<a id="custom-document-model"></a>

# Custom document model

An alternate `Document` model can be used to add custom behavior and
additional fields.

You need to complete the following steps in your project to do this:

- Create a new document model that inherits from `wagtail.documents.models.AbstractDocument`. This is where you would add additional fields.
- Point `WAGTAILDOCS_DOCUMENT_MODEL` to the new model.

Here’s an example:

```python
# models.py
from django.db import models

from wagtail.documents.models import Document, AbstractDocument

class CustomDocument(AbstractDocument):
    # Custom field example:
    source = models.CharField(
        max_length=255,
        blank=True,
        null=True
    )

    admin_form_fields = Document.admin_form_fields + (
        # Add all custom fields names to make them appear in the form:
        'source',
    )
```

Then in your settings module:

```python
# Ensure that you replace app_label with the app you placed your custom
# model in.
WAGTAILDOCS_DOCUMENT_MODEL = 'app_label.CustomDocument'
```

#### NOTE
Migrating from the built-in document model:

When changing an existing site to use a custom document model, no documents
will be copied to the new model automatically. Copying old documents to the
new model would need to be done manually with a
[data migration](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/topics/migrations/#data-migrations).

Templates that reference the built-in document model will continue
to work as before

## Referring to the document model

### wagtail.documents.get_document_model()

Get the document model from the `WAGTAILDOCS_DOCUMENT_MODEL` setting.
Defaults to the standard `wagtail.documents.models.Document` model
if no custom model is defined.

### wagtail.documents.get_document_model_string()

Get the dotted `app.Model` name for the document model as a string.
Useful for developers making Wagtail plugins that need to refer to the
document model, such as in foreign keys, but the model itself is not required.