Create custom fields

Custom fields are unique fields created by your business and added to existing documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. These fit-for-purpose fields are customized entirely to your workspace, yet they collect and store data in the same manner as a native Workiva field. This added functionality allows you to create custom reports and automated solutions not otherwise available.

Requirements

The Custom Field Admin role is required to modify custom field groups and definitions. This also applies to API users.
Owner or Editor permissions are required to manage a file's custom field values.
Owner permissions are required to manage a file's custom field group.
You must have View access to a given file or section in order to query for it.

Any user with the Custom Field Admin role can create and manage custom fields from the Workspace Settings screen. By assigning these fields to field groups, they can then be applied to every document, spreadsheet, or presentation in your workspace, or to only a specific subset of your files. Learn more about custom field groups.

To create a custom field:

In the top right, click your workspace name and select Settings to open the Workspace Settings.
Select Custom Fields from the navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Click the Create > Create custom field button.

Enter the details of your new custom field.

Field name	The field name or "title" as it will be displayed in Workiva.
Field ID	The field's unique identifier; primarily used programmatically, in queries, or via API. Supported characters: Letters Numbers Periods Underscores Hyphens Note: Once a field is activated for the first time, the ID can't be changed.
Field type	The data format for this field. Options: Text/String List Integer (A whole number; e.g., 1 or -1) Number (Any numeric value; e.g., 1.1 or -1.1) Boolean (True or False) Date (YYYY-MM-DD) User (Workiva user ID)
Sort order	The order in which this field will appear in the Custom Fields panel of your object. Starts from 0. Note: If left blank, fields are sorted alphanumerically by Field ID.
Description	A brief description of the custom field's purpose. This is only shown on the Custom Fields screen in Workspace Settings.
Field groups	Determines where this field appears and which Workiva objects it applies to. For example, a field applied to the default All Documents group will appear with every document in your workspace, while a field applied to your own custom field group will only appear on the specific set of documents that fall within that group.

Click Save.

How can I use custom fields?

Custom fields extend the capabilities of existing Workiva objects and more closely tailor the software to your business needs. For example, you can use custom fields to:

Track approvals by adding a "responsible party" field to your document sections.
Simplify your roll forward process by creating a "reporting period" field.
Arrange sheets by location with the addition of a "Region" field.

These are just suggestions; exact uses will vary from business to business and can be coordinated with the help of your account manager.

Choosing a field group

Field groups are used to sort, organize, and structure the custom fields in your workspace. If a custom field will broadly apply to every object in your workspace, then make sure to choose the default field group for the item you're working with.

For example, you would choose the "All Documents" group if you wanted a field to appear on every document in your workspace. You will otherwise be forced to manually apply a field group to each file in your workspace.

Use custom fields

Once created, custom fields can be accessed by anyone with permission to that object. Users with Viewer permission can only see the custom fields, while Owners and Editors can interact with them.

From the Files screen, select a document, presentation, or spreadsheet.
Select the Custom Fields icon from the right-hand panel.
Flip between object types (such as a Document or Section) using the tabs at the top.
Expand the specific field group you'd like to use.
Locate the desired field and fill it out accordingly.

Activate and deactivate custom fields

Once created, new custom fields are placed in a "Draft" state. These custom fields must then be activated in order to appear in your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can deactivate them later if they're no longer needed.

Note: Once a custom field is activated for the first time, you won't be able to change the field ID or delete it.

In the top right, click your workspace name and select Settings to open the Workspace Settings.
Select Custom Fields from the navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Select the three-dot menugripperon the right side, and select Activate or Deactivate.

If a deactivated field is reactivated at a later time, it will be instantly restored to all previous locations.

Active custom fields will be available in the Custom Fields panel of your document, spreadsheet, or presentation.

In this example, you'll notice the "Preparer Sign Off" custom field is visible:

Deactivated custom fields are marked Inactive on the Custom Fields admin screen and won't appear in your documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.

In this example, you'll notice the "Preparer Sign Off" custom field has been removed:

Note: If reactivated later, custom fields are automatically restored.

Copy, import, and export custom field values

To ease the roll forward process, custom field values can be optionally included when copying a file or folder. Simply check the Custom field values box in include all current values in your copy action, or uncheck the box to reset all the values. This allows you to maintain current values when copying files or reset them entirely.

Note: Custom fields and their values can also be imported and exported between workspaces.

Learn more about copying files and folders.

Note: This option only appears if custom fields have been enabled in your workspace.

Query custom fields data

If Wdata is enabled in your workspace, custom field data can be added to queries using the Common Object Model (COM) and Memberships source types. These data sources allow you to query and aggregate your custom field data.

For more information on building queries, see our manage a query's sources article.

Note: Membership data is only available in workspaces with custom fields, interfaces, smart links, or sustainability explorer enabled. Contact your CSM if you're interested in adding one of these solutions.

COM data
Membership data

The COM data source includes most custom field values stored across your workspace. It can be used to identify your Workiva files and sections, join in other data sources to extend your view, or create calculations in your queries.

When building a query, select Admin > COM.
Choose a field type and click Add. This will make all active Field IDs for that resource available to your query.

Note: The COM data source will present all custom fields in your workspaces regardless of their status.

Memberships are used specifically for the User data type. Each user is stored as a user ID in Workiva. You can thus join this data source into your COM queries to amend user IDs with information such as name or email.

When building a query, select Admin > Memberships.
Choose a column and click Add. This will make all memberships for that resource available to your query.

Tips and best practices

The following section is a collection of tips and best practices for managing the custom fields in your site. Although not required, these recommendations can help you avoid some of the common mistakes we see when adopting custom fields.

Field ID is the ultimate identifier for custom fields. Whereas field names can be repeated, each Field ID is unique and unchanging. For this reason, we suggest using a standard naming convention that includes the process, project name, or version that each field is a part of.

At Workiva, for example, we use [process_name.fieldName.version].

If a custom field is added to multiple groups, it can appear multiple times on the same record. However, this field can only hold a single value, meaning any change made in one group will also update that field in every other group.

For example, the field below is assigned to both the FY23 and All Document groups.

When viewing an individual document, this custom field will now appear in both groups.

Because a single field can't hold two different values, updating this field in the All Documents group will simultaneously update the same field in the FY23 group.

As discussed in the previous tip, a single field can appear multiple times on the same record but can only hold a single value. If multiple overlapping fields are required, we recommend creating separate fields with unique, descriptive field names and field IDs.

For example, you may want to create a status tracker for a review process. In this scenario, multiple stakeholders will each require a "Review status" field. There are two ways to approach this scenario:

Create multiple fields named "Review status" and assign one to each person. Each field has the same name but a unique ID.
Create distinct fields for each user such as "Manager Review Status" or "Director Review Status." Each field has a unique name and ID.

We strongly recommend the latter approach, as using distinct fields will make it much easier to distinguish between each stakeholder's review status. As you add additional fields, it can become very difficult to navigate multiple fields with identical names.

Your final result might look something like this:

Document Review Group
- Manager Name
- Manager Review Status
- Manager Review Due Date
- Director Name
- Director Review Status
- Director Review Due Date
Auditor Group
- Auditor Name
- Auditor Review Status
- Auditor Review Due Date

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