When you create a lead, person, company, opportunity, project or task in Copper, you're presented with fields to fill out to give that record more meaning and context within your workflow. While the default fields are intended for the average Copper use case, we know your business is unique, and so is the data you need to collect. That's why we also give admins the option to add new custom fields to your records. Company Users who are not admins can fill in the value of a custom field, but they cannot build a custom field from scratch.
Note: If you are creating custom fields for the purpose of importing data into Copper, please check out our 'Importing your Data into Copper' article first.
In this module, we'll tackle the following:
Reorder, require, deactivate or reactivate fields
Create Collapsible Field Sections
Filter records for a custom field value
Add a custom field to a column in a list of records
Import data into custom fields
Understand custom fields
Chances are, you'll need to collect and store data about your records that falls outside of the default fields offered in Copper. When that's the case, it's time to create a custom field.
The table below shows the field types you can create; plus their definition; character limit; whether they're searchable and filterable; and how to ensure they're successful in a data import. Please note: Only Admins and Account Owners can create custom fields.
| Type | Definition | Character limit | Searchable? | Filterable? | How to identify in spreadsheet during import of data | Available in Reports? |
| Text Field | Short word or phrase | 250 | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Text Area | Longer paragraph | 1,000 | Yes | No | No | |
| Dropdown * | Menu with multiple possible selections. Only one selection can be made at a time | 255 for each field | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Date | Lets you choose a date from a calendar. Displays the date in MM/DD/YY format. | No | Yes | DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY | No | |
| Checkbox | Checked for yes, unchecked for no | No | Yes | This is a boolean value. Put in one column and select true or false, OR you can put 1 for true, or 0 for false | Yes | |
| Number Field | Only numbers can be entered | 20 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| URL | Web address | 255 | No | No | ||
| Percentage | % | 10 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Currency | You enter a monetary amount, which is associated to the currency you've specified throughout the system. | 20 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Multi-Select Dropdown * | Menu with multiple possible selections. More than one selection can be made at a time. | No | Yes | Put in one column and separate with semicolons | No | |
| Tags | Keywords that can be used to associate records | Yes | Yes | Put tags individually in separate columns that are all titled "Tag" and they will be created on import | Yes | |
| Connect Fields | A customized 1:1 or 1:many relationship between records or between a user and records. | 255 for each field | No | No | It is not possible to import to connect fields via the in-app importing tool, but you can use our API to do so. | No |
Define your workflow
Before you create custom fields or customize your existing fields, be sure to consider the following:
- Do you intend to import data from another CRM? Check out our importing article to ensure your fields are on track for a success.
- What reports do you intend to create for each record type to measure success? Write these down, then write down the custom fields that can help capture and store the data needed to create these reports.
Create a custom field
The easiest way to create a custom field is from a record view:
You can also create custom fields from your Copper settings:
- In the Copper web app, click 'Settings' from the left-hand menu.
- Select 'Custom Fields' from the 'Customize Copper' section.
- Choose the record type you want to create a field for.
- You'll see this box appear:
- Choose the option to 'Create New Field.'
- Choose your field type. Please note that "Text area" and "Text field" options are not filterable.
- Give the field a label. This is the name that will identify the field on the record.
- You can skip the 'Field Key' portion unless you intend to reference this custom field while using Copper's Workflow Automation. The field key allows you to reference this custom field when writing a function. The key is permanent once it is entered and cannot be changed. If you do not enter a key, you can come back and do so later.
- Click 'Create Field.'
Reorder, require, deactivate or reactivate a field
Once your custom and default fields are in place, you may want to reorder them so your form for creating/editing a record is more intuitive. You might also have fields that are vital to your reporting, and you want to require that users fill them out. If your form for creating/editing a record gets too crowded, you can clean it up by deactivating fields. All this and more is explained in our article on 'Reordering, Requiring, Deactivating or Reactivating fields.'
Create Collapsible Field Sections
If you'd like to organize your Fields into specific, collapsible sections, you can do so by clicking "Add Section" in the upper right corner of field settings.
This allows you to organize your default and custom fields into sections that contain related information. For example, you might create a section for "Contact Details" or "System Info" or "Financial Details".
To learn how to do create these sections, please review our article Organize your Fields with Collapsible Sections.
Filter records for a custom field value
You can filter records for a certain selection made on a custom or default field. The only exceptions to this rule are text fields, text area fields, or URL fields. Check out our 'Filtering your Records' article to learn how this is done!
Add a custom field to a column in a list of records
You can also add a custom field as a column in a list of records. This lets you see the field value on each record in the list. To learn more, check out our article on 'Working with Customizable Columns in List Views.'
Import data into custom fields
Some people also create custom fields to capture data they'll import into Copper. It's important to be precise when creating custom fields for this purpose, and we recommend checking out our article on 'Importing Data into Copper' to ensure you set your fields up correctly.
Still have questions?
Still have questions? Ask in our Community, and get answers from our Customer Success Team as well as fellow users.