Getting More Details From Users

We keep a pretty detailed CRM (Customer Relations Management) database with all kinds of info.  To get that information from the users of the Moodle site I'm going to need to add some fields to the Create Account page.

As an admin on Moodle go to Site Administration > Users > Accounts > User Profile Fields and you'll see a page saying User Profile Fields, Other Fields, No fields have been defined.  If you want a few new fields, such as one for each line of an address, you could create a new category.  Click the button and create your category.

For a new field select from the drop down.  I want a simple text box so users can tell me where they work so I select Text Input.  Fill in the form that comes up,  I'm going to select Yes in Make this Field Required and Display on Signup Page and not change anything else.  Then click save changes.

Remember, if you export user data at any point, which I will do, having commas in the signup fields might screw up how the data is displayed as commas are often use to signify a new field to a database or spreadsheet.  For example, if someone answers my new Where I Work field with "My Office, London" I'll get My Office in the correct column but London will be in the next column, pushing all the other fields out of sync.  This could be a big problem for databases so try to keep your fields simple.  If you find users are constantly putting commas in and causing you problems you can always edit these field names, either adding another field or changing the name to be more specific.