Working with Custom Fields

PDQ Connect allows you to create Custom Fields to be used to store values for each device which may not be obtained through routine scanning, such as asset tag numbers, warranty information, purchase date, etc.

View custom fields

To view a list of all custom fields currently available in Connect, click More in the left navigation bar, and then click Custom Fields from the dropdown.

This will take you to the Custom fields page.

Create a custom field

1. On the Custom fields page, click the Create custom field button in the upper right corner.
2. Enter a unique name for the custom field, and set one of the available types:
   • Date (MM/DD/YYYY)
   • Number (a number, with or without decimal places)
     
   • String (a string of text)
   • True/False (boolean)
     

New custom fields will be added to every device, with the value empty by default.

Manage existing custom fields

• To rename an existing custom field, click the three vertical dots (kebab menu) to the right of the field, and click Rename.
  Enter a new, unique name for the field, and then click Rename.
  
• To delete an existing custom field, click the three vertical dots (kebab menu) to the right of the field, and click Delete.
  
  Click Delete to confirm. If you wish to skip the confirmation message in the future, you may check the box for Don't show me again before clicking Delete.
  

View/Edit the value of a custom field for a device

1. In the left navigation bar, click Devices.
2. On the Devices page, click on the Name of a specific device.
3. On the Device details page, click Custom fields. The value for each field will be visible in the Value column.
   
4. To quick-edit the value for a custom field, simply double-click the value of the field, change the value, and click anywhere else to save.
   
5. Alternately, you can edit a field by clicking the three vertical dots (kebab menu) to the right of the field, and clicking Edit.
   
6. If desired, enter a new value for the field:
   
   Alternately, you can clear the value of the field (set it to a null value).
   • To clear a string or number field, select and delete the value.
     
   • To clear a True/False (boolean) value, click the dropdown and delete the empty option at the top.
     
   • To clear a date, mouse over the existing value, and click the X which appears.
     
7. After you have made the desired changes to the value, click Save.

Use a template CSV to populate custom field values for multiple devices

After you have created a custom field, it is possible to fill in a value for that field for some or all of your devices all at the same time, using a downloaded CSV template file we provide in Connect, which you can modify and upload back to Connect.

1. To view a list of all custom fields currently available in Connect, click More in the left navigation bar, and then click Custom Fields from the dropdown.
2. Locate a custom field for which you would like to populate values for multiple devices. In this example, we're using a text field called "Test". Click the ⁝ (kebab menu) and select Import values.
   
3. In the Select custom fields window, select your desired custom field (the field that you used to initiate the command will be preselected).
   • If you wish to select any additional custom fields to populate at the same time, you can click Add custom field to add an additional line, then select your desired custom field.
     
   • If you wish to create additional custom fields which do not yet exist, you can click Create custom field and create an additional custom field right from within the same window.
     
   • After you have finished selecting your desired custom variables, click Next.
4. In the Upload CSV window, click Download template.
   
   Save the CSV file to your computer, and open it in Excel or a similar program which can edit CSV files.
5. Fill in the desired data for each column, while strictly following these guidelines:
   • Don't change column headers
   • Don't change the column type
   • All date values should be filled in using the mm-dd-yyyy format
   • Don't delete or modify the values in either of the first two columns, which specify the Device ID and Device name of the endpoint. If you delete or modify the values in either of these columns, your custom field values will not be applied to the correct device.
6. When you have finished filling in the data as desired, save the .csv file (be sure to save it as a .csv and not in any other unsupported spreadsheet formats, such as xlsx).
7. Back in Connect, in the Upload CSV window, either Click to upload or drag-and-drop the CSV into the upload window.
8. In the Map fields window, take note of the field mappings and confirm they are correct as specified.
   
   Generally, there should be no reason to change any of these settings - if you see anything that looks wrong, you should click back and repeat Steps 4-7 with a fresh copy of the CSV template.
   
   If everything looks good, click Next.
9. In the Preview and import window, confirm everything looks correct, and then click Import.

You can then return to a specific device, browse to Custom fields, and observe that the values have been populated for that device as specified: