# User Profiling

Chamilo allows you to define custom profile fields (extra fields) to capture additional information about users beyond the standard name, email, and role.

## Extra Profile Fields

![The extra profile fields list showing custom fields with name, type, and visibility settings](/files/qxmCpuN2KnO7b8xgqaMn)

Extra fields let you store metadata specific to your organization, such as:

* Employee ID
* Department
* Job title
* Location/office
* Phone number
* Custom identifiers

## Creating Extra Fields

1. From the administration panel, navigate to **Extra fields** or **Profile fields**
2. Click **Add**
3. Configure the field:
   * **Name** — The field title shown to users
   * **Description** — Optional description
   * **Helper text** — To be shown under the field in any form including it
   * **Field type** — Text, dropdown, date, checkbox, etc.
   * **Field label** — The internal name of the field, for plugins integration
   * **Possible values** — If the field is a selector between those values
   * **Default value** — An optional default
   * **Visible to self** — Whether the field is visible on the user profile by the user itself
   * **Visible to others** — Whether the field is visible to other users of the platform
   * **Can change** — Whether the user can change its own field by himself (or whether only the admins can)
   * **Filter** — If this is a selector-type field, whether to include it as a filter in administrative pages (e.g. to subscribe users to courses or sessions)
   * **Order** — If you want to manage the display order of the fields, you will have to give a numerical order to each field
   * **Remove on anonymization** — Important for privacy rules & laws: If the user is anonymized but not deleted, should this field be considered as potential holder of personally identifiable data?
4. Save

## Field Types

The extra-field engine supports a broad set of input types. Common ones include:

| Type                             | Description                                           |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Text**                         | A single-line text input                              |
| **Textarea**                     | A multi-line text input                               |
| **Radio**                        | A single-choice radio group                           |
| **Dropdown / Dropdown multiple** | A list of predefined options (single or multi-select) |
| **Double select**                | Two dependent dropdowns (e.g., country → city)        |
| **Checkbox**                     | A yes/no toggle                                       |
| **Date / Date and time**         | Date or date+time picker                              |
| **Integer**                      | A numeric input                                       |
| **Tag**                          | Multiple free-form tag values                         |
| **File**                         | File upload field                                     |
| **Video URL**                    | A URL pointing to a video                             |
| **Mobile phone number**          | A formatted phone number field                        |
| **Timezone**                     | A timezone picker                                     |
| **Social profile**               | A link to a social network profile                    |
| **Divider**                      | A visual separator inside the form (no value)         |

The exact set of usable types depends on the Chamilo version; the field-type dropdown in the **Extra fields** admin page is the source of truth.

## Using Extra Fields

Extra fields appear:

* In the user creation (if visible to self) and edit forms
* On user profile pages (if visible to self)
* In user imports (you can include extra field values in CSV imports)
* In exports and reports (filter or group by extra field values)

## Tips

* **Plan before creating** — Define what information you need before creating fields, as changing field types after data has been entered can be problematic
* **Use dropdowns for consistency** — When a field has a known set of possible values, use a dropdown instead of free text to ensure data consistency
* **Use for reporting** — Extra fields are useful for filtering reports (e.g., "show all users in Department X who completed Training Y")


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.chamilo.org/administration-guide/admin-guide/users/user-profiling.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.