How do I change a custom field’s visibility?
Last updated: June 3, 2022
There are a few different ways to control visibility on a custom field:
A field can be made private, meaning it’ll only be visible to users logged into your Dashboard who have permission to see private fields. These fields are marked with a lock icon in the Dashboard.
You can also set a field’s visibility status, which gives you more control over who exactly can see the custom field when making a booking. This is also where you can set specific visibility settings, like whether or not the field should be included on receipts.
Click into the sections below for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to update a custom field’s visibility.
1. Determine where to update the field
First, determine whether you want to update the custom field’s visibility everywhere that it is used, or only for specific items.
To update the field’s visibility everywhere it is used:
- Go to the Settings section of your Dashboard.
- Select Custom Fields from the sidebar.
- Locate the custom field (Fields are organized by type. If you’re not sure what the custom field type is, select All to see a full list of your fields.)
- Click Edit to go to its settings.
To update the field’s visibility for a specific item only:
- Go to the Items section of your Dashboard and choose the item you want to update.
- Under the Availability section, click Options & Prices.
- Locate the custom field. Remember that fields can be added to individual customer types as well as entire bookings (which are located on the Whole-booking fields tab).
2. Determine who to change visibility for
Once you’re in the custom field’s settings, you’ll want to determine who the visibility changes will affect (for example, maybe you want to make the field hidden for affiliates only).
Click on the Prices and Visibility menu in the toolbar at the top of the window:
Choose a price sheet to specify who the visibility changes will affect.
Not sure which price sheet to choose? Here are some of the most common examples:
- Base: This will update the field’s visibility for everyone
- Online: Updates visibility for online customers only (if you have more than one Online sheet, the one closest to the top of the list will be reflected on your website)
- Direct: Updates visibility for logged-in Dashboard users only
- Affiliates (names will vary): Updates visibility for any affiliates who make bookings with that sheet
Note: Price sheets are customizable, so your sheets may differ from the ones mentioned here. If you’re not sure which price sheet you should be updating, please reach out to our Support team.
3. Update the field’s visibility
Remember, you have two options: you can update the field’s privacy setting, or update its visibility status.
Updating a field’s privacy setting
When a field is private, it’ll only be visible to users logged into your Dashboard who have permission to see private fields.
- Click the Settings button in the lower-left.
- Select Settings & Pricing.
Check or uncheck the Private box.
Click Save.
Updating a field’s visibility status
By adjusting a field’s visibility, you can control who can see the custom field when making a booking, as well as several other settings:
- Require an answer: When selected, the field must be filled out before the booking can be completed. Required fields are marked in the book form with a red asterisk.
- Hide on receipts: When selected, the field will always be shown when a booking is being made, but will be hidden on customer emails and receipts.
- Hide when booking: When selected, the field is hidden when a booking is being created, but is included on completed bookings and can be edited by logged-in users.
Note: When both “Hide on receipts” and “Hide when booking” are selected, the field will be considered private. In this case, users who don’t have permission to view private fields will not see the field on completed bookings.
To adjust these settings, first locate the custom field. To the right you’ll see a table with several different columns labeled Visibility, Price, Tax, and Final Price.
Click on the custom field’s Visibility status:
Use the dropdown to change the field status to Visible or Hidden.
- Optional: Adjust additional visibility settings: Require an answer, Hide on receipts, Hide when booking.
- Click the Save button.
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As a rule of thumb, fields that affect pricing should never be private (discount fields, included gratuity, custom taxes, etc.). In most cases, these fields need to be visible on receipts and confirmations sent to the end customer, ensuring that there’s no confusion about the booking price or payment.
When should you use the “Private” setting?
The only time a field should be marked private is in scenarios where no one should be able to see the field except for company users logged into their own Dashboard. For example, if a company tracks internal sales commissions using a “Sales Agent” dropdown, the “Private” custom field setting would work perfectly because only company users logged into their Dashboard will be able to see the field and report on it.
When should you NOT use the “Private” setting?
Any field that we need to show on confirmations or receipts to the end customer should not be private! For example, we need to be able to show end customers when they receive a discount and for how much, so discount custom fields should never be private.
Hide when booking on the Base sheet
Instead of hiding a custom field on a specific sheet so it doesn’t show when booking, best practice is to make the custom field visible and hidden when booking on the Base sheet:
With these settings (visible, hide when booking) no one will see the field when booking, but the field will still show up on the completed booking and on confirmations and receipts.
For any price sheets that need access to the field when creating a booking, you can create a visibility override for that specific sheet. To do this, go to the custom field’s settings and select the price sheet from the Prices and visibility menu in the toolbar, then change the visibility settings to Visible.
When set up correctly, this is functionally equivalent to a private field, but offers a bit more flexibility.
Changing a field from private to visible
If a field was previously set up as private and you want to change its settings so that it appears on confirmations and receipts, follow these steps:
From the custom field’s settings, first create any visibility overrides, if needed:
- Go to the custom field’s settings.
- Select the price sheet and change the visibility settings to Visible.
- Repeat for any other price sheets as necessary.
Next, select the Base sheet from the toolbar and make the custom field visible and hidden when booking.
- Remove the “Private” setting (located under Settings > Settings & Pricing).
Now the custom field will be hidden when booking, except for any sheets using the visibility override. The field will show up on all completed bookings.
Additional notes
Some additional notes about visibility, permissions, etc.
Anyone with the View private custom fields permission (under Advanced > Visibility) can view private fields. Online customers can never see a private field.
The Hide when booking setting can also be used when a book form has a ton of custom fields. In these cases, Dashboard users can create the booking first, then fill out all the custom information afterwards. Online customers can never see fields with this setting.
Users with the Show hidden custom fields permission enabled can choose to show hidden fields when making a booking:
When making a direct booking, users with this permission can open the price sheet menu and toggle this setting on and off:
