This guide is for course providers. It shows how to add your own questions to checkout and General forms, such as job title, dietary needs, a licence number or a dropdown list of choices, and save the answers on the person's contact record.
A contact field is a question whose answer belongs to the person. Cademy saves the answer on that person's contact in your account, reuses it on later bookings and shows it wherever the contact appears. You create a contact field once under Settings > Fields, then add it to any form. To let learners change their details after booking, see Let Learners Update Their Details After Booking.
Contact Fields vs Registration Fields: Which to Use
The Fields page in Settings has tabs for Contacts, Registrations, Organisations, Courses, Occurrences and Users. This guide covers the Contacts tab.
Contact fields store information about a person, such as phone number, job title, licence number or dietary needs. The answer follows that person across bookings.
Registration fields store information about one person's place on one course, such as the session they chose. See Ask Course-Specific Booking Questions (Registration Fields).
Company details, such as a company address or VAT number, are saved on the organisation instead. See Create Company Fields for Organisation Records.
Who Can Create Contact Fields (Roles and Plans)
Contact fields are available on every plan. Creating, editing and deleting custom contact fields in Settings needs the Course Owner or System Admin role, as does adding them to forms. Facilitators can edit contact details from the Registration side sheet for Registrations they have access to.
Create a Custom Contact Field in Settings
Create the field once, then add it to the forms that should ask it.
In the Admin dashboard, select Settings, then Fields, and stay on the Contacts tab.
Select New Field and pick a field type, for example Dropdown for a fixed list of choices or Text for a job title.
Fill in the field options, such as Label, Description and, for choice fields, Items.
Select Save Field and check for Field created.
In this example, the Contacts tab of Fields lists the contact fields, with the New Field button above them.
Creating a field does not show it on any form by itself. Add it to a form next, as described in "Add a Contact Field, Such as Job Title, to a Booking or General Form" below. If saving reports a missing Label or Items, complete them and save again. After another error, check the field list before creating a second copy.
Add Companies to a Company Dropdown List (Dropdown Field Choices)
The choices in a Dropdown, Single Choice Options or Multiple Choice Checkboxes field are its Items. To add a company, a state or another choice to the list:
Open Settings > Fields > Contacts and select the field.
Under Items, enter one choice per line. At least one choice is needed.
Select Save Field and check for Field updated.
The new choices appear on every form that uses the field. Before you rename or remove a choice, check the warning about conditions, described in "Editing a Contact Field Changes It on Every Form" below.
If the company question on your checkout is the Organisation Section, customers search your organisation records instead of choosing from Items. Add companies under Organisations. See "Company and Organisation Details at Checkout" below.
Contact Field Types You Can Choose
Text, Text Area, Date, Number, True/False (Boolean), Telephone, Email, Website, File Upload, Address, Multiple Choice Checkboxes, Single Choice Options, Dropdown, and Statement (instructions, with no answer). The type cannot be changed after the field is created.
Contact Field Settings: Label, Internal Name and Autocomplete
Label: shown to customers on forms. Every field needs one.
Internal Field Name: shown in the Admin dashboard, tables and exports. If blank, the Label is used.
Description and Placeholder text.
Allow Autocomplete: fills the field at checkout with the value already saved on the contact. On by default; not available for Statement, File Upload or Organisation fields.
Items: the choices for Dropdown, Single Choice Options and Multiple Choice Checkboxes, one per line.
Show on Learner Profile: lets learners see and update the field on My Profile. Off by default. See Let Learners Update Their Details After Booking.
File Upload Field Limits (Number, Size and Type of Files)
Max files: 1 to 10. The default is 1.
Max file size (MB): a whole number up to 50 MB per file. The default is 10 MB.
Max files multiplied by max file size must be 100 MB or less.
Accepted file types: exact types, wildcard types such as image/*, or extensions such as .pdf. If none are set, any type is allowed.
Add a Contact Field, Such as Job Title, to a Booking or General Form
Open Forms, select your Checkout or General form and open Form Editor. On a Checkout form, work inside Contact & Registration Fields.
Select Add Field, then choose the field under Contact Fields.
Select Save at the top of the form.
A checkout form only asks its questions on courses that use it. See Create a Checkout Form (Booking or Registration Form) to choose the form on a course.
Create a New Contact Field From the Form Editor
In Form Editor, select Add Field > New Contact Field…, choose the type, set up the field and select Create Field, then Save at the top of the form. Create Field saves the shared field immediately, so leaving without saving the form does not undo it.
Replace an Old Field With a Dropdown on Your Forms (Such as State)
A field's type cannot be changed. To swap an old free-text question, such as State, for a dropdown list:
Create a new Dropdown contact field with its choices under Items.
Open each form that asks the old question in Form Editor. Add the new field with Add Field, then select Remove Field on the old one.
Select Save at the top of each form.
