ANS-1654 · CUSTOM FIELDS, RECORDS & FORMS
NetSuite Workflow: Overcoming Email Field Format Constraints
Discover a clever workaround to enable NetSuite workflows to populate native email fields with multiple addresses sourced from a custom free-form text field.
Short answer
To allow NetSuite workflows to populate native email fields with multiple addresses from a free-form text field, create a custom entity field, temporarily set its format to 'Email' for workflow configuration, then change it to 'Free-Form Text'. This bypasses the format restriction, enabling multi-email support.
Scenario
Clients frequently require the 'to be emailed' field on NetSuite Purchase Orders or Sales Orders to hold multiple email addresses. These addresses are often sourced from a custom field on Customer or Vendor records, aiming to avoid manual entry on every transaction. However, NetSuite workflow's 'Set Field Value' action imposes a constraint: it only allows native email fields to be replaced by other email-formatted fields. Custom free-form text fields or formulas are not displayed in the dropdown for selection and do not work directly.
Solution
To bypass the field format restriction in NetSuite workflows for email fields, follow these steps:
Create a custom entity field and set the field format = "Email"
Configure the workflow to source the custom field via dropdown selection
Change the custom field format from "Email" to "Free-Form Text"
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