I noticed that custom user fields are always visible to users during signup or in their profiles, depending on the settings. Is there currently a way to create a user field that’s only visible and editable by staff (for internal use), not exposed to users? If not, would this be something the team …

Can admins create user fields that are only visible/editable in the admin panel?

ToddZ October 28, 2025, 10:04pm 8

Have a look at Discourse User Notes, a plugin now included in core. It’s meant for staff to internally share notes about users. (Loves cats – Golfs with the CEO – etc.)

Topic		Replies	Views
Adding and editing user custom fields Bug user-custom-fields	9	6242	March 20, 2015
Option to include user field that is only editable by staff Feature user-custom-fields	13	1014	October 28, 2025
Bug: UserField "Editable after signup" automatically forces "Show on signup" Bug user-custom-fields	3	21	October 28, 2025
How to make user fields visible to all users Support	5	972	October 6, 2020
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Can admins create user fields that are only visible/editable in the admin panel?

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