ACF Important notes
- When changing the custom field name (meta key), it doesn’t change it in the database.
- When deleting a custom field, it doesn’t delete it from the database.
- When deleting some options from ACF fields, they are still in the database applied to old posts.
- When changing the type of custom field, it doesn’t delete old applied values in different type from the database.
Keep those things in mind when working with ACF, because they are responsible for 90% of the issues that may arise later. Once you create a filter using one of those modified custom fields, you may encounter many issues as the plugin retrieves the data from the database and you will have mixed data types, already applied different values, etc.
Quick Fix:
If you encounter any issues with ACF data, create a new custom field with a unique name (meta key) that has not been used before. Assign it to the necessary post type and add the data to your posts. Afterward, create a filter using the freshly created custom field’s name (meta key) and test it to ensure that it works correctly.
PRO Fix:
Change all values in database to the required format that matches your current custom field type to make it work.
Alternatively, you can clear all values for the exact custom fields and apply the desired values to your posts via post editing, as they will all be blank.
ACF value : label when using symbols for checkbox fields
If you are using special symbols in your custom fields like:
this (some)
$ – some + this%
<$%^&^&*%^&$%^ some text
You need to use value : label approach in ACF to make it work correctly:
1 : this (some)
2 : $ – some + this%
3 : <$%^&^&*%^&$%^ some text
Supported custom field types
You can check out the demo page by clicking on this link. The page allows you to view and interact with custom fields that are fully supported. Please note that some field types are only partially supported or not supported at all.