Joomla! Documentation™

Description

Provides an overview of the Fields available on a Joomla site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete Fields.

How to Access

To add new Fields for articles, contacts or users, navigate to the backend of the site and perform one of these actions:

Articles

• Click the Articles button in the Control Panel
• Select Fields in the left sidebar.

• Select Content → Fields from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel.

Contacts

• Select Components → Contacts from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel
• Select Fields in the left sidebar.

Users

• Click the Users button in the Control Panel
• Select Fields in the left sidebar.

• Select Users → Fields from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel.

Screenshot

Column Headers

In the table containing Custom Fields these are the different columns as shown below. Click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

• Ordering. Up-Down Arrows. User specified ordering, default is order of custom fields creation. When active, drag and drop ordering by 'click and hold' on the bars icon then 'release' in desired position.

• Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more custom fields. To select all custom fields, check the box in the column heading.
  Note: Many toolbar actions can work with multiple custom fields.

• Status. Published or Unpublished custom fields are shown. Click on the green check mark or the red circle in the Status column to toggle between Published and Unpublished.

• Title. The name of the custom field. You can open the custom field for editing by clicking on the Title.

• Type. The Type of the custom field.
  1. Calendar: calendar field.
  2. Checkboxes: checkboxes field.
  3. Colour: color field.
  4. Editor: editor field.
  5. Integer: integer field.
  6. List: list field.
  7. List of images: imagelist field.
  8. Media: media field.
  9. Radio: radio field.
  10. Repeatable: repeatable field.
  11. SQL: sql field.
  12. Text: text field.
  13. Text Area: textarea field.
  14. URL: url field.
  15. User: user field.
  16. User Groups: usergrouplist field.

• Field Group. The Field Group this custom field belongs to.

• Access. The viewing Access Level for this custom field.

• Language. Custom field's language. If you are not using the multi-language feature of Joomla, default is 'All'.

• ID. This is a unique identification number for this custom field assigned automatically by Joomla. It is used to identify the custom field internally, and you cannot change this number.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 2 dropdown input fields, Sort Table By: (preset to 'Ordering ascending') and a number (preset to '20') to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the dropdown field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon (up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

• Ordering ascending (default). Shows ordering of selected column, ascending or descending.

• Number of custom fields to display. Shows the number of custom fields to display on one page, default is 20 custom fields. If there are more custom fields than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons to navigate between pages.

List Filters

The List Filters are a series of controls that let you limit what custom fields show in the screen. More than one filter may be entered. In this case, only custom fields that meet all of the filter conditions will show on the list.

Filter by content type

• Articles/Category. The content type where the field group is used. Note: In Contacts the content types are Contact, Mail, and Category

Filter by Partial Title or ID

In the upper left is a search field and 2 buttons.

• To filter by partial title, enter part of the title and click 'Search'
• To filter by ID number, enter "id:xx", where "xx" is the ID number (for example, "id:29").
• Click 'Clear' to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.

Search Tools

Above the column headings, there are 5 dropdown list boxes.

Filter by Status

Lets you show only custom fields with the selected published status.

• - Select Status -: Show only custom fields that are Published and Unpublished.
• Trashed: Show only custom fields that are Trashed. Quick Tip: Permanently delete custom fields
• Unpublished: Show only custom fields that are Unpublished.
• Published: Show only custom fields that are Published.
• Archived: Show only custom fields that are Archived.
• All: Show all custom fields regardless of published status.

Filter by Field Group

Lets you show only custom fields assigned to a specific Field Group. The list box will show the groups defined for your site.

• - Select Field Group -: Show custom fields assigned to any Field Group.

• [your Field Group]: Show only custom fields assigned to this Field Group.

Filter by Assigned Category

Lets you show only custom fields assigned to a specific category. The list box will show the categories defined for your site.

• - Select Assigned Category -: Show custom fields assigned to any category.

• [your category]: Show only custom fields assigned to this category.

