Create custom attributes for user profiles

As an admin, you can store organization-specific information about your users, such as location or employee start date, in addition to the standard information, such as employee ID and title, in a user's profile. To store this additional information, you create custom attributes. 

When you create a custom attribute, you can specify whether the information is visible to all users in your organization or just to administrators and the individual user.

Warning: Don't use this feature to store sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), such as account credentials, government ID numbers, cardholder data, financial account data, healthcare information, or sensitive background information.

If you intend to use a custom attribute in the Secure LDAP service, follow these guidelines for naming the custom attribute:

• The custom attribute name must be unique. Don’t use the same custom attribute name across all schemas and system attributes.
• The name can include only alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

Add, edit, or delete custom attributes

You must be signed in as a super administrator for this task.

Add a new custom attribute

To organize custom attributes, you create attribute categories. For example, say you want to capture information about your sales team’s fleet of cars. You would create categories, such as "registration" or "insurance," in which to record attribute values—that is, text, number, or date values.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. At the top of Users list, click More options Manage custom attributes.
4. Under Standard attributes, review the standard attributes in a user's profile.
5. At the top right, click Add Custom Attribute.
6. Under Category, enter a name for the category you want to add.
7. (Optional) Under Description, enter a description of your category.
8. Under Custom fields, create a custom attribute:
   1. Name—Enter the label you want to display on the user’s account page.
   2. Info type—Select Text, Whole number, Yes or no, Decimal number, Phone, Email, or Date.

      Note: You can't edit the info type once you've created your custom attribute.

   3. Visibility—select an option:
      • Visible to user and admin—Super administrators can see the custom attribute in the Admin console.
      • Visible to organization—All users in the organization can see the custom attribute in each others' profiles.
   4. Number of values—Select Multi-value or Single value.

      Note: You can't change Multi-value to Single value once you've created your custom attribute.

9. (Optional) Add another attribute.

   Note: You can define a maximum of 1500 attributes over all apps. Because each app has one default attribute, the total number includes the default attribute plus any custom attributes you add.

10. Click Add.

    The category appears in the Manage user attributes page.

    You can enter values for the custom attribute on the User information page for a user only. You can't enter these values by uploading a file with user account information.

Edit or delete custom attributes and categories

When organization-specific information changes, you might need to update or delete categories or custom attributes, such as making some attribute values public to all users in your organization.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. At the top of Users list, click More Manage custom attributes.
4. Under Custom attributes, click the category you want to edit or delete.
5. (Optional) To edit a category:
   1. (Optional) To edit text, click in a text field.
   2. (Optional) To change an attribute'ss visibility, select another option in the drop-down list.
   3. (Optional) To delete an attribute, click Remove .

      Note: If a category only has one attribute, you must delete the category to delete the attribute.

   4. Click Save.
6.  (Optional) To delete a category:
   1. Click Delete at the lower left.
   2. Review the message and click Delete to confirm.

If you can't delete an attribute or category

If a custom attribute is currently in use (mapped) in a SAML application, you must delete the attribute mapping before you can delete either the attribute or the category that contains it. Follow these steps:

1. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsWeb and mobile apps.
2. Click the SAML app that is using the custom attribute.
3. On the app settings page, click SAML attribute mapping.
4. Next to the custom attribute mapping, click Remove .
5. Click Save.
6. Return to the Manage custom attributes page and follow the steps to delete an attribute or category.

Requirements for custom attributes for the Secure LDAP service

If you want to use custom attributes for the Secure LDAP service, follow these guidelines when setting up custom attributes:

• Names for custom attributes can contain only alphanumeric text and hyphens.
• There should not be duplicate attribute names across all custom schemas.
• If the custom attribute name matches with an existing system attribute, we will return the system attribute value.

Add values to custom attributes

Requires the Update user administrator privilege and the Schema read admin API privilege.

You can add or update values for custom attributes on the User information page for a user.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. In the Users list, find the user. If you need help, see Find a user account.
4. Click the user’s name to open their account page.
5. Click User information.
6. Click any of the custom attribute sections to edit it.
7. Add or change values to custom attributes.
   Requires the Schema Management privilege.
8. Click Save.

Note: You can't add or update custom attribute values by uploading a file with user account information.

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