Regardless of which CareLineLive tools you use, carer & client records are the heart of what you do. These records have properties that hold everything you know about a carer or client. Some of this information is basic stuff like names & contact details, which CareLineLive will offer by default. But chances are you may have additional information you'd like to record.

Using custom fields, you can add additional properties to either Carer or Client records which allow you to tailor the records to your needs. Once you define a custom field, it's available on every Carer or Client record.

There are a number of different field "types", which control the type of data that can be recorded for the field.

This will allow you to record an item of text. Currently only a single line of text is supported.

There are two types of number you can record: integers (whole numbers) or decimals (one or more decimal places).

These fields essentially hold true/false values (yes or no, on or off). On forms they appear as a single checkbox that the user can either check or leave unchecked.

Commonly checkboxes may be used to show that someone has agreed to something, or to opt out of certain services.

Useful when you only have a few possible options for a field. You must have at least one option defined, but there is no limit on how many you can have.

This is a special type of field that allows you to automatically assign a reference number to your records - you don't have to maintain a list elsewhere.

By default, only users with the Administrator role can create & manage custom field definitions.

To manage custom field definitions, open Settings and then click on Custom Fields in the settings navigation.

To create a new definition, click the :add: button in the top-right corner of the page.

Give the custom field a Name, and optionally a Description. Next, choose which record the custom field is being added to. Currently you can add custom fields to either Carer or Client records.

Select the Type of field (text, integer, decimal, boolean, or generated reference number). When creating a Generated Reference Number, some additional options are available. Please see the above section on Generated Reference Numbers for more information.

If needed, you can mark this field as Required, which will ensure the user enters a value for the field before being able to save the record.

There are a number of additional options that controls how the field behaves.

This will be shown as a hint/prompt to the user when recording a value for the field.

When searching from the Carers/Clients screen, whether the value for this field should be searchable.

This allows you to restrict who can view or update the field's value on a record. To update a value, the user must have both the View and Update permissions.

Additional permissions aren't created for new custom fields, so you'll be asked to pick an existing permission from those already in the system. You can use the search box within the dropdown to find the appropriate permission.

Once you're done, click Save to create the record.

If you wish to make changes to an existing field definition, you will be unable to change certain options. The following properties cannot be edited after the field has been created:

Importing carers & clients with custom fields is fully supported, please read more on the Import Templates article.