4.1 Custom Forms, Fields, Records, and Subtabs

Oracle NetSuite SuiteFoundation Specialist Exam

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1 Introduction and Exam Facts

1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 The 2025 Program Change and Keeping the Credential 1.3 The Five Weighted Domains and How to Study Them

2 Enable Features and Renaming Records

2.1 What Enable Features Controls 2.2 Renaming Records and Transactions

3 Support-Only Features and Classifications

3.1 Features That Need NetSuite Support 3.2 Classifications and Subsidiaries

4 SuiteBuilder and Platform Tools

4.1 Custom Forms, Fields, Records, and Subtabs 4.2 Bundles, SuiteApps, and SuiteFlow

5 Navigation, Performance, and Preferences

5.1 Roles, Centers, and Navigation Tools 5.2 Browser Experience and Performance 5.3 User Preferences That Change the Interface

6 Shortcuts, Activities, and the File Cabinet

6.1 Shortcuts Portlet versus the Shortcuts Menu 6.2 Activities, Email, and the File Cabinet

7 Sales Cycle, Quotas, and Forecasts

7.1 Setting Up Sales Force Automation 7.2 Leads, Prospects, and Customers 7.3 Quotas and Forecast Reporting

8 Cases and Marketing Campaigns

8.1 Case Management Setup and Use 8.2 Campaigns and SuitePromotions

9 Sales Orders, Fulfillment, and Payments

9.1 Sales Orders and General Ledger Impact 9.2 Fulfillment Controls 9.3 Customer Payment Methods

10 Returns, Credits, and Refunds

10.1 Return Authorization Forms and Ledger Impact 10.2 Return Controls and Refunds

11 Item Types and Inventory

11.1 Item Types and Best Uses 11.2 How Transactions Change Inventory Levels 11.3 Advanced Inventory Features

12 Pricing, Billable Costs, and Payables

12.1 Sales Pricing Options 12.2 Billable Time and Expenses 12.3 Purchase Approval Routing 12.4 Accounts Payable Steps and Ledger Impact

13 Finding Records and Saved Searches

13.1 Global Search, Lists, and Reports 13.2 Elements of a Saved Search

14 Portlets and Data Management Tools

14.1 Portlet Types 14.2 Inline Editing, Mass Update, CSV, and Duplicates

15 Support, Help Resources, and Releases

15.1 Working with NetSuite Support 15.2 Where to Look Up a Feature 15.3 Release Cycles and Release Preview

16 Custom Roles and Data Access

16.1 What a Custom Role Can See and Do 16.2 Building Roles Instead of Sharing Administrator

17 Authentication, Security Questions, and Settings

17.1 Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication 17.2 Security Questions 17.3 The Settings Portlet

18 Tracking Changes to Records

18.1 System Notes and Other Audit Tools 18.2 Ledger Impact and Field-Type Changes

4.1 Custom Forms, Fields, Records, and Subtabs

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

An employee birthday is an entity custom field of type Date. Date/Time stores a timestamp to the second, Time of Day stores only a clock time, and Record is Parent builds a parent-child sublist.

A preferred form is the default in the Custom Form field. Set it on the form or on the role at Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles. If Restricted is clear, employees can still change the form while entering the record.

Store Form with Record is on custom entry forms and only some transaction forms. When a form is stored on a record, that layout opens even if the form is not enabled for the viewer's role.

A custom record type is a new record with its own fields and forms, used when the data is not a standard entity, item, CRM record, or transaction.

A custom transaction type can use auto-generated document numbers. After you save it, you can add custom fields, create more than one custom entry form, and import instances with CSV.

Last updated: September 2026

Note

Independent preparation notice: ExamFinch provides independent study material for the NetSuite SuiteFoundation exam. Oracle does not produce, endorse, or review this chapter. Menu paths and behavior below were checked against Oracle NetSuite Help on September 29, 2026.

What Each SuiteBuilder Element Does

SuiteBuilder is NetSuite's point-and-click customization layer. The SuiteCloud glossary describes it as the features for creating custom objects such as fields, forms, record types, transaction types, and form layouts. SuiteFoundation asks which object does which job.

A custom field stores a value standard fields do not. A custom form decides which fields and subtabs a role sees, and which form opens by default. A custom record type is a new record for data that is not a standard entity, item, CRM record, or transaction. A subtab groups fields on a form. Custom transaction types belong here because questions also test their numbering and their fields.

Custom Fields

Create a custom field at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields, in the family that matches the record: entity, CRM, transaction body, transaction column, item, or other record. An employee birthday is an entity field with Employee checked on Applies To. The form can show it, hide it, or make it mandatory.

Field Types That Exams Mix Together

The field type controls what can be stored.

