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Custom Metadata Fields

In addition to the standard fields (title, date, people, places, etc.), you can add custom fields to your accessions to capture information that's specific to your archive or organisation.

What are custom fields?​

Custom fields let you record any extra metadata that The Archiver doesn't capture by default. For example:

  • Donor name — who donated these materials
  • Condition — physical condition of the original (Good / Fair / Poor)
  • Restrictions — any access restrictions on the materials
  • Reference number — your internal catalogue number
  • Conservation notes — any preservation work done

Adding custom fields to an accession​

  1. Open an accession (or create a new one)

  2. Click the Custom Fields tab

  3. Click Add field

  4. Choose a field type:

    • Text — for free-form notes
    • Number — for counts, measurements
    • Date — for a specific date
    • Select — for a dropdown with fixed options you define
    • Yes/No — for a simple checkbox

  5. Give the field a name and (optionally) a description

  6. Click Save

Applying custom fields to individual files​

Custom fields can also be applied at the file level (not just the accession level):

  1. Open a file within an accession
  2. Scroll to the Custom Fields section
  3. Add or edit fields just as you would at the accession level

Custom field values are indexed and searchable. In the Search screen, you can filter by any custom field.

tip

Use consistent values in select-type custom fields. If you use "Good", "Fair", and "Poor" for a Condition field, you'll be able to filter by condition across your entire archive.