The first type of record every Ontraport account starts with is “Contacts.” You’ll see all the standard CRM fields you’d expect in these records, such as email and lead source.

Ontraport allows you to personalize your records with custom fields. This makes it possible to save information specific to your unique business.

And you can update your records’ organization so it’s easy to find the information you want.

Ontraport also lets you add other types of records to your account too. This article explains how to personalize any of your records to fit your needs.

Check out this Ontraport University lesson to learn more:

Table of contents

Use cases
Add fields
Field type reference
• Understanding Date and Date & Time fields
• Default system fields
• Unique fields
• Required fields
Organize your records
• Delete fields
• Move fields
• Add new sections
• Move sections
• Add a new tab
• Reorder tabs
Add permissions

Use cases

Here are some common ways to use custom fields:

“I want to view data about the company a contact works for from the contact record because it’s annoying to constantly click back and forth between the company and contact record to remember the details.”

Create a Related Object Data field to automatically display the company’s description directly inside the individual contact’s record.
“I want to see quick metrics about a customer’s habits, such as the total amount they’ve spent, their average purchase value, or the total count of their purchases, without doing any manual math.”
Create a Rollup field to automatically calculate and save the sum, count, average, minimum, maximum, or median of a contact’s subcollections.

“I’m building a membership directory, and I need a place to attach profile images to a record.”

Create an Image field to upload and store profile images.

“I am tracking custom lead scores, and I want to see the average score of all my contacts at a glance.”

Create a custom Numeric field and set it to display the average at the top of columns. This will give you a quick overview of your list’s performance.

“I want to track my physical inventory and automatically subtract from my total when customers purchase.”

Create a numeric user field for each product you want to track. Add how many products you currently have in stock. Then set up an automation to subtract one from that number every time a customer purchases.

“I have a sales team that manages a busy pipeline, and I need a way for them to quickly spot which contacts require immediate attention so they don’t miss vital follow-ups.”

Create a custom color field and assign a specific color to each value. Then select the color field in the Card View’s settings.

Add fields

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Add any of the 20 unique field types to your records. Check out the chart below to view each field type.

When you add new fields to your records, you’ll choose where to save them. Here’s how your records are organized:

1. Fields
   • Fields contain information saved in your records.
2. Sections
   • Sections contain related fields.
3. Tabs
   • Tabs contain related sections.

Here’s how to add new fields to your records:

1. Go to Contacts → Settings → Field Editor.
   • If you want to create custom fields for custom objects, hover over your object’s navigation button, then select Settings → Field Editor.
   • To create custom fields for your users, go to → Administration → User Management → User Field Editor.
2. On the left side, click on the tab where you’d like to add a new field.
3. Click Add Field at the bottom of the section where you want to save your field.
4. Add your field name.
5. Select a field type. Choose from these options.
6. (Optional) Add context into the "Description" text area to explain what the field is used for.
   
7. (Only for accounts with custom objects enabled) Choose to  make your field unique or required. Not recommended unless you have a specific use case.
8. Click Save.

Field type reference

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Use the chart below to see the type of data each field type can store.

Understanding Date and Date & Time fields

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Date and Date & Time fields function very similarly within the system, with the primary difference being the time component.

Manual data entry and API

• Manual Selection: When manually updating a record, choose the date from a calendar picker for both fields. For Date & Time fields, you also use a clock dial to select the exact time of day.
• API Additions: If you need to add dates to either of these fields via Ontraport's API, format dates as Unix timestamps. You can use integrator tools like Zapier, which include formatting steps to transform your data before sending it.

Creating groups
When filtering or creating groups, both field types use the exact same conditions to narrow down records:

• On
• Not on
• After
• Before
• On or after
• On or before

Automation triggers and goals 
You can use automation triggers like "Today matches Contact's date field" and "Today is relative to Contact's date field" for both field types. The same actions apply when you set up goals.

• Relative dates: You can select "before" or "after" and specify an amount of time relative to the date field.
• Using Date & Time fields in triggers: If you select a Date & Time field for a date-specific trigger, the system will ignore the time component.

Automation conditions 
There is a specific condition in automations where you can select either date field type: “Now is before, during, or after a day, date or time.” This includes a relevant setting, “Now is before or after date field”, which supports both Date and Date & Time fields.

