Custom Fields

Custom Fields let you record information MyHallWizard doesn't ask for as standard — a membership number, dietary requirements, how many chairs a group needs, which door code they were given. You decide what to collect, and whether to ask for it on your public booking enquiry form.

Beta. Custom Fields is new. We have tested it extensively, but we are still refining it, so parts of it may change. Do tell us if you experience any errors or if you have ideas for improvement.

Where to find it

Settings > Custom Fields.

You need an active subscription or to be on a free trial to create and change custom fields. If your subscription lapses, any values you have already recorded stay visible on your bookings and customers — you just can't edit them or add any more.

Only venue account owners and venue administrators can set up custom fields.

Booking fields and customer fields

Every custom field belongs to one of two groups, and you choose which when you create it:

• Booking fields are recorded against a single booking. "Chairs needed" or "Layout" belong here — the answer can differ every time the group books.

• Customer fields are recorded against the customer, and apply to every booking they make. "Membership number" or "Newsletter" belong here — you enter it once.

You can't move a field from one group to the other afterwards, because the answers are stored against different records. If you pick the wrong one, create a new field in the right group.

Field types

Number settings

Minimum, maximum and step are all optional. Step sets the allowed increment — step 10 with a minimum of 5 accepts 5, 15, 25 and so on. It's easy to set a combination that rejects most of what people will type, so check it on a real booking form afterwards.

Date settings

Choose from Any date, Future date (including today), Future date (excluding today), Past date (including today) or Past date (excluding today). A field for an event date wants a future date; one for a date of birth wants a past one.

Creating a field

1. Go to Settings > Custom Fields and choose Add Field.

2. Pick Booking or Customer.

3. Give it a label — this is what everyone sees on the form.

4. Choose a type and fill in any settings it offers.

5. Optionally add guidance: a line of help shown underneath the field.

6. Decide whether it appears on your booking enquiry form (see below).

7. Save.

Fields appear on forms in the order shown in Settings. Drag the handle on the left to reorder them.

The identifier

Every field is given an identifier when you create it — a tidied-up version of the label, like membership_no. You'll see it beside the field in Settings.

Two things to know about it:

• It never changes, even if you rename the field. That's deliberate: the identifier is how your saved answers are found. Renaming "Dietary needs" to "Dietary requirements" keeps every answer intact.

• It is unique across your venue. If you already have a booking field called "Notes" and you add a customer field called "Notes", the second becomes notes_1.

The identifier matters in two places: it heads the column in exports, and it's the tag you use in email templates.

Asking for the information on your booking enquiry form

If your venue has booking enquiries turned on, each field can be offered to the public.

• Available on enquiries puts the field on the enquiry form. Booking fields appear on the booking step, customer fields on the contact details step.

• Required means a visitor can't submit the enquiry without answering it.

Required applies only to the enquiry form. Your own staff are never forced to fill a custom field in when creating a booking — you often won't know the answer yet, and a booking shouldn't be blocked because of it.

When you accept an enquiry, the answers come with it: booking answers onto the booking, customer answers onto the customer.

Using the answers in emails

Each field gives you a tag named after its identifier. If the identifier is membership_no, then [membership_no] in an email template is replaced by that customer's membership number.

There are also two tags that list everything at once:

• [BookingCustomFields] — every booking field that has an answer

• [CustomerCustomFields] — every customer field that has an answer

Both show the label beside the value, and both skip anything left blank. If nothing has been answered, they produce nothing at all.

See Email Templates for where to put them.

Exports

Bookings Export and Customers Export both gain one column per custom field, after the standard columns. The column heading is the identifier, not the label, so a spreadsheet you build against one export still lines up after you rename a field.

Fields you have deleted are not included.

Changing a field later

Labels and guidance can be changed whenever you like. Existing answers are unaffected.

The type can only be changed where the answers still make sense afterwards:

Where no change is possible the control is greyed out. To collect something genuinely different, delete the field and create a new one.

Removing a choice from a dropdown, radio or multi-select is safe. Bookings that already hold that answer keep it, and it stays selected when you edit them — you just can't choose it for anything new.

Deleting a field

Deleting a field removes it from your forms. Answers already recorded are kept, and still shown on the bookings and customers that hold them — greyed out, with an ✕ beside each so you can clear it if it is no longer wanted.

Deleted fields are left out of exports and email tags, because they are no longer part of how your venue works.

If your subscription lapses

Your data stays yours. On the free tier or out of plan:

• Everything you have recorded is still visible on bookings, repeat bookings, customers and enquiries.

• Settings > Custom Fields shows a subscribe prompt instead of the list.

• Creating a booking or customer doesn't offer custom fields.

• Editing one shows the values you already hold, greyed out, each with an ✕ so you can remove any you no longer want.

Resubscribe and everything is editable again immediately.