Custom fields

When the built-in book and collector details don’t capture what your Library catalogues by — shelf of origin, reading level, translated from, "signed at which event" — you can define your own fields. Each field has a name and a type: text, long text, yes/no, number, date, or a pick list (choose one, or choose several) with your own option list. They’re your library’s vocabulary, shared by everyone in it, and nothing about custom fields appears anywhere until you define one.

1. An Admin defines the fields from My Library → Library tools → Settings → Custom fields: add a field (name + type, plus options for a pick list), rename it, reorder the list, or archive one you no longer use. Fields can only be deleted while they hold no values — otherwise archive them, which hides the field but keeps every recorded value.
2. Any member who can edit books then sets values per copy from the book page: expand a copy (or the single copy’s "Custom fields" section) and tap Edit. Two copies of the same book can hold different values, and every field is optional.
3. Set values show on the book page under the copy they belong to; empty fields don’t show.

Defining, renaming, reordering, and archiving fields is Admin-only; setting values on a copy is available to Admins and Members. Custom fields are member-facing collection data — they never appear on public showcases, public book pages, or a guest’s view. Renaming a field keeps its values, and removing a pick-list option leaves values already recorded with it untouched. Your CSV export adds one column per field and the JSON backup carries the full definitions and values, so they travel with your data.

Once your library has custom fields, the Library page can filter by them. Open Filters and, under "Custom fields", choose a field under "Custom field", a "Condition", and a value, then click "Add filter". The conditions depend on the field’s type: text and long text — "contains" (not case-sensitive); yes/no — "is" Yes or No; number and date — "is between", where either end may be left empty and both ends count; pick lists — "is any of" the options you tick; and every type — "has a value" or "has no value". Each filter shows as a chip beside the other active filters; its × removes it. Up to 10 custom filters can be on at once.

A "No" or a 0 is a value: filtering Signed "is" No finds copies someone marked No, not copies where nobody filled it in — use "has no value" for those.

Custom values belong to a copy, so a custom filter is matched copy by copy. All your filters must hold, and the location, "Available only" and loan filters must hold for the same copy as the custom ones: with one copy on Shelf A that is not signed and another on Shelf B that is, filtering Shelf A and Signed "is" Yes finds nothing. Within one "is any of" filter, any ticked option matches. While a custom filter is on, the count at the top reads books and matching copies, and the list, the statistics, "Print list" (its locations, Copies column and copy total) and Select all work from those same matching copies.

Filters remember fields by identity, so renaming a field or reordering the list changes nothing. If a filter names a field that has since been archived or deleted, or a pick-list option that has been removed, the list is not shown without it — the page says "These filters need repair", names what is missing, and offers "Remove the missing custom filters"; bulk actions wait until then. A saved view with such a filter is marked "Needs repair" the same way.

Filtering by custom fields is for Admins and Members, on the website. Guests never see custom fields, so they have no custom filters, and a link carrying one opens for a Guest without it. The phone app does not filter by custom fields.