Setting Sourcing Criteria

Custom fields can pull values from other records in your account. The information populated in the custom field is then dependent on fields associated with a record selected on another field within that form. Sourcing helps reduce data-entry errors and keeps your forms up-to-date with the latest information your customers and employees need.

You can source data from both standard and custom fields.

For instance, you can have two custom fields, Sales Rep and Sales Rep Email, on a custom case form. When a customer record is selected in the Customer field, the sales representative already defined in the selected customer record is automatically filled in on the Sales Rep field on the case form. The Sales Rep Email field then defaults to the email address defined for the sourced Sales Rep.

The following diagram shows the custom field sourcing and filtering setup required to populate the Sales Rep and Sales Rep Email fields on a custom case form with data from the customer record:

Note:

The custom field gets updated when the record is created or when specific fields are changed when editing a record. In the preceding example, if you change the sales representative selected on the customer, the sourced field will update to show the new sales representative's email address.

When setting up sourcing, you can choose to store the sourced value in the custom field. If you don't store the value, it's not saved in the custom field. Instead, the field will dynamically pull data from another source stored elsewhere. By not saving the value in the custom field, the field information is instead dynamically populated with data that's stored elsewhere.

You can store a sourced value to prevent it from being overwritten if the source field content changes. To store a value, you need to set up the Source List and Source From fields on the custom field's Sourcing & Filtering subtab. The sourcing automatically fills the custom field with a value when the primary field, defined in the Source List field, is changed. If Store Value is checked, then the value populated in the field is stored on the record. You can optionally change the value on the custom field to have that value stored instead of the populated value. If the value in the source field changes, the stored value won't be overwritten.

For more information about storing values, see Setting the Store Value Field.

For information about custom transaction line field sourcing prior to 2021.2, see Note about Custom Transaction Line Field Sourcing.

To set sourcing and filtering criteria:

Edit the custom field you want to add sourcing and filtering criteria to.
If you don't want to store the value, clear the Store Value box. Typically, you won't want to store the value. For an example of a situation where it could make sense to store a value, see Example of Storing a Value.
On the Display subtab, review the Display Type field. If the Display Type field is set to Hidden, sourcing won't work. For sourcing to work, select a Display Type other than Hidden.
Click the Sourcing & Filtering subtab.
From the Source List list, select the field that references the record you want to source information from.

For instance, you might create a custom field to show a sales representative's email address on a customer record. In this case, you'd select Sales Rep from the Source List field.

When entering sourcing information for transaction body or transaction line fields, the Entity field varies depending on the transaction type. For example, on an expense report, entity refers to an employee, but on a purchase order, it's the vendor. For a purchase order, select Vendor in the Source List field instead of Entity to get the required results.

When working with entity fields, you can also define the field to source from a field on the parent record by selecting Parent from the Source List list.

Note:
Information for a Multiple Select field type can't be sourced.
From the Source From list, select the field you want to source information from. The Source From field is on the record you selected from the Source List list.

In the Source From list, you can select any field from the record you selected in the Source List field.

In the preceding example, select Email from the Source From list.

When you select a record, the field is filled with the value stored in the selected field. The field you select here must match with the type selected for the custom field. For instance, if you select E-mail as the field type and then select an address field from the Source From list, you'll get an error.

Note:
If your field is a List/Record field, the field selected for the Source From field must be in the record type selected as the List/Record.
If your field is a List/Record field, you can filter the choices that can be selected.

When defining a List/Record Type field, you can have the custom field populate with values that meet specific parameters in the sourced list or record. First, select the required item to filter by from the Source Filter by list. Then select an item from the Source List and, optionally, from the Source From list. When you select an element from the source list, it fills the option-sourced custom field with all elements where the source filter by field matches the source list (or the source from field of the source list).

The record you're sourcing from must be associated with the type of record you want to appear in your custom field.

Note:
The field selected from the Source Filter by list must be in the record type selected as the List/Record.

For more information, see Sourcing and Filtering Examples.
After setting the sourcing criteria, you should set any needed filtering criteria. See Setting Filtering Criteria.

Note:

You can't mass update or inline edit a custom field with a sourcing relationship. For more information, see Mass Updates.

Watch the following help video for information about using sourcing and the store value feature with a custom field.

Watch the following help video for information about setting sourcing and filtering criteria for a custom field.

Example of Storing a Value

The following example describes a situation where it could make sense to store a value.

Let's say John Wolfe is the sales representative for a specific region, and he makes some sales on order SO-123. John Wolfe’s name is automatically added to the sales order as the sales representative for the region. You always want John Wolfe to be associated as the sales representative on sales order SO-123. In the future, Mary Brown replaces John Wolfe as the region’s sales representative. You don’t want Mary’s name to replace John’s name on sales order SO-123. In this situation, it makes sense to store the sales rep value on the sales order.

To set sourcing and filtering criteria:

Example of Storing a Value

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