If you are an account admin, you can make certain fields required when creating contact, deal, or account records. Doing so lets you collect information that is essential to your business.
In this article:
- What is a required field?
- How do required fields work?
- How to make a field required
- How required fields interact with other areas of the platform
What is a required field?
A required field is a field in your account that must contain a value in order to create or update a record. They are determined on the object level. Objects in eduConverse include Contacts, Deals, and Accounts.
This means that any contact, deal, or account cannot be created or updated unless there is a value for a required field.
Contacts (available on all plans)
One of the following fields must be required in your account:
- Name
- Phone
- Email address
You can also make other standard or custom contact fields required. Note that the Job Title field cannot be marked as a required field.
Deals
The following fields are required in your account when creating a new deal:
- Pipeline
- Stage
- Owner
- Deal Title
- Deal Value
You can also make other standard and custom deal fields required.
Accounts (available on Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans):
The Account Name field is required when creating an account record.
You can also make any standard or custom account field required.
About Unique Identifiers
Each object in your account has fields that are used as unique identifiers. Unique identifiers are used to determine if a record is unique or the same as another record.
If the value in a unique identifier field in one record is the same as another, we will merge the two records.
Unique identifiers in eduConverse include:
- Contacts - Email Address and Contact ID
*The email address field will always be a unique identifier, even if you do not make it a required field in your account. - Deals - Deal ID
- Accounts - Account Name and Account ID
How do required fields work?
When making a field required, you need to provide a default value for the field. Default values are used to create and update records in your account that do not have values for required fields. For example:
- If a contact is added to your automation and if they don't have a value for a required field, we'll automatically use the default value so that the automation can successfully update the contact record. The default value for the field will then appear on the contact's record.
- If an integration needs to update a contact, deal, or account record, and if the record does not have a value for a required field, the integration will use the default value to sync updates to your account successfully
- You can use default values for required fields when importing contacts, deals, or accounts. This is especially helpful if there are any records in your import file that do not have values for the required fields.
Changing the default value for a required field will not change any existing values in records. If a record has an existing value for a required field, it will not be updated by the default value.
Once a field is made required, you cannot create or update a record unless a value is provided for the required field. Values for required fields will appear on contact, deal, and account records.
You cannot create default values for any unique identifier fields.
How to make fields required
Required fields are created on the Manage Fields page in your account.
You can make any new field you create required. You can also edit current fields to be required.
Access the Manage Fields page
1. Click "Settings" (gear icon) on the left menu.
2. Click the "Manage Fields" option on the Settings menu.
Create a new required field
1. From the Manage Fields page, click the object tab you wish to create a required field for. You can choose Contacts, Deals, or Accounts, depending on your plan level.
2. Click the "Add Field" button.
3. A modal window will appear.
- Complete the requested information in the modal
- Click the "Required" toggle to set it to the "On" position
- Type a default value for the field
4. Click the "Save" button when finished.
The field will be added to your account. The "Required" column on the Manage Fields page will have a checkmark for the field. The "Default Value" field will show the default value you set for the field.
You will not be able to create or update any records unless a value is provided for the required field.
Make a current field required
1. From the Manage Fields page, locate the field you wish to make required.
2. Hover your mouse over the field. Click the pencil icon that appears on the right side of the screen.
3. A modal window will appear for the field.
- Click the "Required" toggle to set it to the "On" position
- Provide a default value for the field
4. Click the "Save" button when finished.
The "Required" column on the Manage Fields page will have a checkmark for the field. The "Default Value" field will show the default value you set for the field.
You will not be able to create or update any records unless a value is provided for the required field.
How required fields work with other areas of the platform
Required fields and Automations
- If your automation runs to update a field for a contact and the contact does not have the required fields filled in, the default value will be used
- If automation attempts to blank or null a required field, it will error.
Required fields and the API
- V1 - if a partial update is used, required fields will automatically be updated using the default values
- VV3 - option to opt-in to using default values. If not, the request will fail
Required fields and forms
Forms do not need to display required fields. They will use the default value.
Required fields and CSV imports
When importing Contacts, Deals, or Accounts from a .csv file, you will have the option to use the default value for all required fields. If you do not use default values, and if a record does not have a value for the required field, the record will be skipped by the importer.
Required fields and the eduConverse Salesforce integration
You will be required to map all required fields when setting up the integration.