Custom Fields
iKnow gives us the ability to store a lot of useful information, about every person in our database, but there may be some things that are not available, in the fields that have been made available. Custom Fields allow us to add the extra fields that we may need.
Access Custom Fields
To access Custom Fields, we need to go to Settings, in the menu, and click Custom Fields.
The first time we access Custom Fields, we will see that there is a section already set up, called Default People. This section contains all the fields that are used in the Add Adult, or Add Child, pages, and also on the Edit Person page of a person’s profile. We can see all the fields listed, by clicking the arrow on the right of the section header.
Many of the fields have a blue person icon on the left, and a green tick icon on the right.
The blue person icon indicates that the field is available in the Me section, so people can update the field when they log in to iKnow, by clicking the dropdown menu at the top right, and clicking their name.
If we don’t want people to be able to update these fields, in the Me section, we can click the blue person icon. An ‘x’ will appear next to the icon, to indicate it is not available in the Me section.
The green tick icon indicates that the field is available in the Add Adult, or Add Child, page, and in the Edit Person page. If we don’t want a field to be available in these locations, we’ll need to click the tick. The tick will be greyed out to indicate it is not available in those areas.
The sections that don’t have a blue person, or green tick icon, are mandatory fields and cannot be hidden.
The sections that have a green tick icon, but no blue person icon, are not available in the Me section.
There is also a padlock icon, next to the green tick icon. This can be used to lock the field, to prevent people from making changes to it, in the Me section, though will still be able to see it. To lock the field, we simply need to click the padlock icon. Clicking it again, will unlock the field.
Add Custom Fields
We can add our own Custom Fields, by clicking the Add New Section button, at the top of the page.
We will first need to add a Section, we can then add Fields to that Section.
The minimum information we need to add, to create a new Section, is a Section name. If we are a multi location church and this section is only relevant to a specific location, or locations, we can tick the checkbox next to the relevant location names, otherwise we can select All Campus.
We can decide if this Section will appear on all profiles, or just adults, or just children's profiles, by selecting the relevant option, from the dropdown menu.
If we want people to be able to complete the details on their own profile, we will need to switch on the toggle for Me.
To make the Section appear in the Add and Edit areas, we will need to click the switch next to Live. If we don’t choose to make the section Live, it won’t appear anywhere in iKnow.
We can then decide which Admin Groups will be able to View and Edit this Section. If we don’t select any Admin Groups, the section will not be visible to anyone, or editable by anyone.
Once we have completed all the options, we can click the Save button, to save our new Section.
To add Fields to our new Section, we need to click the Add New Field link. We will need to give our field, at least, a Name. We can then decide the type of field, by selecting from the options in the dropdown menu.
If we choose Select, Radio or Checkbox, we will see a new field appear, labelled Answers. We can add the different options for our dropdown, radio buttons or checkboxes, here.
As with Sections, we can decide whether this field will be available to everyone, just adults or just children, by choosing an option from the dropdown menu. We can also decide if the field will appear in the Me section, for the user to complete themselves, or not, as well as if the field is Live.
When we have completed the form, we can click the Add Field button, to add the field to our Section. We can then add subsequent fields, by clicking the Add New Field link.
View and complete Custom Fields
When we add our Custom Fields, we will see a new tab on people’s profiles, with the name of our new Section. If we click on this tab, we will see the new fields listed, along with any data that has been added to them.
To fill in the Custom Fields, click the Edit button on the person’s profile, and we will see the Custom Fields, on the Edit Person page.
If the fields have been set to be visible in the Me section, anyone with an iKnow log in can access them by clicking the dropdown menu, at the top right, and clicking their name.