Managing custom fields

Through custom fields, you can have ideas display fields that are customized for your community. For example, you could create a dropdown field that lists specific areas of interest to your community — people would select the area to which their idea applies.

Fastpath: Admin Console: Ideas > Idea Settings > Custom Fields
Note: Deleting a custom field removes all data corresponding to that field from the system. Other aspects of ideas are unaffected.

Available field types

A custom field can be one of several types. You should choose a type that best suits the kind of information the field will capture. For example, if the field will contain the answer to a "yes or no" question, then using the Check box type (which people can select for "Yes") is more preferable than a Text type (where people would type "Yes").

The field types are available:

Text
A small box in which users can type a brief amount of text.
Text area
A larger box for typing larger amounts of text. In this box, the text wraps and the box itself can be made larger or smaller by the person typing in it.
Drop down
A collapsible list of values from which a person can choose only one.
Radio button
A set of option buttons from which a user can choose only one.
Check box
One or more boxes from which a user can select any number.

Note that the Drop down, Radio button, and Check box types provide multiple selections. For each of these types, you can specify a list of options that people in the community should see when they're editing the field in an idea.