Can I use a custom field that is not on the form

Business rules can read a field the ticket's form does not show, but nobody can fill it in. That distinction matters.

Business rules can read a field the ticket's form does not show, but nobody can fill it in. That distinction matters.

What works

A trigger can set a field that is not on the form, and a view can filter on it. The field exists on every ticket regardless of which form is in use; the form only decides what is displayed.

That is genuinely useful for fields nobody should touch: something set by a rule, used for routing or reporting, and never edited by hand.

What does not

An agent cannot fill in a field they cannot see, and neither can a customer. A macro that sets it silently does nothing. That combination is the usual cause of a field that is mysteriously always empty.

The pattern that works

Deliberate: keep rule-set fields off the forms, and put every field a human must fill in on the form they are using. Trouble comes from doing it by accident, when a field was added and never placed anywhere.

How to tell which you have

Look at whether anything sets the field. If a trigger does, it is working as intended. If nothing does and it is not on any form, the field is doing nothing at all and should probably be deactivated.

See also

• Why my ticket field does not appear on the form
• Using custom fields in triggers and views
• Why my macro does not set the field