Custom Record Types

NetSuite comes with certain common types of records, like Employee, Vendor, and Customer records. But sometimes your company may need to add an entirely new type of record to NetSuite. If that’s your situation, you will want to explore custom record types.

Creating Custom Record Types

The first step in understanding custom record types is to know how to create them. You have two main ways to create a custom record type. First, you could navigate to Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Record Types > New. Alternatively, you could select the New Type button on the list of custom record types. To access this page, navigate to Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Record Types.

Settings for Custom Record Types

When you create a custom record type, you will have several settings to consider.

Name, Description, and Display

First, there are several settings in the first field group at the top of the Custom Record Type page. In this field group, you will name your record type, provide an optional script ID, and write a brief description of the record type. You also have some key display options. For example, you can decide whether or not you want a required name field to show on the record with the Include Name Field checkbox. If you check this, then new records created for this type will all have names rather than being automatically designated numbers that represent the order of their creation. Other display checkbox options include Show Creation Date, Show Last Modified, and Show Owner. For each of those options, you can determine whether you want the information to display on the record itself, on the list of records, or both.

Permission and UI

You can also designate certain permission and User Interface settings. For example, you can determine whether the record type can be accessed from the User Interface (as opposed to just through SuiteScript) with the checkbox Allow UI Access; you can enable the record type to show on NetSuite’s mobile app with the checkbox Allow Mobile Access; and you can designate the access this record type requires with the Access Type dropdown list. You have three access types to choose from: Require Custom Record Entries Permission, Use Permission List, and No Permission Required.

File and Child Record

Next, you have file and child record settings. For example, some of the file settings include the checkbox Allow Attachments, which ensures that users can attach files in the file cabinet to these types of records, as well as the checkbox Show Notes, which provides a notes subtab on each record of this type. Some of the child record settings include Records Are Ordered, enabling you to change the order child records appear; Show Remove Link, providing a link which will allow users to remove the child record from the parent record; and Allow Child Record Editing, which enables users to edit the child record directly from the parent record. Note that Allow Child Record Editing will be available only if Show Remove Link has been checked.

Subtabs

When creating a custom record type, there are several subtabs to consider. The first two subtabs are Subtabs and Sublists; on these tabs, you can designate which subtabs and sublists will appear on your new record type. Under the Icon tab, you can choose an icon to appear with your record type, and the Numbering tab allows you to customize how new records in this record type will be numbered. The Permissions tab allows you to designate who has access to this record type; if you selected Use Permission List in the Access Type list above, then this is where you would create that list.

The Links tab enables you to provide a link on any given record of this type to the list of all the records of this type, and the Managers tab allows you to choose employees as managers of this record type. The final subtab is Translations, and here you can provide translations of the record type name into the languages that your NetSuite instance includes.