Use this guide to add your own custom fields to courses and course dates, such as CPD points, a map link, the room, parking directions, a caterer or a budget. You need Course Owner or System Admin access to create fields and save their values. Facilitators have access only to the records their role allows.
A field definition sets the label and type of information, such as Number or Website. Its value is the information you enter on a particular course or date. An Occurrence is a course date; the field settings use the label Occurrences.
These fields are for your team. They do not add questions to checkout or appear on public course pages. Values you include in emails or shared exports can be seen by the people who receive them.
What Course Fields and Occurrence Fields Are in Settings → Fields
Settings → Fields has a tab for each kind of record. The Courses tab holds your Course Fields and the Occurrences tab holds your fields for course dates. Creating a field in one tab does not create it in the other.
Course Fields: Information for the Whole Course
A Course field stores information for the course as a whole, such as a number of CPD points, directions that apply to every date, or a map link.
Occurrence Fields: Information for One Course Date
An Occurrence field stores information for one date. Each date can have a different budget, admin contact, room, parking directions, minimum exam score, minimum number of places or caterer details.
Choose a Course Field or an Occurrence Field
Use Courses when one value applies to the whole course. Use Occurrences when the value belongs to a particular date or changes between dates. For example, store a CPD number on the course and parking instructions that vary by venue on each date. A custom CPD number is information you enter. It does not award CPD points or set up certificates.
Create a Custom Field for Courses or Course Dates
Create the field before entering values on a course or date.
Open Settings → Fields. Select Courses for course values or Occurrences for date values.
Select New Field, then choose its type. The field editor opens.
Enter a Label. Add an Internal Field Name if you want a different name in the admin dashboard and exports. If you leave it blank, the Label is used.
Complete the other settings. Description explains the field. Placeholder, where offered, is a hint inside an empty input. For a choice field, enter at least one choice under Items, one per line.
Select Save Field. Check Field created, then return to the field list and reopen the field to check its settings.
To edit a field, open Settings → Fields → Courses or Occurrences, select the field, change its settings and select Save Field. Check Field updated. A field's type cannot be changed after it is created.
If saving reports a missing Label or Items, complete them before retrying. After another error, check the list before creating a second copy.
Organise Course and Date Fields Into Sections
Adding, renaming, moving or removing a section, and changing the order of fields, needs the System Admin role. A Course Owner can still create, edit and delete fields.
On the field tab, select Add Section. A New Section is created immediately.
Select the section name, enter a useful name and press Enter. Drag fields to arrange them or move them into a section. Use the section's up and down controls to change the section order.
Check Field layout saved, then reopen the list to check the layout. These layout changes save automatically.
Removing a section keeps its fields; they become unsectioned. When named sections exist, the remaining fields appear under Unsectioned Fields. Otherwise the list shows them directly.
Delete a Course or Date Custom Field
Deleting a field cannot be undone. Cademy does not remove the values already saved in that field on courses or dates. A new field with the same label is a separate field with its own field ID, and it starts empty.
Important: If a value has ever been entered in the field on any course or date, contact Cademy Support before you delete it. After the deletion, that course or date can stop saving from its editor.
Open Settings → Fields and select Courses or Occurrences.
On the field's row, select the cog button, then Delete.
In the Are you sure? window, select Delete. Check Field deleted.
After the field is deleted:
It leaves the field list and no longer appears in the course editor or the date editor.
It is no longer an export column. Course and date exports leave it out, and Choose Columns in an Order or Registration export no longer offers it.
Your email templates are not changed. A tag that uses the field's ID stays where you entered it, and it can still insert a value that a course or date saved before the field was deleted. Remove the tag from each template that uses it.
If a course or date cannot be saved after a field was deleted, contact Cademy Support with the name of the course or date and of the deleted field.
Custom Field Types You Can Use
The type picker offers these options in this order:
Text
Text Area
Date
Number
True/False (Boolean)
Telephone
Email
Website
File Upload
Address
Multiple Choice Checkboxes
Single Choice Options
Dropdown
Statement
Attach Files to a Course or Date (File Upload Fields)
Use File Upload to attach files to an existing course or date. Save a new course or date first, reopen it and find its File Upload field. Select Upload file, choose a file and wait for the upload to finish. Use Add another file for more files when allowed, then select the course or date's Save. Reopen the record to check the files.
