Create reusable custom fields

Go to Settings > Advanced features > Custom fields and click New custom field. Define something like Employee ID or Department once, and it appears in the field tray for every document and template in the workspace, alongside the standard signature and text tiles.

Who can do this

Admins create and manage the library, on Business and above. Advanced features only appears in the settings nav for admins, and New custom field, Edit, Archive and Delete are admin-only actions. A manager or member who reaches the page gets the same table read-only, and either way they can drag any active custom field onto a document.

Create a custom field

1. Open Settings > Advanced features and click Configure on Custom fields.

2. Click New custom field.

   

3. Type a Name. This is the label your signers read. The Field key fills itself in from the name, in lowercase with underscores, and you can overwrite it any time before saving.

   

4. Pick a Type: Text, Long text, Number, Email, Phone, Date, Tickbox, Dropdown or Radio group. These sit alongside the built-in types in the field types reference.

5. For Dropdown and Radio group, list the choices in Options, one per line. At least two are needed. Write HR|hr when the value you want stored differs from the label you want shown.

6. Fill in whatever else helps. Placeholder (optional) is the ghost text in an empty field, Help text (optional) appears as a tooltip for the signer, and Internal description (optional) is a note for other admins that signers never see.

7. Tick Required by default if the field should normally be mandatory. Senders can still change that on an individual placement.

8. Click Create field.

Use a custom field on a document or template

In the prepare step of any document you send to someone else, or a template, the field tray has a Custom Fields section under the standard tiles. Drag a tile onto the page exactly as you would a signature or date box, and assign it to a recipient. Admins also get + New and Manage buttons in that section header, so a missing field can be created without leaving the draft. Placing fields in general is covered in place fields on your document.

Custom fields are always signer-filled. If you need a value you fill in yourself, they're the wrong tool and a standard field type is the right one.

What the library tells you

The table has a row per field with its Name, Key, Type, whether it is Required, its Status, and a Used in count of documents and templates. Search by name or key, and filter by type or by Active, Archived or All.

Every placement carries a snapshot of the definition as it stood at that moment. Editing a field here never rewrites a document that already exists. A live envelope stays exactly as the signer opened it. Once a field has been placed anywhere, its Field key and Type lock, and the dialog says how many placements caused that.

The row menu also offers Duplicate, useful when two fields differ by one option, and Archive, which pulls a field out of the tray while leaving existing placements alone. Restore brings it back. Delete appears only while Used in reads Unused. Nothing in play can be deleted by mistake.

If something goes wrong

• The Create field button reports a duplicate key. Another field in the workspace already uses that key. Keys are unique per workspace, so pick another.
• Options will not save. Dropdown and Radio group need at least two non-empty lines.
• The Custom Fields section is missing from the tray. Your plan does not include the feature, or there are no active fields and you are not an admin.
• A Dropdown or Radio group field is missing while you sign something yourself. Self-sign leaves those two types out. Send the document to a recipient instead.
• A field you archived is still on an old document. That's intended. Archiving hides it from the tray and leaves existing placements working.
• Delete is greyed out. The field is in use. Hover it and the tooltip names the number of placements. Archive it instead.
• Your signers see the key instead of the label. The Name is what they read. Check the row in the library and rename it there.