A Date field stores a calendar date. Help's example is a projected start date. A birthday is a Date: month, day, and year, with no clock time.

A Date/Time field stores a date and a time together, down to the second, for a timestamp such as a client handoff.

A Time of Day field stores a time only. Help's example is Best Time To Call. It cannot hold a birth date.

Those values display in the user's NetSuite time zone from Home > Set Preferences. That page is a personal preference, not where an administrator assigns a form to a role.

Record is Parent is a relationship. On a List/Record or Multiple Select field, after you select the parent record type, check Record is Parent. Child records then appear as a sublist on the parent, on the subtab you choose. The box does not store a date. On the field's Access subtab, role, department, and subsidiary can differ, and Help grants the highest level.

Custom Forms

A custom form is the layout for entering or viewing a record. Entry forms cover employees, customers, and projects. Transaction forms cover invoices and purchase orders. From Customization > Forms > Entry Forms or Transaction Forms, choose which fields and subtabs appear, their labels, and which fields are mandatory.

Preferred Forms

A preferred form is what NetSuite selects in the Custom Form field when that role creates a record or transaction. Form is Preferred on the custom form, and the Preferred box on the custom forms list, set the default when the role does not name a form. For one role, open Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles, edit the role, and use the Forms subtab. The role overrides the list page.

Enabled makes the form available. If every form for that record type is cleared, the role uses the standard form. Preferred is only the default. Check Restricted when the preferred form should be the only form the role can use. Enabled and Restricted are not offered for Customer Center roles.

Help's warning is the tested rule: if you set preferred forms without restrictions, employees can still change the form while entering a transaction or record. Preferred means the form that opens first. Restricted removes the other choices. Home > Set Preferences holds personal options such as time zone. It does not assign a preferred form.

Employee Center is the exception: only one form is available to that role, and the form on the role takes precedence. A consultant role can still switch until Restricted is checked.

Store Form with Record

Store Form with Record remembers the form used to create the record. Later views and edits open that stored form instead of the viewer's preferred form.

The box is not on every custom form. On a custom entry form it is present and cleared by default. On custom transaction forms it appears only for some types, checked by default for that subset. For other transaction types the box is absent because NetSuite always stores the custom form with the record. Purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, and item receipts always store the form. Checks, journal entries, and expense reports are among the types where you can turn storage off.

Enabled controls which forms a role may pick while entering. Storage controls which layout opens an existing record. If a custom form is stored with a record, users see that form even when it is not enabled for their role.

Custom Record Types

A custom record type , created at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Record Types > New, is a new record with its own fields and forms. Use it when the data is not a standard entity, item, CRM record, or transaction. Professional licenses, each with an issuer, a number, and an expiration, fit a custom record, and Record is Parent can show those rows on the employee. This objective does not cover scripting the record.

Subtabs

A subtab groups fields on a form. Add one at Customization > Forms > Subtabs, then select it on the field's Display subtab. A subtab stores nothing. Birthday on a Personal subtab is still the Date field. A child-record sublist can sit on a standard subtab or on a custom subtab of the parent.

Custom Transaction Types

A custom transaction type is a new transaction, created at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Transaction Types > New. You name it, set an ID, and choose a transaction style, which controls how each instance is entered. After you save, you can add custom fields and create custom entry forms.

Every transaction type, including a custom one, uses document numbers and transaction numbers. Document Numbers on the type is where you configure autonumbering, so the type can use auto-generated document numbers. Transaction numbers are the internal gapless sequence generated on save, and users cannot overwrite them. Those transaction-number fields can also be edited at Setup > Company > Auto-Generated Numbers.

The CSV Import Assistant can import instances when custom transactions are enabled and at least one custom transaction type exists. The type can have more than one custom entry form, and it can carry custom body fields. A Lines sublist appears or not based on the type's list style.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Element What it is Services-firm example Boundary

Custom field One new value on an existing record Employee birthday stored as a Date Record is Parent links records; it does not store a date

Custom form Layout of fields and subtabs for a role Preferred project form for consultants Preferred, with Restricted clear, still allows a form change during entry

Custom record type A new record with its own fields and forms One record per professional license For data that is not a standard entity or transaction

Subtab A labeled group on a form Personal subtab that holds Birthday The field stores the value; the subtab only groups it

Birthday and a Switchable Project Form

Create an entity field, apply it to Employee, and set the type to Date. Place it on a Personal subtab of the employee form. Customize the project entry form and mark it preferred for the Consultant role at Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles on the Forms subtab. Leave Restricted clear while the layout is under review. A consultant then sees that form first and can still choose another form in the Custom Form field. Check Restricted when that form should be the only one the role can use.

On the project entry form, Store Form with Record starts cleared. If you check it, a saved project reopens on that form, including for someone whose role does not have the form enabled.