In the field settings, Max files accepts 1 to 10 and Max file size (MB) accepts a whole number from 1 to 50. The two multiplied together cannot exceed 100 MB. The default is one file of up to 10 MB. Accepted file types takes comma-separated extensions or MIME types, such as .pdf, image/png. Leaving it blank allows any file type.
If an upload is rejected, check the message against the allowed type, file count and size. File Upload fields are left out of CSV exports. A mail merge tag does not attach a file to an email.
Show Fixed Text Among the Fields (Statement Fields)
Use the field's Statement editor for text shown among the fields. A Statement has no answer to enter or save on each course or date, and it is left out of CSV exports.
Add Custom Field Values to a Course
Open Courses and select the course.
Select Edit Course, then open Settings → Advanced Settings.
Find Custom Fields. Select the field and enter or change its value.
Finish editing the input and select the course's Save button. Check Course saved.
Reopen Edit Course → Settings → Advanced Settings and check the saved value.
Changing an input updates the open editor only. Select Save before leaving. For an existing course, switching to another section inside the course editor can also save its changes automatically. Clearing a value and saving clears it on this course. The saved values belong to the whole course.
Add Custom Field Values to a Course Date
Open Courses, select the course and open the Overview tab.
Find the date, open its actions menu (the three-dot button) and select Edit.
In the date editor, scroll to Custom fields. Enter or change the values.
Select Save. Check Date updated, then reopen that date's editor and check the saved values.
Changing an input does not save the date until you select Save. Clearing a value and saving clears it on this date. These values belong only to this date. Another date on the same course can have different values.
Who Can See Course and Date Custom Fields
Course and Occurrence custom fields belong to the admin dashboard. Their values are not shown on customer or learner course, booking or order pages.
You can choose to include values in an email or export. Check the recipient and content before sharing internal details such as a budget or private contact information.
Export Course and Date Custom Fields
Export Courses or Dates With Their Custom Fields
Open Courses. Choose the List layout for course records or the Dates layout for date records. Set the filters you need.
Select Export. A course export starts immediately. For dates, choose Now and select Export Now.
Wait for the file to be ready and select Download CSV. Open it and check the records and field columns.
These two exports have no column picker. Supported custom fields are always included.
Include Course or Date Fields in an Order or Registration Export
Open Courses, select the course and open its Orders or Registrants tab. System Admins can instead use the main-menu Orders or Registrations list across courses.
Filter the list to the records you need, then open the export window. See Export or Download Your Data as a CSV File for the export steps and Find Records with Filters and Saved Views for filtering.
For an Order export, keep Orders selected under Records.
Select Choose Columns and include the fields you need under Course Fields or Occurrence Fields.
Choose Now, then select Export Now. When ready, select Download CSV and check the columns and values.
Column headers use the Internal Field Name, then the Label, then the field ID. Address values are split into separate columns.
Custom Fields Missing From an Export
File Upload and Statement fields are never export columns. If another field is missing, check that it is in the right tab, Courses or Occurrences, and look in the matching column group. In an Order or Registration export, check the chosen columns too. If it is still missing, give Cademy Support the export route, field name, type and a record reference.
Use Course and Date Custom Fields in Emails (Mail Merge Tags)
A mail merge tag is a placeholder that Cademy replaces with a saved value when it prepares an email, for example a course's CPD number or the date-specific parking directions. The recipient's Registration decides which course and date are used. For which emails can use which records, and how to preview them, see Personalise Emails with Mail Merge Tags.
Where Custom Field Tags Work in Emails
Custom fields are not listed in the Mail Merge dropdown. In supported email template editors, typing {{ offers custom-field suggestions, or you can enter the tag using the field ID. Tags also work in emails sent from a course's Registrants list. Inbox conversations and messages opened from a single Contact page do not replace these tags.
Find a Custom Field ID and Enter Its Tag
Open Settings → Fields, choose Courses or Occurrences and open the field.
Copy the field ID from the address bar: it is the part after /fields/ and before ?. Do not copy the whole URL.
Open Courses → your course → Registrants, select the recipients and choose Email or Send Email, whichever your list shows. Complete Subject.
In Email body *, enter
{{course.FIELD_ID}}, replacing FIELD_ID with the copied ID. To use a saved template instead, choose it with Select a template....Select Preview and check the value for the intended recipient before sending.
For example, a field URL ending /fields/6a4ede4c-9fa4-42b6-b5c5-df5140d76ea8?tab=courses gives the tag {{course.6a4ede4c-9fa4-42b6-b5c5-df5140d76ea8}}. Copy your own field's ID. Both Course and Occurrence fields use course in the tag; do not change it to occurrence. The Settings template editor has no Preview for a particular recipient, so check templates from the Registrants email.
If a Course or Date Custom Field Is Blank in the Email
If no value is saved for that field on the course or date the email uses, the tag is replaced with nothing. Reopen the course or date, check and save its value, check the field ID in the tag, then check Preview again from the Registrants email. Check how Address, choice and other complex values look rather than assuming they read like plain text. If the email shows the tag itself instead of a value, check that you sent it from a supported template or a Registrants email, not from Inbox or a Contact page, and that the tag and ID are complete.
Examples: CPD, Map Link, Room, Parking, Budget and Caterer Fields
The following are fictional examples. Use the steps above to create each field and save its value, then reopen the record to check it.
Store CPD Information on a Course
Create a Number field under Courses, labelled CPD points. On a sample course, use Edit Course → Settings → Advanced Settings → Custom Fields to enter 6, then select Save. You can include this number in exports or emails. It does not award points or set up a certificate.
Store a Map Link on a Course
Create a Website field under Courses, labelled Map link. Enter the venue's map URL under that course's Custom Fields and select Save. Use this when the same map applies to the whole course.
Store Room or Parking Instructions for Each Date and Put Them in Emails
Create a Text field labelled Room and a Text Area field labelled Parking instructions under Occurrences. In one date's Custom fields, enter Forth Room and Use the north car park, then select Save. Enter the right details separately for each other date.
To show them in emails, add each field's tag to the email or template, as described in Find a Custom Field ID and Enter Its Tag. Each recipient gets the value saved on the date connected to their email, for example the date of their Registration. Check it with Preview from the Registrants email. If the instructions are for learners anyway, you can instead put them in the date's Description and use the Occurrence Description tag: see Personalise Emails with Mail Merge Tags.
Store an Internal Session Budget
Create a Number field under Occurrences, labelled Session budget (GBP). Enter 250 in a sample date's Custom fields and select Save. A Number field stores the number; the label names the currency. The budget is not shown to learners, but an export or email can include it.
Store Caterer Information for Each Date
Create the fields you need under Occurrences: Text or Text Area for notes, Telephone for a phone number, Email for an email address, or Website for an ordering link. Enter the details in the date's Custom fields and select Save.
Good to Know: Where Each Course Field Rule Is Explained
Course fields and Occurrence (course date) fields are separate: see What Course Fields and Occurrence Fields Are in Settings → Fields.
Save the field, then save the course or date: see Create a Custom Field for Courses or Course Dates and the two Add Custom Field Values sections.
File Upload and Statement fields are left out of exports: see Export Course and Date Custom Fields.
Tags for emails: see Use Course and Date Custom Fields in Emails (Mail Merge Tags).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can each course date have different values?
Yes, for Occurrence fields. Values are saved separately on each date.
Can I use a Course field when the information changes for each date?
No. A Course field stores one value for the whole course. Create an Occurrence field instead.
Why can I see the field in Settings but not in the course editor or date editor?
Check its tab. Only fields under Courses appear in Edit Course → Settings → Advanced Settings → Custom Fields. Only fields under Occurrences appear in the date editor's Custom fields. A Course field does not become a date field.
Why is my Statement field not saving a value?
A Statement shows the text saved in its settings. It has no answer to enter on each course or date.
Can File Upload fields be used on courses and dates?
Yes. Save the course or date before uploading, then save the record after changing its files. File Upload fields are left out of CSV exports.
Do Occurrence fields use an occurrence mail merge tag?
No. Both Course and Occurrence fields use {{course.FIELD_ID}}. The date must be connected to the email, for example through the recipient's Registration.