Custom Fields

Custom Fields can complement the standard metadata (title, description, keywords…) and let you add custom data to your files. They also allow to enrich the search feature with new drop-downs fields that are specific to your needs.

This feature is not available on all plans. You can compare plans under Avatar / Subscription & add-ons.

Adding and activating a new custom field

Add and edit fields under My images & videos / Manage custom fields.

Give the field a short name, keeping in mind that name will be displayed to users in the search forms.

Custom fields are created at the account level, but they can be activated/deactivated for specific media libraries.

Similarly, custom metadata can be activated, or left inactivated, on the front-end website(s). This lets you keep some metadata private (visible in your administration space but not on your website).

You can create up to 64 custom fields.

Only the account owner can create custom fields.

Custom field types

PhotoDeck supports different types of custom fields:

• Single choice : this option lets you create predefined values (tags) for the field (for example years, product lines, property names…). When tagging files, you will chose among these values, ensuring a controled vocabulary. These fields are searchable and, when searching, the user will chose among those tags from a drop-down list.
• Multiple choice : like above, but a file can be tagged by multiple values for this field (for examples, for different kinds of approved uses). This type of fields is also searchable and on search forms, a single tag can be seleted in a drop-down list.
• Free text : unconstrained text. This lets you add free-form text to this field, for any file. Text fields can be displayed next to the images on the website but are not searchable.

You can create up to 250 tags for every custom field of type Single choice or Multiple choice.

Deleting custom fields and tags

When deleting a tag (an option within a custom field), the tag is removed from all files that might be tagged with this value.

Similarly, when deleting a custom field, that field’s data are removed from all files in the account.

Tagging files with custom fields

Once custom fields have been created, files can be tagged with them. Under My images & videos, when selecting one or more files from a media library for which custom fields are active, these fields will appear under Custom fields.

Like for the standard metadata, custom fields can be edited for single files, or multiple files at a time, as well as via Automations.

Displaying custom fields data on your website

Gallery display styles define what custom fields metadata are displayed next to the files and their location in the layout. By default, they are displayed with the other metadata, but the display style editor gives you great flexibility in their presentation and lets you display them anywhere in the image layout. Please refer to the documentation on the gallery display styles.

Searching with custom fields

Under My images & videos, the Single choice and Multiple choice custom fields you have defined will automatically appear as search filter options.

The Single choice and Multiple choice fields that are active for a website (as specified in the field’s settings) will also be automatically included in the website’s search feature as drop-down dialogs. In addition, to show custom fields on images without making them available as search filters, you can disable custom fields search altogether on the website via its search settings under My website / Setup / Website search.