Person Fields

This article describes the function and use of custom person fields within the Customs Editor. Different custom fields are best suited to different types of data. Person fields take contact cards, which are used to store any data specific to an individual or organizational contact: names, addresses, gender, and more.

To learn how to add custom fields, including person fields, read the article on using the Customs Editor.

Using Person Fields
Person Field Options
Functions of Person Fields
Reporting Criteria

Using Person Fields

Person fields take contact cards, which are special in that they actually contain multiple fields, and look like “cards” when clicked. Contact cards are customizable and can be created and edited in the Contacts Setup Advanced tool. Learn more about contact cards.

Once a contact has been added to Filevine, it can be searched for and added to a custom Person field. Each contact contains two tabs, Contact Details and Associated Project, along with any additional customized tabs that have been added.

Person fields are used whenever you are storing information on an individual or an organization. These fields can be used to provide contact information for insurance companies, attorneys, clients, team members, and any other individual or organization involved with the case. The Person field also does not need to be filled out entirely. Even if all you need to store is a name and a phone number, the person field will serve you best. Additional information can be added at any point.

Person Lists

While Person fields offer the widest available reporting criteria, Person List fields have limited reporting criteria. Because of this limited reporting, Filevine recommends that Person List fields should be used only when you need a list of contacts that you will not regularly report on. For example, you may use this field type to store information about the children of a client if you do not intend to report on this information. Reach out to your Implementation Consultant for assistance before using a Person List field. Often, a Collections Section with a single Person field will serve you better.

Person Field Options

Person fields can be added in the Customs Editor like other custom fields. However, Person fields and Person List fields have additional options available. Users can choose to filter a person field’s search by either contact type or by contacts that are already added to the project.

Limit to Contact Type

Because some person fields will always be used for a certain contact type, users can choose to add Limit to Contact Type as a default filter for the field. This filter makes adding contacts of the chosen type easier.

The Limit to Contact Type option can be added to any person or person list field in the Customs Editor. Find the field, open to edit, and select the desired contact type from the Limit to Contact Type dropdown. 

In the project, a person field with this option will filter for only those contacts with the selected type. The Limit to Contact Type filter can be removed by clearing the checkmark. The field will then filter for all contacts.

Limit to Project Contacts

Some person fields are used exclusively for contacts that are already added in the project. For fields like this, users can choose to add Limit to Project Contacts as a default filter. This filter makes adding project contacts quicker and easier. 

The Limit to Project Contacts option can be added to any person or person list field in the Customs Editor. In the Customs Editor, find the field and open it to edit. Select Limit to Project Contacts and save.

A person or person list field with the Limit to Project Contacts option will, by default, filter for only those contacts already in the project. This filter can be removed by clearing the Limit to Project Contacts checkmark. The field will then filter for all contacts until the page is refreshed, when it will return to the default filter. 

Because it limits the contacts search results, the Limit to Project Contacts filter option inactivates the ability to create a new contact. To create a new contact, or add a contact outside of the project, clear the Limit to Project Contacts checkmark first.

Functions of Person Fields

Any Person field in a project can pull in a card from an already-established contact, or a new contact can be created. Because contacts are saved in Filevine and can be added anywhere, make sure to search for a contact to see if it already exists before creating a new contact. This will ensure that you are not creating duplicate content. If you are editing a contact card, be aware that any changes you make will be made across the entire Org for that contact. 

Any contact saved in a Person field will be added to the Contacts Section. Contact information can also be downloaded as vCards so that you can quickly enter the information into a contact list elsewhere—say, on your phone. You can download the contact vCard by clicking the card button in the top right of an open person field, next to the Edit button.

Person fields and Person Link fields cannot be converted to any other field type, including each other.

Reporting Criteria

Person fields have a wide variety of reporting criteria available to them. Person List fields, on the other hand, have limited reporting criteria.

Person Field

Because Person fields can contain any number of customizable fields, they have a large number of reporting columns and criteria. Special report columns include Address Block, which will report a formatted block including the contact’s full name and address, and Address Block With Company Info, which will report a formatted block including the contact’s full name, job position and company, and address. These reporting columns are also used as replacement codes, which are particularly useful for Doc Gens. 

Reports can be limited by the conditions of any field in a card. For example, reports can be limited by a contact’s age, marital status, or gender. Take a look at the table below for the full view of reporting criteria available for single Person fields.

Person List Field

In contrast, Person List fields provide basic reporting and criteria. The following information from Person List fields can be added in report columns: 

• Person List: a list of first and last names of any listed contacts, separated by commas
• Person List Full Name - Extended: a list of the full names of any included contacts, including prefixes and suffixes, separated by commas
• Person List Address Block: a list of formatted blocks containing the full names and addresses of all contacts in the person list field
• Person List Address Block With Company Info: a list of formatted blocks containing the full names, position and company information, and addresses of all contacts in the person list field

Below is the breakdown of criteria available for a Person List field: