About custom fields and custom field types

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You can add custom fields for tickets, users, organizations, and custom objects.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can add custom fields to tickets, users, organizations, and custom objects to capture specific details. These fields support various types like drop-downs, checkboxes, dates, and relationships, enabling tailored data collection and use in automations, triggers, reports, and searches. Custom fields help organize information, improve workflows, and enhance reporting capabilities for support teams.</p>
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<div class="body">

<p class="p">You can add custom fields for tickets, users, organizations, and custom objects.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following sections:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_m42_2hb_2fc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dpz_bgb_2fc">About custom fields</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_inh_1gb_2fc">About custom field types</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dpz_bgb_2fc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About custom fields</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">Custom fields provide the flexibility necessary to capture a variety of customer, ticket,
organization, and custom object details. Not only can the additional information captured by
custom fields be useful for agents to see, but you can also use custom fields in the
following ways:<ul class="ul" id="topic_dpz_bgb_2fc__ul_pgx_m4b_2fc">
<li class="li">You can use drop-down list, multi-select, and checkbox custom fields that generate tags in automations, macros, triggers, reports, and views (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834953114" target="_blank">Understanding custom ticket fields, tags, and business
rules</a>).</li>
<li class="li">As placeholders in macros, ticket comments, and notification messages (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887218330#topic_nfp_nja_vb" target="_blank">Placeholders for custom fields</a>).</li>
<li class="li">In reporting (Professional and Enterprise plans) (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824384538" target="_blank">Reporting with custom fields</a>).</li>
<li class="li">In search (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883318554#topic_pyt_m1s_vk" target="_blank">Searching custom user and organization
fields</a>).</li>
<li class="li">Drop-down list, multi-select, and checkbox custom fields that generate tags can be
used in automations, macros, triggers, reports, and views (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834953114" target="_blank">Understanding custom ticket fields, tags, and business rules</a>).</li>
<li class="li">Lookup relationship fields can be used in triggers and views (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770#topic_pgk_llh_vtb" target="_blank">Using lookup relationship fields in triggers and
views</a>).</li>
<li class="li">Currency fields can be used in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7313293784218" target="_blank">object</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893545882" target="_blank">ticket</a> triggers.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">Custom user and organization fields are visible only to team members. End users can't see
them. However, admins can make ticket fields visible to end users in addition to team
members.</p>
<div class="p">You can create different <a class="xref" href="#topic_inh_1gb_2fc">types of custom
fields</a>. To get started with custom fields, see:<ul class="ul" id="topic_dpz_bgb_2fc__ul_gpz_bgb_2fc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883152794" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to your tickets</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822051866" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to users</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842677786" target="_blank">Adding custom fields to organizations</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5392409465370#topic_cq4_1sn_lwb" target="_blank">Defining a custom object's schema with custom
fields</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">About custom field types</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">The following table details the types of custom fields you can add.<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Some field types,
such as drop-down, multi-select, and checkbox, generate tags. Don't re-use tags across
custom fields. In the event that a tag is duplicated on a record, such as a ticket, the
fields associated with the tag become uneditable until the duplication is
removed.</div>
</div>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__table_wut_est_kc" rules="all" summary="">
<caption><span class="tablecap"><span class="table--title-label">Table 1. </span>Custom field types</span></caption>
<colgroup>
<col style="width:24.213075060532688%">
<col style="width:75.78692493946731%">
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Types</th>
<th class="entry cell-norowborder" id="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" colspan="2" headers="d89e174 d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Field types</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Checkbox</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This is used to capture a Yes/No value. Enter a tag to be added to the ticket
when the checkbox is selected. Use the tag to filter your views, triggers, and
automations.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_lfs_rhm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_checkbox.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Credit card</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This field allows users to enter a credit card number. Only the last four
digits are visible to agents and stored by Zendesk.<div class="p">
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Credit card fields are not supported in user and organization
fields.</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Currency</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This field type is supported for custom objects only. <p class="p">This field allows
users to accurately store financial data in Zendesk. Admins choose the currency
for the field. For a list of supported currencies, see <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/custom-data/v2/currency-fields#supported-currency-codes" target="_blank">Supported currency codes</a>.</p>
<p class="p">After
records are created using a currency field, only the name of the field is
editable.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Date</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Custom date fields allow your users to select a date from a date picker.
Users can choose the current date or any date in the past or future.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_j2f_jdv_m4" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/date_field.png" width="200"></p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The
formatting of the field value and calendar differs based on the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822762650" target="_blank">language selected in a user's profile</a>.
