---
title: "Safe / Unsafe"
slug: "safe-unsafe"
updated: 2026-04-10T18:50:50Z
published: 2026-04-10T18:50:50Z
canonical: "knowledge.technolutions.net/safe-unsafe"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.technolutions.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Safe / Unsafe

The Safe / Unsafe setting for a custom Person-scoped field determines how the field can be updated if an application in an active period exists for a given Person record.

If a custom Person-scoped field is configured as Safe, the field value is **not** updated by a safe source import or a safe form submission if the record has an application in an active period.

> [!WARNING]
> 📝 Note
> 
> [**Standard Person-scoped fields**](/v1/docs/standard-fields-prompts)**, such as First Name, Last Name, and Date of Birth, are always treated as unsafe.**
> 
> Because of this, applicant information stored in standard Person-scoped fields will be updated even if an import or form is set to **Safe**.

You can override the safe field behavior in the following ways:

| Setting | Behavior |
| --- | --- |
| Unsafe set on field | Always treats the field as Unsafe, regardless of the settings on the import or the form. |
| Unsafe set on form or Unsafe set on import | Treats all mapped fields as Unsafe, regardless of the individual field settings. |
| Unsafe set on specific field destination | Treats a specific mapped field as Unsafe, even if the form or import and the field are set as Safe. |

By default, all forms (that are not Application, Application Creation, or Reader-scoped) and custom fields that are not Application-scoped are treated as Safe, unless one of the three methods above is used to override this setting.

For data imports, any data mapped to ***Application***-scoped fields is ***always*** treated as Unsafe, and is always imported, regardless of the Safe or Unsafe setting on the import.

- Devices and relationship-scoped fields are safe.
- Tests and school-scoped fields are unsafe.

In most cases, custom fields should be configured as Safe. Remember, it is possible to override a field’s Safe setting when configuring a form, a source import, or even a specific mapped field destination.

There is no way to override the behavior of a field configured Unsafe (that is, an Unsafe field is always updated regardless of the conditions set on a form or import). Only set a field to be Unsafe if under every circumstance, the data in that field should be updated by a form submission or a source import (such as an SIS ID field).

#### Example Safe Fields Timeline

The following example describes the timeline for a Hispanic field that is configured as Safe:

[![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/safe2b.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-12T13%3A01%3A04Z&se=2026-10-12T14%3A01%3A04Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=1LcnAXJFT59iXQqLQTvd%2BPK4ITRorKrz8IMjSl0gI%2Fc%3D)](https://cdn.us.document360.io/cd8ea7a6-07f3-4846-a554-627ac016d3e3/Images/Documentation/safe2b.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-12T13%3A01%3A04Z&se=2026-10-12T14%3A01%3A04Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=1LcnAXJFT59iXQqLQTvd%2BPK4ITRorKrz8IMjSl0gI%2Fc%3D)