• Contact fields vs. specialized fields
• Adding and modifying database fields
• Field types
• Field settings
• Making fields required or mandatory
• Preventing members from updating fields
• Adding choices to multi-option fields
• Extra charge calculation fields
• Rules and terms fields
• Internal use fields
• Restricting fields by membership levels
• Adding field instructions
• Changing the field type
Everyone in your WildApricot database is a contact. A contact can be a member, an event attendee, a donor, a newsletter subscriber, or any combination of these roles.
You can customize your contact database – and your forms – by adding, modifying, reordering, and deleting database fields.
In addition to their contact record, each contact can also have a membership record, and one or more event registration records or donation records.
Contact fields vs. specialized fields
WildApricot database fields are divided into two classes: contact fields – fields that apply to all contacts (e.g. first name, last name, email address) – and specialized fields that only apply to membership applications, event registrations, or donations.
Contact fields were previously known as common fields.
To customize a form, you can add or remove fields.
The values entered in contact fields on membership application forms will update the corresponding fields in the applicant's contact record.
Adding and modifying database fields
You can add any number of contact fields or other database fields. Contact fields are automatically included in all forms (membership, event, and donation forms).
You can set Membership fields to apply only to members at specific membership levels.
You can create Donation fields that are only used on donation forms.
If you create a consent field for the purpose of obtaining recipient consent for text/SMS messages from your organization, this must be a Contact field. The text messaging consent contact field you create must be on a publicly accessible form with an easily verifiable location for WildApricot's compliance reviewers.
You can view, add, or modify your database fields using the sidebar menu in the Admin view of your account.
For | Navigate to |
---|---|
Contact fields | Contacts > Contact fields |
Membership fields | Members > Membership fields |
Donation fields | Donations > Settings |
Event fields | Navigate to the specific event's details page, click the Registration form tab, and click Edit. |
Note: Registration forms and Event fields are only available for events that are not Simple RSVP events. If an event is a Simple RSVP event, the Registration form tab will not appear, and Event fields will not be available for that event.
Adding a field
To add a new field, click Add new field.
For new fields, you can set the field type and change field settings (see below).
Modifying a field
To modify an existing field, click the field's name within the list.
With the field selected, you can change various field settings but not the field type.
Deleting a field
To delete a field, click it within the list, then click the delete link on the right.
You cannot delete system fields (Member ID, First name, Last name, Organization, Email, and Phone). You can, however, hide a system field (other than Member ID or Email) by selecting For administrator access only in Options.
After you delete a field, you must click Save all changes for the deletion to take effect.
Note: Deleting a field will automatically delete all data stored in that field for all contacts.
Reordering fields
To change the order in which fields appear, you can drag and drop fields within the list, or you can click the green up and down arrows beside a field. Both options appear when you hover your mouse over the field name within the list.
Field types
Choose the field Type when you create a new field. You cannot change the type for an existing field.
Important note: It is not possible to change a field's Type after the field has been created and saved. To change a field's Type, you must delete the old field and create a new one.
The following field types are available:
Text
Simple text field, used for short entries (up to 200 characters).
Multiline text
Used for longer text entries (up to 3,000 characters).
Multiple choice
A set of checkboxes (up to 100 characters per item). For instructions on adding choices, see Adding choices to multi-option fields below.
Radio buttons
A set of mutually exclusive choices (up to 100 characters per item), arranged like buttons on a car radio. For instructions on adding choices, see Adding choices to multi-option fields below.
Multiple choice with extra charge (Event and membership fields only)
Allows you to provide optional extras (displayed as checkboxes) at an additional cost. For more information, see Extra membership costs and Extra event registration costs.
Radio buttons with extra charge (Event and membership fields only)
Allows you to display a set of mutually exclusive options at an additional cost. For more information, see Extra membership costs and Extra event registration costs.
Number
The Number field type accepts numbers as input, and the data is recognized as numeric data in exports. With a Number field type, you can use numeric data as a database filter and search your database by such factors as contact age, years of membership, or any other numeric data. For additional details, see Numeric field types.
