What Is a Display Field?

A display field is the field that represents a record whenever it is referenced elsewhere in the CRM. It is the human-readable label that appears in dropdowns, links, search results, and relationship columns — instead of a technical identifier.

A simple example

When you link a contact to a deal, the deal record needs to show which contact it belongs to. It could show:

• A technical ID like a4f8c2d1-9b3e-... (unhelpful)
• The contact’s name like “Sarah Chen” (useful)

The display field tells the CRM to show “Sarah Chen.” For contacts, it is typically the name. For companies, the company name. For deals, the deal title.

Why it matters

Display fields appear everywhere:

• Lookup dropdowns — When you pick a related record, you see the display field
• Subgrid columns — Related records show the display field, not an ID
• Search results — Each result shows the display field as the title
• Activity timelines — “Call with Sarah Chen” instead of “Call with record a4f8c2d1”
• Notifications — “New deal: Website redesign for Acme Ltd”

Without a display field, the CRM would show meaningless identifiers everywhere, making it impossible to navigate.

How HARi CRM handles it

Every entity in HARi has a designated display field, set by the administrator:

• Contacts — Typically full name (first name + last name)
• Companies — Company name
• Opportunities — Deal title
• Custom entities — You choose which field to use when creating the entity

The display field is configured in Settings > Schema, under the entity header. You can change it at any time, and all references throughout the CRM update automatically.

Composite display names

Sometimes a single field is not enough. For contacts, showing only “Sarah” (first name) is less useful than showing “Sarah Chen — Acme Ltd” (first name + last name + company).

HARi lets you create a composite display name that combines multiple fields:

1. Go to Settings > Schema and select the entity (e.g. Contact)
2. Under Display name, you will see two options:
   • Single field — pick one field from the dropdown
   • Composite (combine fields) — click the fields you want to combine
3. Click the fields in the order you want them to appear (e.g. First Name, then Last Name, then Company)
4. Click Apply composite
5. Click Save

The combined display name now appears everywhere: record headers, lookup dropdowns, search results, subgrid links, and activity timelines.

You can reorder or remove fields from the composite at any time. If you change your mind, switch back to a single field — no data is lost.

Learn more: What Is an Entity? | Add a Custom Field | Customize Your Entity