However, the date is always saved in the <code class="ph codeph">YYYY-MM-DD</code>
format.</div>
<p class="p">If you use webhooks or other
methods to change a custom date field in tickets, do not include hours or a
timezone. It will cause an error.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Decimal</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This is for numbers that contain decimals. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_ona_rhm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_decimal.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Drop-down</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This field enables you to create a list of options for users to select. Each
option is a combination of a title and a tag. The title is displayed to users and
the tag is used as a ticket property that you can use in business rules. You can
create up to 2,000 values in a custom drop-down list, with a maximum length of 255
characters per field. <p class="p">You can select which field
appears as the default option in the drop-down list or choose to not display a
field value as a default. </p>
<p class="p">Configuring a default option applies only to
new tickets created by agents in Agent Workspace or created by users wherever
the ticket form is displayed. If you change an existing ticket form to one that
contains a drop-down list with a default option, the default option is not
displayed. </p>
<p class="p">You can organize drop-down list
options into categories. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829395738" target="_blank">Organizing drop-down list
options</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_buh_sgm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_dropdown.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Multi-line</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This is a multiple line text input. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_zup_phm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_textarea.png" width="200"></p>
<p class="p">The
character limit for this field is 65,536.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Multi-select</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This field allows users to choose multiple options from a predetermined list.
You can create up to 2,000 values in a custom multi-select list.<p class="p">You can
organize options into categories (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829395738" target="_blank">Organizing drop-down list
options</a>).</p>
<img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_o5z_sh4_2cb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/multi-select_field_option.png" width="225">
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Numeric</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This is for simple numeric input (no decimals). Values entered in custom
number fields for organizations, users, and custom objects can't exceed 12 digits.
There are no restrictions on the length of values in custom number fields for
tickets.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_gvh_qhm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_numeric.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Regex</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">You can enter a regular expression to create an input mask to validate proper
entry of numbers in fixed patterns (telephone numbers, zip codes, social security
numbers, etc). <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_jit_shm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_regexp.png" width="200"></p>
<p class="p">Here's
a regular expression for a U.S. social security number. This expression requires
three sets of numbers (0-9 only) in a pattern of 3-2-4 and each separated by a
dash:</p>
<p class="p"> \b[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4}\b</p>
<div class="p">Other common regular
expressions include:<ul class="ul" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__ul_nwv_rz4_knb">
<li class="li">URL validation:<p class="p">
^(http|https):\/\/[a-z0-9]+([-.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*\.[a-z]{2,5}(([0-9]{1,5})?\/.*)?$</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Five-digit zip codes:<p class="p"> \b[0-9]{5}(?:-[0-9]{4})?\b</p>
</li>
<li class="li">yyyy-mm-dd date:<p class="p">
\b([0-9]{4})-(1[0-2]|0?[1-9])-(3[0-1]|[1-2][0-9]|0?[1-9])\b</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">Regular expressions can't exceed 255 characters.</p>
<p class="p">For more
information about regular expressions, see <a class="xref" href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/regular-expression-language-quick-reference" target="_blank">Regular Expressions Language - Quick Reference</a> on the
Microsoft website. Zendesk uses Ruby to process regular expressions, which might
vary slightly from other language implementations. For differences, see <a class="xref" href="https://www.regular-expressions.info/ruby.html" target="_blank">Using Regular Expressions with Ruby</a> on the
regular-expressions.info website.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Roll-up summary</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Roll-up summary fields are read-only fields that can be added to parent
objects in a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10689819118746" target="_blank">parent-child relationship</a>. They provide an
aggregate calculation of the associated child records. For example, a parent
<em class="ph i">Service record</em> record could have a roll-up summary field named <em class="ph i">Total
cost</em>, which reflects the sum of all associated child <em class="ph i">Line item</em>
records.<p class="p">Values are re-calculated any time a child record is created, deleted,
or the child record's summarized field is updated.</p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10689819118746#topic_sl2_2kf_2jc" target="_blank">Adding roll-up summary fields to parent
objects</a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Text</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">This is a simple single line text input.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_ggo_ohm_rc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/customfields_text.png" width="200"></p>
<p class="p">The
character limit for this field is 65,536.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" colspan="2" headers="d89e174 d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Relationship field types</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Lookup</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Lookup fields allow admins to define custom relationships that can exist
between tickets, users, organizations, and custom objects. Team members can then
establish those relationships while working on tickets, editing user profiles,
editing organizations, or managing custom objects. Additionally, for custom
objects, admins can define relationships with brands and articles. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4591924111770" target="_blank">Using lookup relationship fields</a>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_oqm_psx_wtx" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/lookup-relationship-field-example.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Multi-lookup</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Multi-lookup fields allow admins to define custom relationships between
multiple tickets and multiple records of another
object. Team members can then establish those relationships while working on
tickets.<div class="note" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__note_igy_m5v_gkc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Multi-lookup fields are supported for
tickets only, and available on Zendesk Suite Professional plans and above and
Support Enterprise plans.</div>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_inh_1gb_2fc__image_by5_s1d_jkc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/multi-lookup-relationship-field-example.png" width="200"></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d89e174" style="vertical-align:top;">Parent-child</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e177" style="vertical-align:top;">Parent-child fields allow admins to define a hierarchical relationship
between custom objects. Child objects share data and permissions with the parent
object. For example, orders could have a parent relationship to a child object for
line items.<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Parent-child fields are supported for custom objects only, and
available on Zendesk Suite Professional plans and above and Support Enterprise
plans.</div>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10689819118746" target="_blank">Defining parent-child relationships for custom
objects</a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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