Filter by Access

Lets you show only custom fields that have a specified viewing access level. The list box will show the access levels defined for your site.

• - Select Access -: Show custom fields with any viewing access level.
• Public: Show only custom fields with this viewing access level.
• Guest: Show only custom fields with this viewing access level.
• Registered: Show only custom fields with this viewing access level.
• Special: Show only custom fields with this viewing access level.
• Super Users: Show only custom fields with this viewing access level.

Filter by Language

Lets you show only custom fields that have a specific language assigned. The list box will show the languages defined for your site.

• - Select Language -: Show custom fields for any language.
• All: Show custom fields set for 'All' languages.
• English (en-GB): Show custom fields only for this language.

Automatic Pagination

Page Controls. When the number of custom fields is more than one page, you will see a page control bar as shown below. The current page number being viewed is shaded.

• Start: Click to go to the first page.
• Prev: Click to go to the previous page.
• Page numbers: Click to go to the desired page.
• Next: Click to go to the next page.
• End: Click to go to the last page.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar.

The functions are:

• New. Opens the editing screen to create a new custom field.

• Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected custom field. If more than one custom field is selected (where applicable), only the first custom field will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Name of the custom field.

• Publish. Makes the selected custom field available to visitors to your website.

• Unpublish. Makes the selected custom field unavailable to visitors to your website.

• Archive. Changes the status of the selected custom field to indicate that they are archived. Archived custom field can be moved back to the published or unpublished state by selecting "Archived" in the Select Status filter and changing the status of the custom field to Published or Unpublished as preferred.

• Check-in. Checks-in the selected custom field. Works with one or multiple custom field selected.

• Batch. Batch processes the selected custom field. Works with one or multiple items selected.

• Trash. Changes the status of the selected custom field to indicate that they are trashed. Trashed custom field can still be recovered by selecting 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter and changing the status of the custom field to Published or Unpublished as preferred. To permanently delete trashed custom field, select 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter, select the custom field to be permanently deleted, then click the 'Empty Trash' toolbar icon.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

• Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited.

Batch Process

The Batch Process allows a change in settings for a group of selected custom fields marked with a check-mark in the corresponding check-mark boxes. To use: select one or more custom fields form the table of custom fields being viewed and click on the 'Batch' Toolbar button. This will open a pop up window as shown below.

You can change one value or all values at one time.

How to Batch Process a group of custom fields:

1. Select one or more custom fields on the list by selecting the desired checkbox(es).
2. Click the 'Batch' Toolbar button.
3. Set one or more of the following values:

• To change the Language, select the desired language from the Set Language list box.

• To change the Access Levels, select the desired new access level from the Set Access Level list box.

• To change the Field Group, select a custom field group.

• To copy the custom fields to a different custom field group, select the desired custom field group from the custom field group list box and check the Copy option.
  In this case, the original custom fields are unchanged and the copies are assigned to the new custom field group and, if selected, the new language, and access level.
  Note: Changes you have selected from language, and access level will be applied to the copies, not the original.
• To move the custom fields to a different custom field group, select the desired custom field group from the custom field group list box and check the Move option.
  In this case, the original custom fields will be moved to a new custom field group and, if selected, be assigned the new language, and access level.

When all of the settings are entered, click on Process to perform the changes. A message "Batch process completed successfully." will show. Note: Nothing will happen if you don't have any custom fields selected.

If you wish to clear your entered selections, click on the 'Cancel' button. Note: This does not uncheck the check boxes for the custom fields.

Quick Tips

• To permanently delete custom fields:
  1. Change the status of the custom fields to Trashed.
  2. Change the Status filter to Trashed. At this point the trashed custom fields will show and the Empty trash button will show in the toolbar.
  3. Select the desired trashed custom fields and click on Empty trash in the toolbar. The custom fields will be permanently deleted.

• If you want to know how to use Custom Fields: Tutorial "Managing Custom Fields"

Related Information

• To add or edit Articles.
• To manage Categories.
• To manage Featured Articles.