PartsBox has a fixed set of built-in fields for each kind of object. Custom fields let you add your own, for the data that is specific to your work: a reliability level, a distributor part number, a container tare weight, a quality-inspection status.
You can add custom fields to parts, lots, storage locations, orders, projects, project (BOM) entries, and builds. Unlike a note, a custom field is structured: it has a name and a value, it is indexed for search, and it can be a table column, a filter, a label field, and a column in CSV or PDF exports. A custom field does everything a built-in field does.
Some of the ways people use them:
Because custom fields are indexed, you find a part by the data in a custom field exactly as you would by its name — type the value into search and the part appears, even when the custom-field column is hidden. Custom fields also work in table filters, so "MSL level is 3" or "inspection result is not defined" is a single filter condition, and a filter you use often can become a saved preset.
You rarely add a custom field to one object at a time. Select many objects in any table and set, rename, or delete a custom field across all of them at once: set the same field and value on a batch of parts, rename a field everywhere to standardize it, or remove one you no longer use. Renaming and deleting apply to every selected object; deletion cannot be undone. Bulk operations work on parts, lots, storage locations, orders, projects, project entries, and builds.
BOM import can map any extra column in your CAD export — an assembly variant, a placement note, an approval flag — into a custom field on the matching BOM entry. Data from the design arrives structured, instead of being retyped or left behind in the CSV.
Custom fields are in every plan, including the free Maker plan.