Answers already given to the old field stay on the contacts; they are not copied into the new field. If a condition uses the old field, fix that rule first; see Show or Hide Form Questions Based on Answers. Delete the old field only when no form needs it, as described in "Delete a Custom Contact Field" below.
Editing a Contact Field Changes It on Every Form
A contact field is shared, so changes apply on every form that uses it. Open Settings > Fields > Contacts, select the field, change the settings and select Save Field. Check Field updated, then reopen it.
Before removing or renaming a choice under Items, check whether a form uses that answer in a condition. Settings lists the affected forms in a warning. Saving the field does not repair them: open each listed form, fix the condition marked Rule Needs Fixing and save the form. A renamed choice counts as removing the old answer.
Check Whether a Form Question Saves to the Contact or the Registration
In Form Editor, shared fields have a Contact, Registration or Organisation label. It tells you where the answer is saved: on the person, on this registration, or on the organisation. Open Field Options to read the explanation for that field.
Settings for One Form Only: Required, Format Checks and Width
The field is shared, but these settings belong to one form. Open the question's Field Options in Form Editor:
Required: an answer is needed while the field is shown. Statements cannot be required.
Pattern and Error Message: a regular expression that checks the answer format for Text, Text Area, Website, Email and Telephone fields, and the message shown when it does not match.
Minimum and Maximum: for Number and Date fields.
Visibility: choose Always Show or Only When…, when conditional visibility is enabled.
Custom Label for eligible built-in fields, and Width for placing fields side by side.
Select Save in the window, then Save at the top of the form. The same field can be required on one form and optional on another, except First Name, Last Name and Email, which stay required on checkout forms.
Change the Phone Number Format on Forms (Telephone Fields)
The built-in Phone field and custom Telephone fields accept the number as the customer types it. Cademy does not add a country code or reformat the number, and there is no phone format setting. The number is saved as typed.
To make customers use a format, add a check to the phone question on each form:
In Form Editor, open the phone question's Field Options.
Under Validation, enter a Pattern. For example, ^\+?[0-9 ]{10,15}$ accepts 10 to 15 characters made of digits and spaces, with an optional + at the start.
Enter an Error Message that shows the format, such as "Enter your number with the country code, for example +44 7700 900123".
Select Save in the window, then Save at the top of the form, and test the form.
Without your own message, customers see Invalid format. The check applies to new answers on that form only; saved numbers are not changed. The Placeholder from Settings is not shown on checkout or General forms, so put format hints in the field's Description or the error message.
Show a Contact Field Only When It Is Needed (Conditions)
Creating or changing conditions needs conditional visibility enabled for your account and a Teams or Custom plan, unless your account has an override. In Field Options, under Visibility, select Only When…, complete the condition, select Save, then Save at the top of the form. Use Preview Logic to check which fields appear. See Show or Hide Form Questions Based on Answers.
A hidden field does not need an answer, even if Required is on, and a typed answer is cleared when it hides. A value already on the contact record is kept. Without conditional visibility, Checkout forms offer Hide If Primary Contact Is Not Attending instead, which hides the question from a booker who is not attending but not from guests.
How Contact Fields Work at Checkout
Contact fields appear on the Your Details step of checkout and on each guest's form when guest details are collected.
Register Multiple People With Different Names but the Same Email
Each person booked onto the same course date needs their own email address. You cannot register several people with different names under one shared email on the same date, and no setting allows it. The same person can attend other dates of the course, or different courses in one multi-course order.
A repeated email shows The email address <email> is duplicated. and Each attendee on the same course must have a unique email address. The customer enters that person's own email or removes the duplicate person. If the place is for the person booking, they use + I'm Attending This Course on that course card instead of adding themselves as a guest.
Autofill for Returning Customers at Checkout
When checkout identifies a returning contact, eligible fields are filled in with their saved values. Typing an email address alone does not look up someone's details. File Upload fields, fields with Allow Autocomplete off and Registration fields are never filled in this way.
Company and Organisation Details at Checkout
Company questions in a checkout form's Organisation Section save to an organisation record, not to the contact.
With Allow Organisation Search on in Organisation Section Settings, customers type to search the organisations in your account. To add a company to that list, create it under Organisations in the Admin dashboard. Organisations created at checkout join the same list.
With Allow Creating New Organisations on, customers can add a company that is not listed.
A contact already linked to an organisation can have its details filled in. If linking by email domain is enabled, the customer's email domain can select the organisation.
If an organisation must be chosen and none is, the customer sees "Please select or create an organisation".
See Manage Company Records (Organisations) to add companies, and Create a Checkout Form (Booking or Registration Form) for the section settings.
File Upload Errors at Checkout
If an uploaded file does not meet the field's settings, the customer sees a message about the number of files, the file size, the total upload size or the file type, such as "Upload no more than 100MB in total."