Wait elements 
Wait elements in automations can pause a contact's journey using the rule: “A date relative to a contact’s date field arrives.” This allows you to set up waits relative (before or after) to the saved field value. When you use a Date & Time field, you can drill down further and add the specific number of minutes relative to the time you want to wait.

Updating fields with dynamic dates 
When updating these fields via automation, you can either select a static, specific date and time or choose from a list of dynamic dates, such as Today, This day blast month, 30 days ago, etc.

Default system fields

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There are several default fields in records in Ontraport. These default fields are not editable, and you can’t delete them. These default fields ensure you can use Ontraport’s CRM features.

All Ontraport accounts come with contact records, and all the fields included are default, which means you can’t edit or delete them.

The only default fields in custom objects are the standard system information fields. If you can’t edit or delete a field, the field is either default or a relational field created by a custom object relationship.

• If you want to delete relational fields, you must delete the relationship that created the field.

Here are descriptions of some of the most critical default fields in all records:

Date Added – Stores the date the record was added to the database

Date Modified – Stores the date and time the record’s saved information changes

Last Activity – Stores the date and time the contact was last active

• It updates every time your contact interacts with your content. Clicking an email link, visiting a tracked page, logging in to a membership site and submitting a form will all update this field.

Contact or Object ID – A numeric identifier automatically added to each record

Unique ID – A unique, random alphanumeric identifier

• This field is helpful for passing data through URLs without exposing a contact’s information.

Unique and required fields

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If you’ve enabled custom objects or Ontraport Apps, you can also set some fields to be unique and/or required. These advanced field settings give you more control over the values stored in your contact records.

Unique fields

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Unique fields can’t have the same field value in more than one record. They help create custom identification. For example, you can make rewards member IDs, personal access tokens, permit numbers, etc.

• You can’t modify unique fields through automation or group actions.

Required fields

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Required fields must have a value saved in records. That means you can’t save a record unless the required field has a value.

We only recommend making fields required if you have a specific use case where this is crucial. For example, if you’d only like to create new contact records if they contain a membership ID.

If you have one or more required fields:

• Add them to forms that create records.
• Include them in API calls that create new records.
• Include them in imports that create new records. 

Organize your records

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Organize your records to fit your needs and workflow. You can move fields into any section and move sections into different tabs. This record customization helps you store information so it’s easy to find what you need.

Delete fields

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Delete any of your custom fields that you don’t need. Note, when you delete a field, you also delete all the data saved in that field. Export your data before deleting fields from your records to ensure you don’t lose any critical information.

• You cannot delete default record fields.

1. Click next to the field.
2. Type “DELETE” in the dialog to confirm.
3. Click Okay.
4. Click Save in the top right corner of the field editor.

Move fields

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Move your fields to different locations to customize your records. This allows you to control exactly what you see in each tab and section.

1. Hover your cursor over the field you want to move, and click .
2. Drag the field to any section or tab.
3. Click Save in the top right corner.

Add new sections

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Create custom sections in your account to hold similar fields and make your records easier to navigate. Here’s how:

1. Click Add New Section.
   • Your new section will appear at the very bottom of the tab.
2. Scroll down to the new section.
3. Click UNTITLED to add the name of the section.
   • Click Section Description to add your description (optional).
4. Click Save in the top right corner of the field editor.

Move sections

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Move sections to different tabs in your records to customize what you see on each page of the detail view of your records.

1. Click and drag in the upper left corner of the section you want to move.
   • Move the section to a different position in the same tab or a new tab.
2. Click Save in the top right corner of the field editor.

Add a new tab

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New tabs create a new page in your records. You can move existing sections into those tabs or create new sections to fit your needs.

1. On the bottom left, click .
2. Click UNTITLED and name your tab.
3. Click Save in the top right corner of the field editor.

Reorder tabs

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All the tabs in your records are displayed on the left side of your record. You can reorder your tabs to put your most important information at the top of your list.

1. Hover over your tab, and click and drag the into the position you want.
2. Click Save in the top right corner.

Add permissions

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You can determine which roles in your account should be able to view and/or edit sections in your records.

1. Click Permissions on the top right corner of the section you want to edit.
2. On the permissions dialog, choose which roles should be able to view and/or edit the section.

3. Click Save.
4. Click Save in the top right corner of the field editor.