User fields

Admin › People › User Fields is where you add fields of your own to every person's profile, for the details your district tracks that schoolOS doesn't have a field for: a badge number, a locker, a shirt size, the certifications someone holds.

Each field you add shows on every profile in your account, in the order you set here. Fill it in when you add someone, on the profile, or bring it in with Import Users. On Admin › People › Users each field is a column you can turn on and a filter, and in reports it's a field you can break people down or filter by.

Who can use it#

• View people fields (user-fields.view) or View people (users.view) opens the page and shows the fields.
• Manage people fields (user-fields.manage) adds, changes, reorders and archives them. It's part of Full access to Users on Admin › People › Roles.
• Filling in a field on someone's profile needs Update people (users.edit), like the rest of their profile. People can't fill in their own.
• Filling in fields while adding someone needs Add people (users.create), like the rest of New user.

schoolOS staff, who don't belong to an account, pick one from Account at the top of the page to see and change its fields.

Add a field#

1. Select New field, at the top right.
2. Type the field's Name. This is what people see on the person.
3. Pick its Type. It can't change once the field is saved.
4. Check the Key. It's made from the name, like badge_number. Type your own if you like: lowercase letters, numbers and underscores, starting with a letter. Imports match columns to it, and it can't change once the field is saved.
5. For a Dropdown or Multi-select, add its options. Type each one and press Enter or select Add. It needs at least one.
6. Tick Required when someone edits a person if the field must be filled in.
7. Select Add field. It goes after the fields you already have; drag it by its handle, or use the arrows in Order, to move it.

The field types are the same as asset fields:

| Type | What it holds | | --- | --- | | Single-line text | A line of text. | | Multi-line text | Longer text, with line breaks. | | Checkbox | Yes or no. | | Dropdown | One of the options you set. | | Multi-select | Any number of the options you set. | | Date | A date. | | Number | A whole number. | | Decimal | A number with decimals. |

Which type should I choose?#

The type decides how the field filters and reports, and it can't change later, so pick it for how you'll use the answers.

| Choose | When | Example | | --- | --- | --- | | Dropdown | Everyone gets exactly one answer from a short list you control. It filters with is any of and breaks down cleanly in reports. | Badge status: Issued, Lost, Replaced. | | Multi-select | People can have several answers from the list. | Certifications: CPR, Forklift, Bus driver. | | Checkbox | The answer is yes or no. Unset counts as No in filters. | Signed the device agreement. | | Date | You'll want "between these dates", like what's expiring. | Background check expires. | | Number or Decimal | You'll want totals or averages in reports, or "between" filters. | Years of service (Number), Stipend (Decimal). | | Single-line text | Every answer is different, and you'll only look it up. Text filters only by contains. | Badge number, Locker. | | Multi-line text | Notes a person reads, not something you'll filter on. | Accessibility notes. |

If you're tempted to use text for something with a handful of answers, like a shirt size, use a Dropdown: typed answers drift ("L", "Large", "lg") and stop matching.

Required or not? Tick Required when someone edits a person only when every person must have an answer, like an emergency contact for every staff member. It applies to New user and profile edits, not imports, so people from your roster can still arrive without it. Leave it off for fields that only apply to some people, like Bus route for drivers, or no one can save the other profiles without inventing an answer.

The list#

The list shows the fields every person already has (Built-in, with a lock) and your own, in the order they show on every person. The columns are Name (with Required when it is), Key, Type, Values (how many people have a value for it) and Order. Search by name or key, and filter by Kind (Built-in or Your own) or Type. The columns button shows, hides and reorders the columns.

Change or reorder fields#

Select a field of your own to open it, or select Edit in its ... menu. You can change its name, its options and whether it's required, then select Save changes. Its key and type can't change, because its values are stored by them. To change a field's type, add a new field and archive the old one.

Drag a field by its handle at the start of its row, or use the up and down arrows in Order. The new order is saved right away and is the order the fields show on every person. Dragging and the arrows work while the list is sorted by Order with no search or filter; on a phone, use the arrows. Built-in fields stay at the top. If the order can't be saved, the fields go back where they were and a message says so.

Archive a field#

Select Archive in a field's ... menu. The field disappears from every person and from imports right away, but the values are kept, and the message that follows offers Undo. Archived fields are listed under Archived fields, below the list: select Restore in a field's ... menu to bring it back, with its values.

Built-in fields#

Built-in fields are the fields every profile already has, like First name, Email and School role. They're shown so you can see the whole profile at a glance, and they can't be changed here.

Fill in the fields#

• When you add someone. New user on Admin › People › Users shows your fields under Additional details. Required fields are marked with an asterisk, and Create User waits until they're filled in. The values are saved with the person, all at once: if the person can't be added, no values are kept either. Fields belong to an account, so they show once the account is known, and not at all for a role that isn't tied to one.
• On a person's profile. The fields are in Additional details, under School Information. Select Edit to change them. Required fields are marked with an asterisk, and Save waits until they're filled in. The card doesn't appear until your account has at least one field.
• From a file. Add a column per field to your people file and import it. Each field is offered in Map your columns, matched by its name or its key. A blank cell leaves the value as it is, unless the import uses Overwrite, which clears it.

On the Users list#

• Columns. Every field is in the columns button on Admin › People › Users, under User fields, hidden to start with. Turn one on to see each person's value: options as tags, Yes or No for a checkbox, and dates in your account's date format.

• Filters. Under Filter, each field is a filter of its own in the User fields group, after the built-in filters:

  • Text: type what it contains and select Apply, or pick Has a value or Is empty.
  • Dropdown and multi-select: tick any of its options (a multi-select matches anyone who has any of them), or Has a value / Is empty.
  • Checkbox: Yes or No. No includes people who were never set.
  • Date: on or after and on or before, as two filters; set one for an open end. Number: at least and at most. Either one also has a filled in filter: Has a value or Is empty.

  Each filter shows as a chip with an × to remove it, and Clear all removes them all. Filters are part of the page's link, so you can share a filtered list.

Columns and filters follow the field, not its name: rename a field and they keep working. An archived field disappears from the columns and filters, and comes back when you restore it.

In reports#

In the report builder, your fields are listed under Custom fields on the Users dataset. Break people down by a field, or filter by it. A number field also adds its total, average, lowest and highest. A report's export includes the field like any other column.