Numeric extra charge (Event and membership fields only)
The Numeric extra charge field type is available for use within Members and Events. With this field type, you can provide the opportunity for your users to add an arbitrary cash amount to a membership application or event registration. This is perfect for providing and promoting donation opportunities for members and registrants. The field is currency-based, recognizes two decimal places, and is recognized as a numeric value in exports.
Extra charge calculation (Event and membership fields only )
Provides the ability to order multiple items, or to charge an additional fee proportional to a value entered by the applicant or registrant. For organizational members, you might want to charge an extra fee based on their revenue, number of staff, or grants they've received. For more information, see Extra charge calculation fields (below).
Dropdown
A set of mutually exclusive choices, arranged in a drop-down list. For instructions on adding choices, see Adding choices to multi-option fields below.
File attachment
Allows membership applicants and event registrants to upload files, and/or administrators to upload files to their accounts. The supported document types are: TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PTT, PPTX, ZIP, CSV. The supported image types are: JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF, TIFF.
File attachment fields cannot be displayed within a member directory, or included in emails using a macro.
For more information on using file attachment fields, click here.
Picture
(Contact and membership fields only) Used to display a photo, company logo, or online avatar. This field supports the following file types: JPG, GIF, PNG and TIF. Images uploaded to photo fields will be stored at maximum a size of 110 x 110 pixels regardless of the original uploaded image size. If the image isn't square, the proportion will be maintained and one of the dimensions will be less than 110 pixels. If you want your members to be able to upload full-sized images, use the File attachment file type. For more information, see Adding member or contact pictures.
Rules and terms
A checkbox with a link to a page displaying the terms of use, bylaws, or contractual conditions that apply to your site. For more information, see Rules and terms field below.
Date
Displays a calendar control that can be used to select a date.
Section divider
Used to group and separate fields. The field label you choose will appear as a section heading, but only if there are fields below it.
To change the field type for an existing field, export all contacts to an Excel file, delete the field, re-create it as a new field type, then re-import the saved Excel file.
Field settings
You can change field settings for new and existing fields. Field settings appear when you click a field within the list.
The following settings are available for one or more field types:
Field label
Field types: All
The name used to identify the field, or the label for the section divider. The field label must be unique among your database fields, and is not case sensitive.
Required field
Field types: All except section divider
Controls whether the field has to be filled out before the form can be submitted. For all self-service online forms, (member application, email subscription, donation, and event registration), the Email field is always a required field.
For administrator access only
Field types: All contact fields except section divider
Identifies this as an internal field that can only be seen or edited by an administrator. For more information, see Internal use fields (below).
Items
Field types: Multiple choice, radio buttons, dropdown
Choose the options to be displayed. For more information, see Adding choices to multi-option fields below.
Applications
Field types: Extra charge membership fields
Indicate whether to include in new membership application forms. If enabled, you can also control whether the cost should be prorated over a partial period of time.
Renewals
Field types: Extra charge membership fields
Indicate whether to include in the membership renewal form. If enabled, you can also control whether members can change their original selection when renewing.
Member access
Field types: All membership fields except section divider
Controls whether the member is allowed to view or modify their own values for this field. The following choices are available:
- Edit in own profile
Members can edit the field by logging into their account and editing their private member profiles. - Edit in application
Members can only edit the field when filling in the application form. - View only
Members can view the contents of the field but only an administrator can change it. - No access
Administrator-only field that is hidden from members and the public. For more information, see Internal use fields (below).
Others access
Field types: All except section divider
Controls whether other members or public visitors can view the contents of this field. The choice you make is used as the default privacy setting that appears for the field on the Member privacy settings screen, and on the Privacy tab of individual contact records and private member profiles. From the Privacy tab on their member profiles, members (and logged in contacts) can change the default privacy settings for individual fields, unless you have locked them down on the Member privacy settings screen. From the Member privacy settings screen, you can change the default privacy settings for individual fields and optionally, force those changes onto individual contact records.
Setting this to No access will not stop members from editing their own values for this field, and will not stop the field from appearing in the membership application form.
