--- title: "Managing profile fields for members" description: "Add your own fields to member profiles from Administration > Users > Profile fields, and choose which ones appear on member cards." category: administration-security section: users-and-access tags: [admin] type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-06 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/administration-security/manage-custom-fields-for-members --- # Managing profile fields for members ## Managing profile fields for members Profile fields are the pieces of information a member profile can hold. Talkspirit ships seventeen of them, and you can add your own for anything specific to your organisation, such as a department, an office or a payroll number. You manage them from **Administration > Users**, on the **Profile fields** tab. You need administrator rights. Before you start, read the section on filling in values at the end: you define the fields and read their values, but you cannot type a value into one. ## Where do I find the profile fields? 1. Open **Administration**. 2. Under **People**, click **Users**. 3. Open the **Profile fields** tab. ![The Profile fields tab in Administration, listing each field with its type and a Default field badge.](/images/administration-security/manage-custom-fields-for-members/01-profile-fields-tab.png) Every field is listed with its type. The seventeen fields Talkspirit provides carry a **Default field** badge, and the ones you create do not. Use **Filter** to show only default fields or only custom ones, and the magnifying glass to search by name. ## How do I add a profile field? 1. Click **Add attribute** at the top right. 2. Enter a **Label**. This is the name members will see on the profile. 3. Choose a **Type**. 4. Choose a **Constraint**, or leave it on **None**. See the section below. 5. Add a **Description** if the field needs explaining. 6. Click **Add attribute**. ![The Add attribute dialog with the Type list open, showing the nine field types.](/images/administration-security/manage-custom-fields-for-members/02-add-attribute-dialog.png) Nine types are available: **Text**, **Long text**, **Number**, **Date**, **Email**, **Phone**, **Yes / No**, **Single-choice list** and **Multiple-choice list**. ⚠️ **Warning:** the type is fixed once the field is created. You can rename a field and rewrite its description afterwards, but you cannot change its type. If you picked the wrong one, delete the field and create it again. **Single-choice list** and **Multiple-choice list** are worth a word of caution. The new interface has no editor for the options themselves, so a list field created here has no choices to offer. Create list fields from the classic interface, where the option editor lives, until this is completed. ## What do Required and Locked do? **Constraint** is a single choice, so a field is never both at once: - **None**: an ordinary optional field. - **Required**: the member is asked to complete the field before they can carry on using the platform. - **Locked**: only an administrator can change the value. The member sees it but cannot edit it. Both act on the profile form in the classic interface, which is where values are entered. Neither has any effect on the profile screens in the new interface, which display values without offering to edit them. ## How do I choose which fields appear on member cards? The **Profile fields** tab decides which fields exist. The neighbouring **Profile display** tab decides where they show up: drag fields into **Profile card** to set what appears under a member's name in the directory, and into the hovercard list for the small preview that opens when you point at someone. The card takes at most two fields and the hovercard at most three. The full profile page shows every field that holds a value, whether or not you placed it on the card. ## How do I edit, lock or delete a field? Click the three dots at the end of the row. ![The row actions menu on a profile field, offering Edit, Lock and Set as required.](/images/administration-security/manage-custom-fields-for-members/03-profile-field-actions.png) - **Edit** reopens the dialog so you can change the label, the description and the constraint. - **Lock** and **Set as required** flip the constraint straight from the menu. - **Delete** appears only on the fields you created. The seventeen default fields cannot be deleted, only locked or made required. ⚠️ **Warning:** deleting a field removes its values from every member profile, and there is no undo. Export your members first if the field holds anything you might want back. See [Exporting my organisation's data as an admin](/administration-security/export-your-organisations-data-as-an-administrator). ## How does a field get filled in? Not from the new interface. It has no control for entering a profile field value, for a member editing their own profile or for an administrator editing someone else's. The **Information** page of your account settings covers bio, motto, job title, company, skills, phone, mobile and location, and nothing else. Values reach a profile in three other ways: - A member fills them in on the **Information** tab of their profile in the classic interface. - Your identity provider supplies them, if a claim has been mapped onto the field. The mapping is shown on **Administration > Authentication > SSO Providers** but is not editable there. - Automatic provisioning writes them. See [Automated user provisioning and de-provisioning (SCIM 2.0)](/administration-security/automated-user-provisioning-and-de-provisioning-scim-20). ## Not the same as custom fields on roles and circles Structure has its own custom fields, which attach to roles and circles rather than to people. They are configured elsewhere and behave differently. See [Managing custom fields for roles and circles](/structure-governance/manage-custom-fields-for-roles-and-circles). ## What's next? - [User Roles and Permissions](/administration-security/user-roles) - [Managing the Members Hierarchy view](/administration-security/how-to-manage-members-hierarchy-view)