All about the "Custom Fields" feature

The Custom Fields feature lets you add your own data fields inside SimplyPrint - for print jobs, files, users, printers, and filament spools. This guide covers what you can do with custom fields and how to set them up.

What is it?

Custom fields let you track information that isn't built into SimplyPrint by default. You define the fields, pick where they appear, and SimplyPrint stores the values alongside your existing data.

A few examples of what you might use them for:

• Order number - set on queue items and files, inherited automatically by print jobs
• Customer name - attach to any file so it carries through to print history
• Due date - set a deadline on queue items
• Approval status - track whether a job has been signed off before printing
• Project code - link prints to departments or internal projects
• Supplier - track which vendor a filament spool came from
• Certification - note a user's training level or certifications on their profile

Custom fields show up as editable fields wherever you've chosen to place them.

You can toggle custom field columns on and off in any table, and reorder them, via the View button in the top right corner. These preferences are saved per user - each person in your organization sets their own table layout.

How to create custom fields

Go to Settings > Custom Fields: https://simplyprint.io/panel/settings/custom-fields

To create and manage custom fields, you need to be the organization owner or be in a user group with the Manage custom fields permission enabled.

Each custom field has a label, an optional description, a field type, and a category that determines where it appears (more on categories below). You can also set a placeholder, mark it as required, and configure validation rules.

Field types

Custom fields support a wide range of input types to match your data:

• Short text
• Long text
• Number
• Email
• Phone
• URL
• Select (single choice dropdown)
• Multi-select
• Radio buttons
• Checkboxes
• Yes / no (boolean)
• Date
• Date and time

Field validation

Text-based fields can have a minimum and maximum character length. You can also define a regex pattern to enforce a specific format - for example, requiring a dash after the first three characters. You can read about regex at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression. ChatGPT is handy for generating regex patterns if you describe what you need.

Number fields support minimum and maximum value limits.

All validated fields can show a custom error message when validation fails.

Custom field categories

A field's category determines where it shows up and what options are available. You pick one category per field.

Printing: jobs, queue, files

Fields in this category are used across the printing workflow. When creating a field, you choose which parts of the workflow it applies to:

• User files - shown on files in the "Your files" tab (your own files and shared files)
• Print queue - shown on items in the print queue
• Print jobs - shown in print history

A field can apply to multiple of these at once.

Show in Your files table: For fields applied to user files, you can check Show in Your files table to have the field appear as a column directly in the files table view.

Custom field inheritance: If a field is enabled for both user files and print jobs, any value set on a file carries over automatically when a print job is started from that file. The same goes for print queue to print jobs. This means you can set an order number or customer name on a file once, and it will show up in your print history without any extra steps.

Show before start print: For print job fields, you can check Show before start print to require the field to be filled in when starting a print. A popup appears after file selection, before the print starts, showing any fields that are required and not yet filled in. If all required fields already have valid values, the popup is skipped.

You can limit this popup to specific printers, printer models, or printer groups if you don't need the prompt for every printer.

Show value on printer: For print job fields, you can check Show value on printer to display the field's value on the printer in the printers overview and on the printer control panel - shown near the print file name. Useful for at-a-glance context like an order number or customer name.

User information

Fields in this category are attached to users in your organization and appear in the Users table.

Show during signup: You can check Show during signup to include the field on your organization's user signup form. This lets you collect custom information from new members when they join.

Printer information

Fields in this category are attached to printers and appear on each printer's detail view.

Show on printer card: You can check Show on printer card to display the field's value on printer cards in the printers overview, shown below the printer name. Useful for things like a location, a responsible person, or a hardware note you want visible at a glance.

You set the value for a printer field directly on the printer's settings page.

Filament information

Fields in this category are attached to filament spools in the filament manager. Use them to track anything extra about your spools - batch numbers, purchase dates, storage locations, quality ratings, or anything else relevant to your workflow.

Exporting custom field data

Custom field values are included when you export data to CSV from tables like the print queue or print history. Custom field columns are added at the end of the CSV with the prefix cf_ (for custom field), so all column headers stay unique.

Only active custom fields are exported. If you disable or delete a field, or remove a subcategory from a field, values associated with that field won't appear in exports.

Use with the API

Custom field values can be read and submitted via the API. See the API documentation at https://apidocs.simplyprint.io/ for details.

Updated on: 01/03/2026