Custom fields & ticket templates

Custom fields & ticket templates

A ticket template is a saved form that pre-fills subject + description and presents a curated set of custom fields for the requester to answer. They turn the helpdesk from a free-text inbox into a structured intake system.

When to create a template

Create a template whenever you find yourself asking the same follow-up questions over and over. “Which printer?”, “What error code?”, “Which classroom?” — those belong on the form, not in a back-and-forth email chain.

Common templates a school might have:

• Broken/lost device — fields: device tag, last seen room, what happened
• New starter access — fields: start date, role, department, line manager
• Booking a room — fields: room, date/time, number of attendees, equipment needed
• Report a safeguarding concern — fields: pupil name (encrypted), brief description, urgency

Building the form

In the template editor, Section 3 — Structured fields is the form builder. For each field you set:

• Name — the machine key (snake_case). Used in automation conditions and exports.
• Label — what the requester sees
• Type — text, textarea, dropdown, date, number, checkbox
• Required — must be filled to submit
• Options (dropdowns only) — one per line

Drag the up/down arrows to reorder. Delete with the trash icon.

Field types in detail

Type	Use for
text	Short single-line answers — names, codes, room numbers
textarea	Multi-line — descriptions, justifications
dropdown	Pre-defined choices — “Which printer?”, “Which key stage?”
date	Calendar dates — start dates, deadlines
number	Numeric — number of pupils, count of devices
checkbox	Yes/no — “I’ve already restarted it”

How fields show on the portal

When a requester picks the template (via the smart search or the catalogue), the portal renders:

1. The pre-filled subject (editable)
2. The pre-filled body template (editable)
3. The custom fields below, in the order you set
4. A standard attachments box

Submitted answers land on the ticket as custom_fields[name] — agents see them in a structured panel on the ticket worktop, and automation rules can match against them.

Conditional fields (depends_on)

You can hide a field unless another field has a specific value. In the field editor, set the Depends on dropdown to the controlling field, and the value(s) that must match.

Example: a “Which classroom?” field that only appears when the requester picks “Yes — affects a specific room” on a preceding checkbox. Keeps the form short by default but expands when needed.

Default tags

The Default tags section adds tags to every ticket created from this template. Useful for routing (tag:estates-fabric) or reporting (tag:new-starter-2026-q3).

Department + default priority

Templates are bound to a department — that’s how the engine knows which queue to drop the new ticket into. The default priority is the priority a ticket starts at; agents can change it after the fact.