Title: User Fields meta_key
Last modified: July 20, 2018

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# User Fields meta_key

 *  Resolved [krutzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krutzy/)
 * (@krutzy)
 * [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-fields-meta_key/)
 * I just updated from 3.2.0.1. I waited until this new release to start working
   again on migration. I noticed the meta_key fields changed at least with what 
   I am working with. For example the “City” meta key changed from “city” to “billing_city”.
   Was this intended. It just is confusing since we don’t use billing. Just curious,
   thank you.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Chad Butler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cbutlerjr/)
 * (@cbutlerjr)
 * [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-fields-meta_key/#post-10511848)
 * The default meta keys used by the plugin were changed in 3.2 to coincide with
   what is used in WooCommerce.
 * A couple of important notes:
    - On a certain level, meta keys are meaningless – all they are is the tag by
      which a piece of data is recognized in the database. So storing data as “city”
      or “billing_city” or even “1234” is all the same – as long as the label displayed
      to the user means something (i.e. it just says “City”).
    - When a meta key is not meaningless is when you are trying to integrate with
      another application. WooCommerce is extremely popular and common these days,
      and a lot of people are using WooCommerce along with WP-Members. It made sense
      to simply start a clean install with meta keys that matched up with what WooCommerce
      is using.
    - WP-Members has not changed with regards to the fact that it really does not
      matter what meta keys you use for any custom fields (i.e. fields that are 
      not native to WP). So you can keep the default fields it installs, or delete
      them and create your own. If you’re not integrating fields with another plugin,
      it doesn’t matter. And keep in mind that even if you’re using WP-Members by
      itself, the field meta doesn’t really affect what the data is nor what/how
      it is displayed to the user (even if that user is an administrator).
 * All that being said, what is important to me is to clarify exactly what you did
   when updating. Was this a clean (i.e. new) install? WP-Members never changes 
   settings when updating an existing install (at least it shouldn’t), so if there
   were settings already installed from a pre-3.2.x release, fields should not be
   changed when updating. It should only happen if the install is new (which includes
   if you deactivated a previous version and then ran the “delete” option via the
   plugin panel since that would wipe out previous settings).
 *  Thread Starter [krutzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krutzy/)
 * (@krutzy)
 * [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-fields-meta_key/#post-10512647)
 * Chad. Right now we are in the process of moving to wp-members. We are just a 
   small 50 member service club all volunteer with only dues as money. We have just
   one website. In the effort to start using wp-members on the site I have been 
   using my personal website as a development bed, before making the changes on 
   the club site.
    We have about 190 records in our home grow sql roster that I 
   have been doing data mapping for import, which is why I am looking at meta_keys
   and noticed the change. I did the latest update 3.2.1 on my personal website.
   Our club website still has the older 3.2.0.1 which was upgraded from the prior
   3.1 release. So I am comparing the 3.2.0.1 on the club website to the 3.2.1 on
   my personal website. So to answer your question, the fields were changed. Based
   on your answer, it doesn’t matter to me other changing my import mapping. We 
   have no use for anything like woo-commerce or extensions since that is not our
   purpose. I hope that helps you out for the other users. Thank you, Kevin
 *  Plugin Author [Chad Butler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cbutlerjr/)
 * (@cbutlerjr)
 * [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-fields-meta_key/#post-10512673)
 * The fields you have on the club website didn’t/won’t change because you have 
   an existing install. Actually, the same is true with the one on your personal
   website. Ssince the one on your personal web site was a clean install from one
   of the 3.2 versions, that’s why the keys were different than what you saw on 
   the club site.
 * Just to clarify, no matter what fields are on any install, default or otherwise,
   once you’ve set them up, any plugin upgrade is not going to change existing fields.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘User Fields meta_key’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/wp-members/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1226414)
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## Tags

 * [new release](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/new-release/)
 * [user fields](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/user-fields/)

 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Chad Butler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cbutlerjr/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/user-fields-meta_key/#post-10512673)
 * Status: resolved