Use Pipedrive custom fields for information that changes a sales decision: which service a prospect needs, whether a site survey is complete, or when delivery could begin. Before adding another field, decide who will maintain it and what action its value should support.
This guide is for a business already configuring Pipedrive. Our HubSpot versus Pipedrive comparison addresses the earlier platform choice.
Table of Contents
Put the information on the right record
Start by checking the existing fields. Pipedrive separates built-in, system-generated and custom data in its data-fields guide. Avoid creating a second version of information that already has a suitable home.
Our recommendation is to put stable company information on the organisation, individual contact details on the person, and information about a particular sale on the deal. A customer’s preferred service for one proposal may differ from their next request; storing it only against the company could obscure that distinction.
Write a short definition before configuration: what the field means, permitted answers, who updates it and when. If two colleagues interpret the name differently, resolve that now. A dropdown cannot repair an unclear business question.
Choose Pipedrive custom field types around the answer
Pipedrive’s field-type reference distinguishes single-choice and multiple-choice lists, text, numbers, money and dates. The following are suggested uses for a small service business.
| Information needed | Suggested type | Design check |
|---|---|---|
| Survey status | Single option | Choose one clearly defined state. |
| Services requested | Multiple options | Allow several services on one opportunity. |
| Number of premises | Numerical | Agree which locations should count. |
| Estimated external cost | Monetary | Confirm the currency and what the estimate includes. |
| Requested delivery date | Date | Distinguish a customer request from an agreed commitment. |
| Special delivery instructions | Large text | Keep narrative context out of category fields. |
Use a short, maintained option list for information you need to group consistently. Reserve free text for explanation. Keep “not yet known” distinct from a confirmed negative answer, and decide whether a blank means the question has not been asked.
Create one field and inspect its use
With the appropriate global permissions, open the account menu, then Personal preferences → Data fields. Select the record type and + Custom field, then provide a name and type. Pipedrive’s creation instructions also note that leads share deal fields.
Create a small sample set before transferring a spreadsheet full of columns. Include an ordinary enquiry, one with missing information and one requesting several services. Ask a colleague to enter each without coaching; inconsistent answers often reveal a definition problem.
The field type cannot be changed after creation, and deleting a custom field removes its stored data. Treat a replacement as a migration: preserve the old values, decide how they translate and check the replacement before removing anything.
Important versus required: a reminder or a gate
On current plans, important fields start at Growth and required fields at Premium. Global admins configure these rules. Important fields flag missing information; required fields can prevent saving a deal until the necessary details are present. Deal rules can apply to selected pipelines or stages.
The required-fields documentation gives a crucial limitation: imports, bulk edits, API changes, automations and third-party integrations can bypass that enforcement. Required fields are also unsupported in the lead detail view. Do not treat the setting as a universal check on every route into your CRM.
Require an answer only when the team should reasonably know it. For an initial enquiry, a reminder may be appropriate. At the point of sending a firm proposal, a missing survey result might justify stopping progress. Requiring everything immediately can encourage placeholder answers that look complete but help nobody.
An example: preparing a maintenance proposal
Illustrative example: a small maintenance firm quotes for work across several customer premises. It proposes four deal fields: services requested, premises count, survey status and requested delivery date.
The salesperson records the request; an estimator confirms the scope. The team defines survey status as Not arranged, Booked, Completed or Not needed, with an agreed reason for the final option. It keeps notes explaining access restrictions separately from those standard answers.
Before rollout, rehearse a proposal with no survey result and another imported from a spreadsheet. Confirm who must resolve the gap in each case. The aim is an understandable handover, not a screen that simply contains fewer blanks.
Use fields to find work that needs attention
Build a filter for the decisions the team actually makes. Pipedrive’s filtering guide explains that every ALL condition must match, while at least one ANY condition must match alongside any ALL conditions.
For the maintenance firm, combine the proposal stage with a missing survey status to create a review queue. Add known examples that should and should not appear before sharing the filter. Assign someone to review the results; finding an incomplete record does not resolve it.
Check spreadsheet mappings and plan capacity
During import, match each column to both the correct field and record type. Pipedrive’s mapping instructions warn that automatic mapping may leave fields unmatched. Similar names do not prove that the destination is correct.
For multiple-option data, create the field first and inspect the individual option mappings, as described in advanced mapping. Review a representative batch against your intended results, including blanks and unfamiliar option names, before importing the remainder.
Current custom-field allowances are 30 on Lite, 100 on Growth, 300 on Premium and 500 on Ultimate, per company. Check the subscription and existing usage before planning more fields; additional seats do not multiply this allowance.
Review fields that nobody uses before expanding the setup. Keep the questions that support a decision, improve definitions that cause confusion and preserve existing data when making changes. If stronger process controls are driving a wider CRM decision, our Pipedrive versus Zoho CRM comparison examines that choice.
Sources reviewed 20 September 2026 against official Pipedrive documentation. The maintenance-firm example is illustrative.
