Custom fields allow you to collect information about bookings. These fields appear in the 'New Booking' window and the information is saved with the booking.
Custom fields are shown based on the inclusion conditions you define. This booking information is different from user information (phone number/organization) which only needs to be collected once, instead of for each booking.
The number of custom fields you can create depends on the subscription plan you are on. You can confirm the custom fields included with your plan here for Workplace and here for AllBooked.
Here is a look at custom fields from the non-admin booking window:
Custom fields are respected in emails, exports, printouts, popovers, search fields, scheduler views, and Zapier triggers, so the information collected will be consumable in all the ways you expect. Here is an example showing how custom fields appear in booking synced to Google Calendar:
Create a Custom Field
First, click to select the field type that you wish to use or test out.
The following field types can be created:
Single or Multi-line text
Single or Multi-select dropdown
Number
Checkbox
Next, create the 'Field Label'; this is the information your users will include or a question they will answer.
For dropdowns create 'Field Options'. Put one option per line to create the list. These are the options that can be selected when a new booking is created.
Click on 'Show more field options' to customize even further. The options are:
Field Nickname (max 10 characters): The nickname is displayed instead of the full label whenever space is tight (e.g. printouts, popovers, emails).
Field Placeholder: This is shown in the field when it's empty. This is perfect for giving your users a ‘hint’ or example.
Field Help Text: This is shown behind a small question mark beside the custom field. This is helpful if more context or guidance is necessary.
For multi-select drop-downs and number fields, you can optionally configure a minimum and maximum selection/number range.
For other custom field types, you can choose if they are a required field with a checkbox. If this is selected then users will not be able to make a booking unless the field is completed.
Choose if the field’s values are for admin-eyes (system users) only, or if the holder of the booking can also see the answers after the booking has been created.
From the custom fields settings page, you can re-order, delete, and come back to edit fields at any stage. At this point, you could test out your fields by attempting to make a booking. All custom fields will always show for all users unless you decide to customize their inclusion with 'Inclusion Conditions'.
Inclusion Conditions
Inclusion conditions let you specify exactly which fields should be automatically included in new bookings. For example, perhaps a specific checkbox is only needed when a particular space is booked. System users can always manually add and remove fields from any booking (irrespective of the inclusion conditions).
If you don't have any inclusion conditions set then all fields will be included on all new bookings. You can override this default by adding a condition. This means that once you add a condition, custom fields will only be automatically included on new bookings if they match one or more conditions that you create.
Inclusion Conditions give you a ton of flexibility. For example, you might like to have
one text field that is admin-only,
one number field that is only included on bookings for certain spaces
multiple questions that are only included on bookings if the user has no user tags or a certain user tag.