Adding custom fields to users

Admins and agents with permissions can create custom user fields to store additional customer details, enhancing user profiles. On Enterprise plans, visibility and editing permissions depend on custom roles. On other plans, fields are visible to all agents, but only those with full ticket access can edit them. You can also clone existing fields to streamline the setup process.





Admins and agents in custom roles with permissions can create numerous types of custom user fields and add them to user profiles
to store additional customer details.
On Enterprise plans and above, custom user fields are visible to agents based on
their custom role. In addition, agents must have the Manage user fields permission
enabled for their role to edit end user fields.
On all other plans, custom user fields are visible to all agents. Only agents
with access to all tickets can edit custom user fields for end users. They can also edit
these fields for themselves, but not other agents.
End users can’t see or edit custom user fields.
This article contains the following topics:
Creating custom user fields
Cloning custom user fields


Related articles:
Managing custom user fields
Recipe for the customer-centric company: Collect customer insights and
act on them




Creating custom user fields

Administrators and agents in custom roles with permission can create
user custom fields.

To add a custom user field
In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Configuration > User fields.
Click Add field.
Select a field type. For information about the field types, see About custom field types. Credit card fields are not
supported for users.

Enter a Display name. When naming custom fields, don't use reserved system or
feature names such as "channel." These names are reserved by Zendesk and won't work in
custom fields.

Verify that the field key is the value you want it to be. A field key enables
the custom field to be referenced in placeholders and the API. When you enter a name
for the field, the field key is automatically populated. If you want the name and key
to be different, you must edit the field key. You can't change the field key after you
create the custom user field.

Note: Avoid using id,
name, tags, details, role, and notes for field
keys, as these are used by system fields and can cause issues if they overlap. For a
complete list of standard system user properties, see the Zendesk placeholder documentation.

(Optional) Add a Description for the custom field. This is visible to admins
only.
Set other properties for your field. Options vary depending on the type of field you
are adding.

Field option (checkbox fields only, optional): Enter a tag to apply to a ticket when the checkbox is selected.


Field validation (regex fields only): Enter a regular expression to create an input mask to validate entry.


Field values (drop-down and multi-select fields):
Enter a value for each option to include in the list, along with an
associated tag. Each tag must be unique (see Understanding tags and
fields). You can bulk import field values if
you have a large number to add. Click the X to remove a
value.

Click Sort ascending or use the grabber icon ( ) to manually reorder the field
values.
To create a nested drop-down list, separate categories and values with a
double colon (::). See Organizing drop-down
lists.



Related object and Set a filter (lookup relationship fields
only) Select the type of object to relate, and optionally define filters that
restrict possible values for the field. See Adding lookup relationship
fields.



(Enterprise plans only) Select an option for Select how field permissions are
assigned to role:
Select All roles can view this field to make the field visible to agents in
all custom roles.
Select Manually assign permissions for existing roles to make the field
visible to agents in select custom roles. Then, select the View check box for
each role to give agents in that role view permissions.

See Managing custom user fields for more
information on view permissions, including limitations.

Click Save or, to create another custom field, click the drop-down icon and
select Save and add another. New fields are active by default and are added to
all users.

If needed, you can reorder your custom user fields.





Cloning custom user fields

Administrators and agents in custom roles with permission can create new custom fields from
scratch or clone existing user fields and modify them as needed.

To clone a custom user field
In Admin Center, click
People in the sidebar, then select Configuration > User fields.
Hover over the row of the user field you want to clone, then click the option menu
icon ( ) and select Clone. A detailed view of the user
field's settings is displayed.

Edit the Display name and Field key so that they are unique. The field
key is populated by the field name, but you can edit it when creating the custom
field. You can't change the field key after the custom field is created. The field key
can be used to reference the custom field in placeholders and the API.

Set any other options for your field and review permissions (Enterprise plans only),
depending on the type.
Click Save. New user fields are active by default and are added to all
organizations.

If needed, you can reorder your custom user fields.