In this article:
1. Introduction to Custom Field Categories
2. Permissions to Manage Custom Fields Within Categories
2.1. Who Can Manage Custom Fields
2.2. Managing Custom Fields in Categories
3. Practical Examples of Using Custom Field Categories
3.1. Example 1: Use Categories to Limit Access to Specific Custom Fields
3.2. Example 2: Use Categories to Grant Access to Specific Custom Fields
In Businessmap, custom field categories let you group custom fields by purpose or topic. More importantly, they also serve as a way to manage user permissions, enabling you to grant or restrict access to manage custom fields within a specific category. Here's how to work with custom field categories!
1. Introduction to Custom Field Categories
Only Account Owners can create, edit, clone, and delete custom field categories.
To create a new custom field category, open the Custom Field Categories tab in the Account Administration and click the plus icon in the upper right corner. This will open a configuration window where you should add the name, description (optional), and the users* who will be able to manage the custom fields within this category.
* You have three options for which users can create, edit, and delete the custom fields in a category:
- Account Owners or users with the “Manage Card Elements” admin privilege
- Every user in the account
- A custom selection of users — by default, this includes account owners and users with the “Manage Card Elements” admin privilege. You can include Workspace Managers and/or users with specific roles.
In the Custom Fields tab in Administration, you can see the category each custom field belongs to. By default, custom fields don't have a category.
Important: A custom field can only have one category at a time.
2. Permissions to Manage Custom Fields Within Categories
2.1. Who Can Manage Custom Fields
The ability to manage custom fields in Businessmap depends on three levels of permissions:
1. Global Permissions
- Account Owners and users with the "Manage Card Elements" admin privilege hold the highest level of access. These users can manage all custom fields, regardless of other permission settings.
2. Card Controls (in the Security & Audit Panel)
- Within the Card Controls settings, you can specify who can manage custom fields. The options are:
- Account Owners/Admins only
- Account Owners/Admins and Workspace Managers
- Everyone in the account
- These settings cannot override the global permissions or those granted by the custom field categories.
3. Custom Field Category Permissions
- Custom Field Categories can further restrict permissions, overriding card controls but not global permissions. For example, if a custom field category limits permissions to Account Owners/Admins and users with a specific role, even if the Card Controls are set to "Everyone," only those specified in the category will be able to manage the custom fields within it.
2.2. Managing Custom Fields in Categories
1. Creating a Custom Field
- If you have global permissions to manage custom fields, there is no change in how you create custom fields inside or outside of a category.
- If you don’t have global permissions, and you don't have permissions for any category:
- If the Card Control is set to “Account Owners/Admins” - you can't create custom fields.
- If the Card Control is set to “Account Owners/Admins and Workspace Managers” - you can create custom fields if you're a workspace manager in at least one workspace where the category is applied.
- If the Card Control is set to “Everyone” - you can create custom fields but you can't add them to a category. You can only add them to categories that permit Everyone to manage.
- If you have permissions in at least one category, you can create custom fields regardless of the Card Control settings, but you must select one of the categories where you have permissions. In this case, the availability level can only be On-demand.
2. Editing a Custom Field
- If you have global permissions, there is no change in how you edit custom fields.
- If you don’t have global permissions, the system checks if you have access to the category containing the field.
- If you have permissions for the category, the system verifies whether you are added to all boards where the field is used. If you are, you can edit the field.
3. Deleting a Custom Field
- If you have global permissions to manage custom fields, there is no change in how you delete custom fields.
- If you don’t have global permissions, the system checks your access to the category containing the field. To delete a custom field in a category, you must be added to all boards where the field is present, and there must be no cards using that field (including archived and discarded cards).
Important: Users without permission to manage specific custom fields will not be able to see them, either on a global (Administration → Custom Fields) or board level (Sidebar → Custom Fields).
3. Practical Examples of Using Custom Field Categories
To better understand the purpose of custom field categories, let's look at two practical examples.
3.1. Example 1: Use Categories to Limit Access to Specific Custom Fields
Suppose you want all users in your account to manage custom fields. To do this, you set the respective Card Control to “Everyone.” However, you have several custom fields related to critical integrations that you want to restrict access to. In this scenario, you can create a custom field category, add those custom fields to it, and grant access only to specific users.
This setup ensures that most users can still manage custom fields across the account, except for those in the restricted category.
3.2. Example 2: Use Categories to Grant Access to Specific Custom Fields
Alternatively, you might want to limit most users' access to custom fields while granting permission to a specific set of fields. In this case, your Card Control can be set to “Account Owners/Admins” and/or “Workspace Managers.”
To extend access to certain custom fields, you can group them into a category and then assign permissions to the users who need access. This approach allows you to selectively share access to particular custom fields without exposing all custom fields in the account.