Use in
Field types: All membership fields except section divider
Determines whether the field applies to all membership levels or is restricted to one or more specific membership levels. For more information, see Restricting fields by membership levels (below).
Donation options
Field types: Amount donation field
Allows you to control how the donor indicates the donation amount. For more information, see Donation forms.
Multiplier
Field types: Extra charge calculation
Determines the value to be applied to the visitor's entered value, and whether the multiplier is the unit cost or a percentage. For more information, see Using the extra charge calculation field (below).
Limit order to
Field types: Extra calculation
For extra charge calculation fields where the multiplier is the unit cost, determines the minimum and maximum number of items that can be ordered. For extra charge calculation fields where the multiplier is a percentage, determines the minimum and maximum resulting charge. For more information, see Using the extra charge calculation field (below).
Field instructions
Field types: All except section divider
Instructions explaining how to use this field. For information on controlling the appearance of field instructions, see Adding field instructions (below).
Making fields required or mandatory
If you want to make a field required or mandatory, so that the field has to be filled out before the form can be submitted, click the Required field checkbox within the field settings. For all self-service online forms, (member application, email subscription, donation, and event registration), the Email field is always required.
Preventing members from updating fields
You can stop members from updating a particular membership field by unchecking the In own profile option within the Member access section of the settings for that field.
You cannot stop members from updating the contents of contact fields.
Adding choices to multi-option fields
When you create a field using the Multiple choice, Radio buttons, or Dropdown type, you add items that represent choices for the user.
(Extra charges fields use a different approach. For information, see Extra membership costs and Extra event registration costs.)
Using the Items text box, you add one item per line, up to 100 characters per item. (Press Enter on your keyboard to move to the next line). You can also paste text from another program to speed up text entry.
There are some pre-defined lists that you can use to add large sets of choices:
- U.S. states
- Canadian provinces
- Countries
To use one of these lists, select the one you want to use from the list box labeled Select pre-defined value to insert then click Insert.
Once you are finished populating your list, click Done to save your list. You still need to click the Save all changes button at the top of the screen to finalize all the changes to this and any other fields you might have added or modified.
After you click Done, new options appear to allow you to manage your list.
The following options apply to the entire list:
- Sort
Sorts the list by alphabetical order. The first click will sort it from A to Z. A second click will sort it from Z to A. - Add multiple items
Opens a window with a text box where you can multiple items one line at a time. Existing items will not appear in the list. New items will be added to the bottom of the list. You can move them individually or use the Sort button to re-sort the list. - Clear
Removes all items from the list.
If you click on an item within the list, you can change its text. As well, the following options now appear beside the item:
Moves the item up or down within the list.
Adds a new item below the selected one. You can also add a new item to the bottom of the list by clicking on the Add new item link at the top of the item list.
Removes the item.
Select/deselects the item as the default choice. Radio buttons and drop-downs can only have one default selection, while checkboxes can have multiple items selected by default.
You can reorder items within multi-option fields on an event registration form without affecting choices already entered and stored for event registrants. If you rename an item, existing choices will appear under the new name. Deleting an item, however, will remove that selection for all registrants who chose it.
Extra charge calculation field
The extra charge calculation field is similar to the multiple choice with extra charge field and the radio buttons with extra charge field, but allows you to specify a unit cost for multiple orders, or apply a percentage to charge dynamic fees based on some factor.
For example, you might want to provide an option to purchase any number of t-shirts, or charge a variable membership or event fee based on organization size or income.
The unit cost or percentage is applied to the value entered by the applicant or registrant in the membership application form or event registration form.
The first step in setting up a calculated extra charge field is to choose whether to specify a unit cost or a percentage to be applied to the entered value. To do so, click the dropdown that initially displays the currency you choose in your online payment settings...
...and choose the currency if you want to specify a unit cost, or percent if you want to apply a percentage to the entered value.
If you choose the currency so you can specify a unit cost, you can also specify the minimum and maximum number of items you visitor can order.
Values below the minimum or above the maximum will not be accepted.
If you are applying a percentage, you can specify a minimum and a maximum resulting value.
