---
title: "Email Field"
aliases: [payload-email-field, email-field-payloadcms]
tags: [payloadcms, fields, email, validation]
sources: [raw/fields__email.md]
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-05-15
---

## Overview

The Email field enforces that the stored value is a valid email address. It renders a standard email input in the Admin Panel with built-in format validation on both client and server.

```ts
import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MyEmailField: Field = {
  name: 'contact',
  type: 'email',
}
```

## Key Takeaways

- `type: 'email'` — built-in email format validation, no custom validator needed for basic use
- Inherits all base field options: `required`, `unique`, `index`, `localized`, `hidden`, `defaultValue`, `hooks`, `access`, `saveToJWT`, `virtual`
- `unique: true` creates a **database-level unique index** on the field path
- `index: true` — add if you query by email frequently (e.g. user lookup)
- `saveToJWT: true` — embeds email into JWT/cookie; useful for reading email in access control without a DB round-trip (see [[wiki/payloadcms/authentication-token-data|Token Data]])
- `virtual: true` — field is not persisted to DB; use for computed or derived email values

## Config Options

| Option | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `name` * | DB property name |
| `label` | Admin panel label (string or per-locale object) |
| `unique` | DB-level unique index |
| `index` | Query performance index |
| `validate` | Custom validation function (client + server) |
| `saveToJWT` | Include in user JWT token |
| `hooks` | Field lifecycle hooks |
| `access` | Field-level access control |
| `hidden` | Exclude from API and admin UI (still stored in DB) |
| `defaultValue` | Default email value |
| `localized` | Enable per-locale storage (requires global localization config) |
| `required` | Make field mandatory |
| `admin` | Admin UI options (see below) |
| `virtual` | Skip DB persistence; or path string to link to a relationship |

## Admin Options

```ts
admin: {
  placeholder: 'user@example.com',
  autoComplete: 'email',
}
```

| Property | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `placeholder` | Placeholder string shown in the input |
| `autoComplete` | Browser autocomplete attribute value |

Plus all standard [[wiki/payloadcms/fields-basic|base field admin options]].

## Example — Full Config

```ts
import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const Contacts: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'contacts',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'contact',
      type: 'email',
      label: 'Contact Email Address',
      required: true,
      unique: true,
      index: true,
      saveToJWT: false,
      admin: {
        placeholder: 'user@example.com',
        autoComplete: 'email',
      },
    },
  ],
}
```

## Custom Components

### Field — Server

```tsx
import type { EmailFieldServerComponent } from 'payload'
import { EmailField } from '@payloadcms/ui'

export const CustomEmailFieldServer: EmailFieldServerComponent = ({
  clientField, path, schemaPath, permissions,
}) => (
  <EmailField field={clientField} path={path} schemaPath={schemaPath} permissions={permissions} />
)
```

### Field — Client

```tsx
'use client'
import type { EmailFieldClientComponent } from 'payload'
import { EmailField } from '@payloadcms/ui'

export const CustomEmailFieldClient: EmailFieldClientComponent = (props) => (
  <EmailField {...props} />
)
```

### Label — Server

```tsx
import type { EmailFieldLabelServerComponent } from 'payload'
import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'

export const CustomEmailFieldLabelServer: EmailFieldLabelServerComponent = ({ clientField, path }) => (
  <FieldLabel label={clientField?.label || clientField?.name} path={path} required={clientField?.required} />
)
```

### Label — Client

```tsx
'use client'
import type { EmailFieldLabelClientComponent } from 'payload'
import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'

export const CustomEmailFieldLabelClient: EmailFieldLabelClientComponent = ({ field, path }) => (
  <FieldLabel label={field?.label || field?.name} path={path} required={field?.required} />
)
```

## Related

- [[wiki/payloadcms/fields-basic|Fields: Basic]] — all scalar field types overview
- [[wiki/payloadcms/authentication-token-data|Authentication — Token Data]] — use `saveToJWT` to embed email into JWT
- [[wiki/payloadcms/database-indexes|Database Indexes]] — `unique` and `index` internals
- [[wiki/payloadcms/authentication-overview|Authentication Overview]] — Users collection with email auth
- [[wiki/payloadcms/custom-components-authoring|Custom Components Authoring]] — RSC vs Client component rules

---

*Source: raw/fields__email.md — https://payloadcms.com/docs/fields/email*
