Give a custom object its fields

Every record automatically gets a built-in <strong>Name</strong> (the primary title), plus optional <strong>Status</strong> and <strong>Owner</strong> columns. These aren't custom fields — add anything else you need as custom fields after creating the entity.

So the first job after creating an object is giving it the fields that make a record meaningful. Open the object and use Fields — the list shows {{count}} fields against each object so you can see at a glance which ones are still empty shells.

Fields work exactly as they do on customers and deals — the same types, the same behaviour on the form, the same availability in filters and exports. The mechanics are written up once: Add a custom field.

Design the record around the questions you will ask of it. A field you will filter or report on is worth having; a field nobody ever fills in makes the form longer for everybody and answers nothing. Start with five and add the sixth when somebody actually asks for it.

Use a dropdown rather than free text wherever the answer is one of a known set. Free text cannot be filtered reliably — "Volvo", "volvo" and "Volvo " are three different values — and it is the single most common reason a custom object turns out to be unreportable a year later.

Status and owner are already there as built-ins, so do not recreate them as custom fields. Owner in particular is what makes the record show up under a person's own filter: Show only your records, your team's, or everyone's.