Custom fields
Add your own attributes to any record type — currency, selects, checkboxes, multi-selects and more.
Every desk tracks something the standard fields don't cover — day rate, security clearance, right to work, languages. Custom fields let you add those attributes to candidates, contacts, companies, jobs and placements, and they behave exactly like built-in fields everywhere: tables, filters, kanban, imports and AI autofill.
Field types
| Type | Use for |
|---|---|
| Text | Free-form values — references, IDs, notes-in-a-field. |
| Number / Currency | Day rates, salary bands, fee values. |
| Select | One value from a fixed list — e.g. security clearance level. Select fields can power kanban columns. |
| Multi-select | Several values — languages, tech stack, sectors. |
| Checkbox | Yes/no flags — right to work, GDPR consent received. |
| Date | Visa expiry, available-from. |
| Timestamp | Date and time together. |
| Relationship / User | Links to other records or to workspace users. |
| Location / Phone number / Email / URL | Structured contact and web values. |
Creating a custom field
- Open the record list for the type you want to extend (e.g. Candidates).
- Click + (Add column) at the end of the column headers, choose New column… and pick a field type.
- Give it a name and a Description of what it holds (AI and the Assistant read it); for selects, define the options and, if it helps, when to pick each.
- Save — the field is immediately available on every record of that type.
Letting AI fill a column
The column's settings have an AI section. A column has exactly one fill mode:
- Off — only people edit it. The default.
- From this record — a value computed from other columns. Write a prompt and reference other columns by typing
{to pick one (for example "What industry is {Current employer} in?"). Under Writes, choose if empty (fills blanks only), suggest (proposes a value for review) or always (recomputes over any value) — always is the only unattended writer, and it locks the cell against manual edits. - From sources — a fact read from CVs, LinkedIn profiles and conversations. Tick the sources it may read: Primary CV (when a CV is added or made primary) and LinkedIn profile (when saved or updated from LinkedIn, if there's no CV) for candidates, and Communications (any record type: the emails, meetings, notes and WhatsApp messages switched on in Settings → AI). Its Rule says what happens to a value AI finds for an empty cell: Fill blanks writes it, with Undo; Always ask sends it for review first. A change to a value that's already there always goes for review, and when sources disagree the reviewer chooses.
Values that need a decision arrive in Notifications for approval. A field without a rule of its own follows the workspace's Default rule under Settings → AI (Fill blanks unless someone changed it). Which communication sources AI may read at all is also a workspace-wide setting there (Suggestions on records), not a per-column one. Settings → AI → Fields lists every field by record type, with its description and what AI fills it from, plus a Glossary of your own terms.
To fill a new CV column for candidates already in Kepler, choose Fill from primary CV from the column's header menu. It reads each candidate's primary CV once and fills every empty column that reads the Primary CV; cells fill in as it goes, and you can keep working.
Built-in fields (Location, Notice period, Current title and the rest) open the same column settings. Their name and type are fixed, but you can rewrite their description, switch AI off for them, untick a source and set their rule. A CV fills the ones it can know, such as notice period, salary and the kind of work wanted.
Where custom fields show up
- Record pages — editable on the Overview tab.
- Tables — add them as columns and edit inline.
- Filters & sorting — filter and sort any view by them.
- Kanban — a select custom field can be the grouping for a kanban view.
- Imports — map CSV columns into them.
- AI autofill — CVs, LinkedIn profiles and conversations can fill them, following each column's sources and rule.
Renaming an existing select, status or multi-select option updates the label on records that already use it. Creating a different option does not move records to it automatically — update their selections if you want them to use the new option.