Custom conversation fields

Front allows you to add custom fields to a conversation to designate information like Category, Last Assignee, or External app ID to add extra context to the thread. After the custom fields are set, they can also be used in Smart Rules to automate many of your workflows.

Only company admins can create new custom field types. 

You can use custom conversation fields to add conversation-specific information to a thread.

• Add an External app ID to quickly find and reference the corresponding thread in one of your external systems

• Add a Category field to classify the conversation based on content

Growth plan and above: You can use the Custom conversation field contains rule condition to match on a specific custom conversation field value and perform an action. 

Example 1: Move to an inbox based on a custom conversation field

Custom conversation field setup:

Rule setup:

Scale plan or above: You can use Smart Rules to automatically update custom conversation fields when a conversation attribute changes. 

Example 2: Update the Last assignee custom conversation field when the assignee changes, then assign inbound messages to the last assignee

Custom conversation field setup:

Rule 1 setup:

Rule 2 setup:

Scale plan and above: You can use the Conversation custom field is updated rule trigger to add a new comment to a conversation when a custom field is updated.

Rule setup:

Step 1

Click the gear icon on the top right of Front and into the Company settings tab, and select Custom Fields from the left sidebar menu.

Step 2

Click the Conversations tab, then click Add conversation custom field.

Step 3

Enter a Name and Description for your custom field, then select a data Type. See this article to learn more about custom field data types.

Step 4

Click Create.

There are several ways to add custom field data to your conversations, each described below.

You can use the API to create and update custom conversation fields programmatically. API documentation is available here.

Scale plan or above: You can use the Update custom field value rule action and create rules to automatically update custom conversation field values.

Step 1

Click the three-dot menu at the top of a conversation, then click View conversation details.

Step 2

Click the Custom fields area to expand the section. Click Add, then select the custom field you’d like to add.

Step 3

Enter the custom field value for the conversation. The data will automatically save.

Step 4

Hover over the custom field to copy, edit, or delete the value.

Custom conversation fields are available on all plans. See additional details about pricing of certain features below.