability to modify the columns shown in the Contact Group → Contacts list. However, you can save the Job Title as a custom user field, which will be visible within the individual contact profile, but not as a column in the contact list view.
