Setting up custom fields

The following standard profile fields are built into mCommons:

• Age
• Date
• Gender
• Number
• Text
• Time of Day
• Yes/No

You can add any number of custom fields in order to build a more detailed data set that will enhance your company's ability to segment user groups, target prospective subscribers, and improve the reporting metrics.

Tip: Avoid using spaces in the custom field name, because spaces are not recognized in Liquid conversations and mail merges. So, if you add custom field with a space (for example, birth date), then you will need to replace the space with an underscore (for example, birth_date) in your Liquid conversations and mail merges. For more information, see Personalizing your message.

To set up custom fields:

• Add a new custom field

• Upload custom fields

• Edit a custom field

• Delete a custom field

For more information, see Working with custom fields.

Adding a new custom field

To add a new custom field:

1. Select Home in the left pane, and then select Custom Fields.

   The Custom Fields table lists the custom fields in the profile form.

2. Select in the upper-right corner to open the "New Custom Field" window:

   

3. Enter a descriptive name and a brief description for the new field.

   Note: Even though this name is available to internal users only, take the opportunity to assign a descriptive name that is meaningful to your organization.

4. Select the data type for content that will populate the new field:

   • Text

   • Date

   • Gender

   • Number

   • Age

   • Yes or No

   • Time of Day

   • Anniversary

   • Identity

5. When you are done, select the Create button.

Uploading custom fields

To upload a CSV file with custom fields:

1. Create a CSV file with the following column headings:

   Heading	Description
   name	Name of the new custom field
   description	(optional) Description of the custom field
   data_type	One of the following data type values: text date gender number age yes or no time of day anniversary identity

   Tip: Be sure to save the file in CSV format; other file types will not be accepted.

2. Select Home in the left pane, and then select Custom Fields.

3. From the Actions drop-down list on the right, select Bulk Upload Fields.

4. Select Choose File, navigate to select the CSV file to upload, and then select Open.

5. To validate the custom fields to add, select Preview Columns.

   The Custom Column: Preview tables list the valid fields that you can add to the profile form and any invalid custom fields that will not be added to the profile form.

   Note: To fix invalid custom fields, select upload a corrected file to return to the Custom Column page. Update the CSV file, and then upload it again. Select Preview Columns to validate.

6. When all of the fields to add have been validated, select Create Columns in the upper-right corner.

Editing a custom field

1. Select Home in the left pane, and then select Custom Fields.

2. Locate the custom field in the Custom Fields table, select Menu at the end of the row, and then select Edit.

   The Edit Custom Field form opens.

3. Make your changes to the form. For more information, see Adding a new custom field.

4. When you are done, select Update.

Deleting a custom field

Caution: Use caution when deleting a custom field. Deleting a custom field also clears the custom field values in the user profiles.

1. Select Home in the left pane, and then select Custom Fields.

2. Locate the custom field in the Custom Fields table, select Menu at the end of the row, and then select Delete.

3. Select OK to confirm.