In this lesson, you'll create your own custom object, start to finish. As an example, we'll build Pets, the kind of object a veterinarian might use, and connect each pet to its owner in Contacts. It takes four steps.
First, creating custom objects requires a Dynamic CMS package. The account owner opens the Account Details page and, next to "Add Dynamic CMS to your account," clicks Add plan or Start trial.
Also, check the App Marketplace before you build. Click your profile icon, then Apps. Apps like Blogs, Courses and Lessons, and Deals add the objects they need when you turn them on. Apps need a Dynamic CMS package too. If nothing there fits, build your own.
Click your profile icon, then Administration. Open Data, click Custom Objects, and click New Object. Enter your object's name, like Pets, and its singular form, Pet. The other name fields fill in for you. Click Next.
Next, set up your fields. This works just like custom contact fields. Use Add Field, Add New Section, and Add Tab. For Pets, you might add a Pet Info section with a Pet name field. You don't need every field now. You can add more later. One caution: if you add an email field, each record counts toward your contacts limit, even when the email is blank. Click Next.
Now connect your object to others. Click New Relationship. Choose what it's related to, here Contacts, and the relationship type. Each contact can have many pets, but each pet has one owner. So this is one-to-many, and the Pet is the child. The previous lesson covers the three types in detail.
Then choose where each side shows up. Put the contact in the Pet record's Pet Info section, and put the pets in the contact's Contact Information section. Name each side. In the Pet record, call it "Pet owner," since every record already has a default Owner relationship for the team member who owns it. In the contact record, call it "Pets." Name each side for the role it plays, because two objects can have more than one relationship.
You can also give the relationship a name. Ontraport suggests one, like "Companies < Contacts" for one-to-many, and you can rename it any time. Click Save. Add more relationships, including ones with users, like an account manager, or click Next. You can add relationships later from the object's Manage Relationships tab.
Last, under Dropdown Field Settings, choose what shows at the top of each record. Use the insert merge field dropdown to pick fields, and add spaces between them. You can also add a description of the object for your team.
Under Navigation Settings, drag your object into place in the main navigation. Click Edit Icon to pick an icon, and Change Color to set its tab color. Hide this Menu takes an object out of the navigation. You can add it back from the Custom Objects dropdown at the top right. Click Finish.
So: add a Dynamic CMS package, then name your object, set up its fields, create its relationships, and choose its title and navigation. Your new object now has its own place in the navigation, ready for records from imports, forms and automations. Next up: using custom objects.