Custom Sections area — overview
Who this is for: Anyone who needs to understand what the Custom Sections area is before doing any specific task in it
Time to read: 4 minutes
The Custom Sections area is CLX’s home for tenant-defined object types — configured by your administrator to extend the platform beyond its standard built-in options.
Common examples: Products, Services, Vendors, Payment Schedule, Requirements, Providers, Insurance Certificate. Each type gets its own list page, its own row schema, its own permissions, and its own + New drawer.
Unlike Contracts, People, or Organizations — where the page structure is fixed but the fields can be customized — Custom Sections lets your organization define entirely new record types from scratch.
Where to find it
Sidebar: Custom Sections (collapsible group)
URL: /custom/<urlName> — one path per type (e.g., /custom/Products, /custom/Services)
Permission: Read for the specific type — granted per-type, not area-wide
Why it’s called “Custom Sections”
The name “Custom Sections” comes from an earlier version of the product, when these were sections of data attached to a contract record. They've since grown into fully independent object types — but the name stuck.
Don't let the name confuse you. A Custom Section type is simply a new kind of record (like a contract or a person) with fields that your organization defines.
The two screens you’ll spend time on
The Custom Sections area has exactly two main screens per type: the list page (/custom/<type>) and the detail page (/custom/<type>/<id>). Drawers (Add New, Edit) layer on top of these.
Custom Section records don't support file attachments — they store data fields only. (If you need to attach documents to a record of this type, configure it as a contract type or consider attaching the documents to a related contract / organization / person.)
The list page
URL: /custom/<urlName>. Where you land when you click any bullet under Custom Sections in the sidebar.
Top to bottom:
Page header
Icon — generic dot (type-specific icons aren’t supported in the new UI)
Title — the Plural Name configured for the type (Products, Services, etc.)
Subtitle — Manage <plural>.
+ New X button (blue, top-right) — opens the Add New drawer. Hidden if you don’t have add permission for this type
Search box — full-text search across the type’s primary text fields
Grid — columns are defined by your organization per type. For Products you’ll typically see Product ID, Product Name, Notes, Updated By, Last Updated. Sort, filter, resize behave the same as every other CLX grid
Pagination footer — 100 rows per page
There is no Switch View toggle on Custom Sections list pages — only the grid view is available. (Compare with Tasks, which offers Grid + List.)
The detail page
URL: /custom/<type>/<id>. Where you land when you click any row in the list.
Top to bottom:
Breadcrumb and header bar
<Plural Name> / <Record Name> on the left.
Right side controls:
Pencil icon — opens the Edit drawer (uses the same dynamic form as Add New, pre-filled). Requires per-type edit permission
Options menu (⋮) — the action menu for each record. One option only: Archive (or Restore if the record has already been archived). See Options menu
Identity card
The block under the header shows:
Icon + Record Name (uses the record type’s Name field)
Type label + Archived badge (if archived)
Summary fields — a row of key fields displayed, chosen by your administrator in Type Manager settings (“Show in Summary”).
Details sections
Below the identity card, the record's full details are organized into one or more sections. Each section has a heading and displays its fields in a three-column layout. The sections, fields, ordering, widths, and labels are all configured by your administrator (Page Layout).
Field types you may see:
Text / Number / Date / Currency / Yes-No — single-value fields
Long text / Textarea — multi-line, span full width
Lookup / Dropdown — show the name of a linked record or selected option
Multi-select — shows multiple selected values separated by commas
All fields are read-only on the detail page. To edit a field, click the pencil icon to open the Edit drawer.
What’s not on the detail page
A few things that exist on Contracts / People / Organizations detail pages don’t exist on Custom Sections detail pages:
No More Information panel — Custom Sections records aren’t parents of related records, so there’s no right-column drawer launcher
No Documents section — no attached files
No Tasks section — tasks can reference any record but aren’t available on the custom-object detail page; find them in the Tasks area instead
No Workflow History panel — workflows on custom objects, where supported, surface in the Tasks area
No Send Email / New Workflow Options menu items — the only action menu is Archive/Restore
The Add New / Edit drawer
The + New X button on the list page and the pencil icon on the detail page both open the same drawer:
Right-side slide-out
Title: Add New <Type> or Edit <Type>
Body: a form with the fields configured for this record type
Footer: Cancel + Create (or Save) buttons
See Add a new custom object record for the field-by-field walk-through.
If you don't have permission to edit this record type, the drawer will open in read-only mode. Permissions are set at the record type level by your administrator — not on individual records.
Permissions on this area
Custom Sections permissions are granted per-type, not area-wide. Your administrator defines each role/profile to the set of types it can read, add, edit, and archive.
Without this permission | You see… |
customObjectsUserCanRead is empty | The Custom Sections sidebar group doesn’t appear at all |
customObjectsUserCanRead excludes a type | That type doesn’t appear in the dropdown |
customObjectsUserCanAdd excludes a type | The + New X button is hidden on that type’s list page |
customObjectsUserCanEdit excludes a type | The pencil icon is disabled or hidden on detail pages |
customObjectsUserCanArchive excludes a type | The Archive item is hidden from the Options menu |
If a button is missing, see Cross-cutting tips → Permissions.
How custom object records relate to other records
Custom object records can be referenced from Contracts, Organizations, and People through those records’ More Information panels. The link is one-way in the UI: you create or open a custom-object record, then go to a contract / organization / person and add/associate it from there.
Common patterns:
Products / Services — linked from a contract’s More Information panel to capture line items
Vendors — linked from a contract or org to capture supplier metadata
Insurance Certificates — linked from an organization to capture COI / policy details
Payment Schedule — linked from a contract to capture per-milestone amounts
Once associated, you can view the custom record's details by opening the related contract / organization / person and clicking on it in the More Information panel — this opens a drawer showing the full record details. Clicking further will take you back to the custom-object details page.
The shared Add New drawer is the only overlay
The detail page keeps navigation simple — clicking the pencil icon opens the Edit drawer; closing it returns you to the detail page. The only action in the Options menu (⋮) — Archive or Restore — triggers a confirmation prompt rather than opening a drawer.
Related references
Contracts ▸ More Information panel — where custom objects are linked from
Tasks area overview — for the parallel “drawer-driven” pattern