How Custom Fields Show Up on the VICIdial Agent Screen

You added a custom field to a list so agents can capture an account number, or read a scripted question, or pick from a dropdown. Then you log in as an agent to test it and the field is nowhere on the main panel. This trips up almost everyone the first time. The field is there; you are just looking in the wrong place.

This post walks through exactly where list custom fields land on the agent interface and how the field settings you chose translate into what the agent sees and can do.

They live on the Web Form tab

Every list Custom field appears on the Web Form tab of the agent interface, not on the default lead panel. When an agent has a live call from a list that has custom fields, they click that tab and the fields render there in the order you set. So the first thing to do when a field seems missing is to check the Web form tab.

The fields are tied to the list the Lead was loaded into. If a lead moves to another list later, it keeps the custom fields of the list it was first viewed from, so an agent always sees a consistent form for that lead.

Label, name, and position

Two settings control naming. Field Label is the database column name; it has strict rules (2 to 50 characters, no spaces or punctuation, underscores instead of spaces). Field Name is what the agent actually reads on screen, and it can be a friendly phrase or even a question to read verbatim. Field Name Position decides whether that label sits to the LEFT of the input or on TOP of it. These three together shape how the field reads to the agent.

Field type decides how it behaves

The Field Type is the big lever. A few of the common ones:

• TEXT and AREA give a single-line or multi-line box the agent can type into.
• SELECT, RADIO, MULTI, and CHECKBOX give pick-from-a-set inputs from your defined options.
• DISPLAY and READONLY show data without letting the agent change it.
• HIDDEN never shows to the agent at all but still imports, exports, and feeds scripts.

So if your field is set to HIDDEN, the agent will never see it no matter which tab they open. That is by design, but it surprises people who expected an input box.

From admin setting to agent screen

flowchart TD
  A[Create custom field on list] --> B{Field type}
  B -->|HIDDEN| C[Never shown to agent]
  B -->|DISPLAY or READONLY| D[Shown, not editable]
  B -->|TEXT, SELECT, etc| E[Shown and editable]
  D --> F[Renders on Web Form tab]
  E --> F
  F --> G[Agent reads Field Name and acts]

Making a field mandatory

If the campaign option for required fields is enabled, the Field Required setting can force the agent to fill a field before they hang up. Y affects all calls; INBOUND_ONLY affects only calls received through an in-group. It works for TEXT, AREA, DATE, SELECT, MULTI, RADIO, and CHECKBOX types. This is how you guarantee an agent never closes a call without capturing a required value.

For the full menu of behaviors, see VICIdial custom field types, and for the setup walkthrough see adding a list custom field. The wider context lives in the VICIdial lists and leads guide.

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