Customize the headline field

Last updated: September, 2026

Personalize the headline field to reflect your community’s unique identity and goals. This article walks you through the steps to customize the field’s details and configure its visibility.

The headline field is a system field that allows members to showcase essential information about themselves, enabling them to effectively highlight their expertise, interests, or unique attributes to the community.

The headline field is prominently displayed across various community contexts, such as the member profile, profile highlights in posts and comments, and the member directory.

The option to personalize the headline field is only available as part of the customization profile fields feature, which is available to communities on the Business plan and above.

If you are on our Professional plan, you can purchase a Customizable profile fields add-on for $49/month. This add-on includes unlimited profile fields and the ability to customize fields.

As an admin, you have the ability to configure and personalize the headline field to meet specific community needs. To edit the field and adjust its preferences:

1. Click Audience in the left sidebar, then select Profile fields.

2. Locate the headline field and click its field label. Alternatively, hover over the headline field, click More actions (three dots) and select Edit field.

3. In the Edit field dialog, update the field details and configure preferences as needed. See below for more information.

4. Click Save changes to apply your updates. If the field is no longer needed, you can also choose to archive it.

When editing the headline field details, you can change the following fields:

• Field label: Customize the label to reflect terminology that resonates with your community. For example, you might rename "Headline" to a term that better suits your audience.

• Placeholder: Update the placeholder text to provide a hint on the expected input. This hint appears inside the textbox until the member enters their content, guiding them on what to include (e.g., "Enter a brief description of your expertise").

• Description: Add detailed information for the field, which will appear as a tooltip (indicated by a "?" icon) next to the field label. Use this to clarify the purpose of the headline field or provide an example to encourage meaningful input.

ℹ️ Note: The headline field is a system field, so you cannot make changes to its key. Additionally, the field type is fixed and cannot be changed.

The preferences section lets you fine-tune the headline field's properties and visibility to suit the community’s needs. The following options are available.

Field properties

• Mark this field required: When enabled, new members must complete the headline field during the profile confirmation sign-up process (if the sign-up form is enabled) or when saving their profile information (if the edit profile form is enabled).

• Internal field: When this toggle is turned on, only admins can see and edit this field. It’s useful for things like internal notes, segments, or any other non-personal details your team wants to track behind the scenes.

  • Members cannot see or enter information in fields that are marked as internal on their own profiles, nor can they view it on other members’ profiles.

  • For admins, internal fields are visible on member profiles, and their values can be modified when editing a member profile. Additionally, as an admin, you can leverage internal fields as filters in various community areas, including the Manage audience page, workflows, and broadcasts, enabling targeted management and communication.

  • ℹ️ Note: If the field is marked as internal, the form locations and community display configuration will no longer apply to the field and will be disabled.

Form locations: Choose where members can add or update the headline field:

• Sign up form: Decide whether to display the headline field on the community sign-up form, allowing new members to provide this information during onboarding.

• Edit profile form: Decide whether to include the headline field on the edit profile form, which will allow members to update their headlines as needed.

Community display: Control where the headline field appears within the community:

• Visible in full profile view: Choose whether to show the headline field on the member’s full profile page, making it accessible to viewers of the profile.

• Visible in profile highlights: This option is exclusive to the headline field and allows you to decide whether the headline field appears in profile highlights, such as posts, comments, the member directory, and other community-related contexts, enhancing member visibility across the platform.