Managing Custom User Fields

Note: This addon requires an Uncanny Automator Business or Agency license.

With the Uncanny Automator Custom User Fields addon, it’s easy to manage custom user profile fields for your WordPress users.

Adding custom user fields

Once you’ve installed and activated the Uncanny Automator Custom User Fields Addon, add a custom field by following these steps:

1. Go to Automator > Settings > Addons > User fields.
2. Click the Add field button. A pop-up will appear, where you can give the field a name. Use whatever name makes sense for the data you are planning to collect, such as Company name, Phone number, etc.  Each custom user field you create is stored in the user meta table, which is referenced by a Meta key.  This is like a bookmark that points to where your data will be stored.
3. Unless you have a specific reason to change the meta key, we recommend you don’t.  This is especially important if you’ve already started storing user data in this field; once the meta key is changed, it will be much more difficult to access the data; it will be effectively lost unless you access it directly by the original meta key. Advanced users: Specify a meta key used by another plugin to make it easier to access in Uncanny Automator recipes.
4. Once you’ve specified the name of the field, click Save.
5. You can continue to add new fields by clicking Add field until all of your custom fields are defined.

Once the field has been created, you’ll see a token to access this data in the recipe builder:

As well as a field on the Edit User page to easily view and update the data.

Deleting custom user fields

If you no longer need a custom field you defined, there’s no drawback to simply leaving it defined and not using it. The only scenario in which you’d want to delete a previously defined custom field is:

• You no longer need to update or display the information saved in the field
• You are no longer using the field in recipes

Deleting the field from settings is like deleting a pointer to the information. It does not remove any actual user data stored in that field in the database (in the user meta table). To delete the stored user data, create a recipe with a loop and the Delete user meta action before deleting the field from the settings panel (so you can view the user meta key associated with the field, which you will need for the Delete user meta action).

Once you’re sure you no longer need access to the data in the field, simply click the trash can icon next to the field to delete it.

If you need to restore a field that was deleted, you can simply recreate it with the original settings, including the correct user meta key. Remember, defining a field is like defining a pointer to the data. So re-defining a deleted field does not restore any of the data that was previously stored in the field. (Unless you took explicit action to delete the data, it should still be there.)