How Checkout Answers Are Saved on the Contact
Checkout updates an existing contact or creates one for a new person. Empty answers do not blank saved values: if the customer leaves a field empty, the saved value is kept. Guests are not all added to your Contacts list automatically; see Create each guest as a contact in Create a Checkout Form (Booking or Registration Form).
Built-In Contact Fields: Name, Email, Phone and Address
Cademy includes built-in contact fields: First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Address, Organisation, Tags and Marketing Consent. They show a lock in the Settings field list and cannot be deleted or renamed there. First Name, Last Name and Email are always required on checkout forms. Eligible built-in fields offer Custom Label in Field Options for one form; Marketing Consent does not.
Group Contact Fields Into Sections in Settings
On the Contacts tab of Settings > Fields, a System Admin can group fields into sections and reorder them.
Select Add Section. A section named New Section is created.
Select its name, enter a new name and press Enter, then drag fields into it.
Fields outside sections are listed under Unsectioned Fields. Deleting a section keeps its fields. Changes save automatically: wait for Field layout saved before leaving.
Contact Questions on General and Feedback Forms
On a General form, Contact questions can also update the contact record. The form's Update Existing Contacts setting decides whether new answers replace saved details; see Create and Share a Survey or Enquiry Form (General Form). On a Feedback form, Contact answers stay with the response and do not update the contact. Questions made with New Custom Field… belong to that form only.
Edit a Shared Statement Used on Several Forms
A Contact Statement shows instructions without asking for an answer and is shared. In Form Editor, select it, edit the text under Statement and select Save; Cademy shows Statement updated and the new text appears on every form that uses it.
View and Edit Saved Contact Field Values in Admin
System Admins open Contacts, select the person and edit a field under Contact Details. Wait for Contacts changes saved. See Manage Customer and Learner Records (Contacts).
In this example, a contact record lists the built-in fields and three custom contact fields with their saved values.
Course Owners and Facilitators can open Courses, the course, Registrants and the person's Registration, then edit a field under Contact Info. Wait for Contact details updated. Course-specific answers are under Registration Fields. Text edits save when you leave the field; there is no separate Save button.
Email cannot be edited from the Registration side sheet. Changing an email on the full contact record can merge contacts when another contact uses that address; follow Manage Customer and Learner Records (Contacts) and Merge Duplicate Contacts first.
Contact Fields in Imports, Exports and Zapier
Contact field values can be imported, exported and sent to other apps.
Import Contact Field Values From a File
Custom contact fields are columns in contact imports. Address fields use several columns. File Upload and Statement fields cannot be imported. See Import Customers and Learners (Contacts) from a Spreadsheet, including Marketing Consent in an import.
Export Contact Field Values
Supported contact fields can be included in Contact, Registration and Order exports, with headers from Internal Field Name or the Label. File Upload and Statement fields are left out.
Send Contact Field Values to Zapier
Order and Registration Zapier triggers include supported contact field values with a contact_field prefix. Check the trigger output when mapping a Zap.
Delete a Custom Contact Field
Export any values you need first. Removing a question from one form is different from deleting the field. Built-in fields cannot be deleted.
Open Settings > Fields > Contacts, open the field's cog menu and select Delete.
If forms are listed, use the X icon to remove the question from each form (existing responses are kept), or the eye icon to open the form.
When no forms are left, select Delete Field, or Delete if no form used it. Check Field deleted.
Deleting the field does not prove every historical answer is erased. Ask Cademy Support about a requirement to remove historical data.
Good to Know About Contact Fields
A contact field's answer belongs to the person, not one booking: see "Contact Fields vs Registration Fields: Which to Use".
Creating a field does not add it to a form: see "Add a Contact Field, Such as Job Title, to a Booking or General Form".
Editing a field changes it on every form: see "Editing a Contact Field Changes It on Every Form".
Company details are saved on the organisation: see "Company and Organisation Details at Checkout".
Let Learners Update Contact Details on My Profile
Choose Supported Fields for My Profile
Enable a Custom Contact Field on My Profile
Enable Phone, Address or Marketing Consent on My Profile
What Learners See on My Profile and Where Changes Are Saved
Update Participant Contact Details After Booking
Learners Editing Their Own Details After Booking
Order Owners Editing Another Participant's Details
Missing Answers and Requested Files After Booking
Frequently asked questions
If a customer fills in a contact field, does the answer apply to just that booking?
For checkout, no. The answer is saved on your contact record for that person and reused on later bookings. Use a Registration field for course-specific information. General and Feedback forms follow the separate rules in "Contact Questions on General and Feedback Forms" above.
Why did a field not autofill at checkout?
Autofill needs a value already saved for that contact, and Allow Autocomplete on. File Upload and Registration fields never autofill.
Can I use contact field values in booking emails?
Custom contact fields are not listed in the Mail Merge dropdown. An email editor that has Mail Merge offers them when you type {{ in the message. Check Preview for the recipient before sending. See Personalise Emails with Mail Merge Tags.