Values entered by the applicant or registrant that result in charge below the minimum or above the maximum will be automatically adjusted to fit within the limits.
Rules and terms fields
The Rules and terms field is a special field that displays a checkbox along with a link to a page displaying the terms of use or contractual conditions that apply to your site.
Adding it to a membership form, for example, allows you to require applicants to acknowledge certain policies before applying for membership.
To set up a Rules and terms field, you enter the text for the link (e.g. I agree to the terms of use) and provide a link to the webpage or document with the actual rules and terms, which you must create separately yourself.
For example, you might enter a website address such as www.example.com/terms or a file location like /resources/terms.pdf.
Make sure the link address you enter is a publicly accessible location.
Internal use fields
You may want to track information about your contacts without sharing the information with them or anyone else. To do so, you can set a field as internal use only.
For example:
- You want to track whether people attended the events they have registered for, so you create a field called Event attended and mark their attendance in the field on their Event registration details screen.
- You want to recruit more female members, so you add a field called Gender to track this information.
You can make any contact or membership field you create an internal use field by setting access to For administrator access only (for contact fields) or Internal use only (for membership fields).
Administrator-only fields are displayed under Internal use on the Contact details screen. You can click the Edit button to modify internal use field values for a contact.
Any time a contact fills out an application, records a donation, or registers for an event, the internal use fields and their values for that contact are copied to the registration, application, or donation record.
The following fields cannot be set as internal use only:
- User Id (aka Member Id)
Restricting fields by membership levels
You can restrict membership fields to specific membership levels.
To restrict a membership field to one or more membership levels, follow these steps:
- Select the field within the list of membership fields.
- Under Use in, click Selected levels.
- Check each of the membership levels you want this field to apply to.
A lock icon will appear to indicate that the field is restricted to particular membership levels.
To quickly review which fields belong to what level you can filter the membership fields by membership level. You can display all fields, fields for a particular membership level, or fields common to all membership levels. - Save your changes.
Adding field instructions
You can add instructions to individual form fields explaining how to use them. On some forms, such as application forms, certain fields can require more explanation than a field label can provide.
The instructions will only appear when the form is being filled out.
From the Colors and styles screen, you can change the overall appearance of field instructions – typeface, size, color, etc. – but you cannot apply local formatting (such as bolding individual words).
Where can I add field instructions?
You can add field instructions to fields appearing on online forms provided by WildApricot. You cannot add field instructions to custom forms.
You can add field instructions to:
- contact fields
- memberships fields
- event fields
- donation fields
How do I add field instructions?
When adding or modifying a field, enter the instructional text in the Field instructions box towards the bottom.
You can enter up to 250 characters per field, and use the Enter key to add line breaks. You cannot use HTML code or any other kind of local formatting.
Changing the appearance of field instructions
On the Colors and styles screen, you can change the appearance of field instructions on your site. You can control the typeface, text size, color, and other attributes.
You cannot change the appearance of individual instructions or selected words within a set of instructions.
To control the appearance of field instructions, follow these steps:
- Within the Website module, click Colors and styles.
- Expand the General formatting section.
- Expand the Form section.
- Expand the Field explanation section.
- Adjust the following settings.
Font family
Typeface used to display the text.
Font size
The size of the text. You can specify the font size in pixels, points, or ems.
Font weight
Whether the text is bold or not.
Font style
Whether the text is italicized or not.
Text decoration
Whether the text is underlined or not.
Font color
The color of the text. - Click Save.
The attributes you specify will be applied to all field instructions on your site.
Changing the field type
There is no easy way to change the field type after creating a field, or to change a field from a contact field to a membership field. However, the following workaround can achieve this goal.
- Export your entire contact list to Excel. Though no changes are necessary to the export file, we recommended that you re-import only the User ID and the specific field(s) you want to update. All other columns/fields in your Excel file can be deleted.
- Within WildApricot, delete the field you want to change and save your changes.
- Create a new field with the same name as the deleted field, but as the kind of field you want, and save your changes. (Make sure the field name is not used anywhere in your system e.g. for an event field or a donation field.)
- Import the Excel file you created in Step 1.