Configure your forms: hide the fields you never use

Configure each form to show the fields your business uses, require the few that must be filled, and give sensible defaults to the rest. In Swiftly Workspace, the Configure tables set Visible, Required and Default Value for every field, separately for each company.

Business software tends to ship with every field anyone might need. A design studio does not need a credit limit on every client, and a consultancy may never fill in a fax number. Each extra field slows people down and invites half-filled records. Trimming the forms is one of the cheapest ways to improve your data.

Three decisions per field

Setting	What it does	Use it for
Visible	Shows or hides the field in the forms.	Hide what your business never fills in.
Required	The record cannot be saved while the field is empty.	The few fields you truly cannot work without, such as an email for invoicing.
Default Value	Fills the field on a new record when nobody enters a value.	Values that are right most of the time, such as your usual payment terms.

How to decide what stays

Go through one form at a time, starting with customers, since they feed invoices and projects. For each field, ask three questions:

1. Has anyone filled it in the last three months? If not, hide it. You can show it again later.
2. Does something break without it? If an invoice, a report or a colleague depends on it, make it required. Keep this list short: every required field is a reason someone cannot save.
3. Is the answer usually the same? Then set a default and let people change it when it differs.

Hiding a field is easy to undo: switch it back on whenever you need it, so it is a safe experiment. Ask the people who fill in the forms every day before you lock anything down; they know which fields they skip. Our CRM guide for small businesses lists the customer fields most service businesses need.

Mistakes to avoid

• Requiring everything. When every field is required, people type placeholders such as "n/a" to get past the form, and your data gets worse, not better.
• Hiding what someone else needs. The salesperson may never fill in a billing contact, but the person who invoices does. Check with each role before you hide a field.
• Defaults that are usually wrong. A default saves typing when it is right nine times out of ten. When it is right half the time, it quietly fills records with wrong values. Leave those fields empty instead.
• Setting it once and forgetting it. Your business changes. Look at the forms again every few months, and switch fields on or off as your work evolves.

How it works in Swiftly Workspace

This is configuration of the fields Swiftly already has, not a way to add new ones. On a Mac, open Configure in the sidebar and pick a record type such as Customer. On iPhone and iPad, Configure is in the Settings section of the menu.

Each record type shows a table with one row per field and the columns Field, Visible, Required and Default Value, plus a Log column for change history. Customers are a special case: because a prospect needs less detail than an active customer, Required is split into Required (Prospect) and Required (Active). Save your changes with the save button in the toolbar.

• Visible comes before Required. A hidden field cannot be required, so Required cannot be turned on until the field is visible.
• Defaults fit the field. A list field gets a picker with your own values, a number gets a number field, and text gets a text field.
• Some fields are locked. A few fields hold the form together, such as a customer's name and type. They are always visible and always required, and the app tells you that the field structures the form and can't be hidden.
• Each company has its own setup. If you run more than one company in Swiftly, configure each one to fit its work.

New companies start with a lean set of visible fields, so the forms stay short from day one. You switch more on as you need them.

Field configuration decides what a form shows to everyone. Deciding who may read or change a particular field is a separate tool; field-level permissions explained covers it. For a sensible starting structure, read how to structure business customers, then see the trimmed form in action in how to add a customer on iPhone or iPad. Keeping customers next to their invoices pays off more when the records are clean; a CRM with invoicing shows why.

Frequently asked questions

Does hiding a field delete its data?

On a customer record, no. The field disappears from the forms, but values already stored stay in place. Make it visible again and they come back.

Can I add my own custom fields?

Not in Swiftly Workspace. Configure works on the fields the app already has: you choose which ones show, which are required and which have a default.

How many required fields should a customer form have?

As few as possible. Many small businesses get by with a name and one way to reach the customer, plus whatever their invoices need. Every extra required field is a reason someone cannot save a new record on the spot.

Who should decide which fields are required?

The people who rely on the data downstream, such as whoever sends the invoices, together with the people who fill in the forms. One short conversation usually settles it.