How custom fields and field visibility work

The short version

Custom fields let you capture information that MapleGather doesn’t include by default. Each field has a field category that controls which admins see it: every admin sees fields in General, and only admins whose role includes a category see fields in that category. You can change a field’s category at any time. Settings for whether members can edit a field, see it in the directory, or fill it in at signup aren’t available in Settings → Member fields yet.

How it works

Custom fields extend the standard record

Every member record includes standard fields: name, email, phone, address, date of birth, and pronouns. Custom fields let you add anything else your org tracks — professional credentials, dietary preferences, committee assignments, donation preferences, t-shirt sizes, and so on.

Your org can create as many custom fields as needed. For a complete list of field types and their settings, see Member database custom field settings reference. Fields are defined once and appear on every member record in the order you choose.

Member access settings

The add and edit forms for a custom field set its Label, Type, Category and Sensitive switch. Settings for whether members can edit the field on their own profile, whether other members can see it in the directory, and whether it appears on the public signup form aren’t available in Settings → Member fields yet.

Field categories decide which admins see a field

Every custom field belongs to one field category. New fields start in General, and so do fields nobody has put in another category. MapleGather suggests Finance, Comms and Events, and your organization can add its own.

Each admin role lists the categories its admins can see:

• General is always included, so every admin sees General fields.
• An admin with more than one role sees every category any of their roles includes.
• A category that none of your roles includes stays hidden from you. A brand-new category is seen only by admins whose role includes every category, until you add it to other roles.
• Org Owner includes every category, including categories added later.

A field in a category your roles don’t include is hidden from you everywhere: it isn’t on member or organization records, it isn’t in Settings → Member fields, and you can’t choose it when you export. On a member record, a line such as + 2 fields hidden by your role tells you how many fields you can’t see. It never names them.

Categories are about admins only. They don’t change what members see. A field can be member-visible and still be in a category, in which case members see it and admins without the category don’t.

Who can use which category. You can put a field only in a category your own roles include, and you can give a role only categories your own roles include. Only an admin who sees every category, such as an Org Owner, can create a new category — by typing it on a field (New category) or adding it to a role (Add a category). A category exists as soon as one field or role uses it. Names are matched exactly, so “finance” and “Finance” are different categories.

Sensitive fields. Turn on a field’s Sensitive switch to hide its value from admins — on member records, in the duplicate-merge screen and in member data read through the MapleGather API — until an admin whose role includes the Reveal sensitive field values permission selects Reveal, which shows one value and records the reveal in the audit log. A sensitive field is never shown in a member directory and can’t be added to an application form. A member contact export can include its values only for admins whose role includes the Export sensitive fields permission, and only when they choose that column; the export is recorded in the audit log. Members still see and edit their own sensitive values if the field lets them.

Field order and the signup form

Fields appear on member records and signup forms in the order set in Settings → Member fields. To move a field, focus its Reorder field handle (⠿) on the row, press Space to pick it up, use the Up and Down arrow keys to move it, and press Space again to drop it. Dragging rows with the mouse isn’t available.

What happens when you change a field’s type

Changing a field’s type converts the answers already stored. MapleGather sorts every change into one of two kinds:

• Changes that keep every value — for example Single choice → Multiple choice, or Short text → Long text. These are applied straight away and the stored answers are converted in the background. If something looks wrong, you can revert the change from the field itself for 48 hours after the conversion finishes.
• Changes that could lose values — for example Long text → Short text with a lower limit, or Short text → Number. MapleGather first checks the stored answers, then tells you how many records would be truncated or cleared and lists up to five of them. Nothing changes until you type the field’s name to confirm, and a confirmed change can’t be undone. A narrower type always asks for this confirmation, even when no record is affected.

What happens when you delete a field

Deleting a field removes it from all member records. Restoring a deleted field isn’t available — the field list has no Recently deleted section or Restore control — so treat a delete as permanent.

A field that’s referenced by a membership-level signup form can’t be deleted until you remove it from those forms first.

Why it works this way

Separation of admin and member views

Members have a right to see their own information, but not everything admins track internally. Some fields are for members to manage themselves, some are for admin reference only, and some are shared.

Admin-only fields and admin access

Admin-only fields keep internal information away from members. Field categories separate admins from one another: a finance note can sit in a Finance category that only your finance admins’ role includes. Categories are closed by default — a new category is hidden from every role except those that include every category, until you add it — so moving a field into a new category never shows it to more admins than before.

Edge cases and boundaries

• A field’s category doesn’t affect members. Whether members see a field depends only on its member-access settings.
• If a member completes a signup form that includes a required custom field, that field has a value from the start. If you later remove the field from the signup form, the existing values on records are unaffected.
• File and image fields export as secure download URLs (valid for 24 hours), not as the files themselves.
• Exports follow field categories. An admin can export only the fields in categories their roles include; a field in any other category isn’t offered, and an export that asks for one is refused.
• When you fulfill a member’s request for a copy of their own data, the file includes all of that member’s custom field values, whatever their category.
• If you preview the portal as a member, you still see only the fields in categories your roles include.

Put it into practice

• To create or edit fields, go to Settings → Member fields.
• To keep a field away from some admins, put it in a category that only their roles leave out.
• To let a custom role see a category, open the role and use its Field categories section. See Create a custom role.
• See Member database custom field settings reference for a complete description of every setting.