# Identity Extended Attribute **URL:** \ **Category:** IIQ Discussion and Questions\ **Tags:** identityiq\ **Created:** [March 9, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992 "2026-03-09T19:20:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Prash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d07c76/32.png) [@Prash](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/Prash)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/1 "2026-03-09T19:20:21Z")
HI, Can anyone please explain what is the difference between “extended1” and “extendedIdentity1”? in IdentityExtended.hbm file there are 5 “extendedIdentity” attributes are present which are separate columns in database, want to understand where and how it can be utilized. Regards, Prashansa ---
**Author:** ![kumarSinghM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kumarSinghM](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/kumarSinghM)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 4:22am UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/2 "2026-03-10T04:22:21Z")
In SailPoint IIQ, you can create extended Attributes of two types. One is string, and the other type is Identity object. By Default extended attributes of type string is present in the format of “ **extended1** “ and extended attribute of type Identity is present as “ **extendedIdentity1** “ ---
**Author:** ![utkirjonkamiljanov](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/discuss/user_avatar/developer.sailpoint.com/utkirjonkamiljanov/32/36695_2.png) [@utkirjonkamiljanov](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/utkirjonkamiljanov)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 5:11am UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/3 "2026-03-10T05:11:22Z")
extended1 : Extended Attribute of type String extendedIdentity1: Extended Attribute of type Identity ---
**Author:** ![kumarSinghM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kumarSinghM](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/kumarSinghM)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 5:13am UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/4 "2026-03-10T05:13:01Z")
extendedIdentity1 is used when you want to store the identity details in the identity attribute in order to link one user with a different user. For Example - Manager field contains a link to the Identity and it stores the Idenitty object of the manager. ---
**Author:** ![santhirajumunganda](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/discuss/user_avatar/developer.sailpoint.com/santhirajumunganda/32/38035_2.png) [@santhirajumunganda](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/santhirajumunganda)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 9:24am UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/5 "2026-03-10T09:24:40Z")
Hello @Prash you can check more details here ⬇ > [@Brief about extended identity attributes in IIQ](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/brief-about-extended-identity-attributes-in-iiq/83764): > > Hi All, I would like to give some idea about identity extended schema attributes: By default, when we install SailPoint, we will get 6 attributes that are searchable and indexed. Because those will be stored in a separate column of the spt\_identity table. Bsides this, by default SailPoint will give and we will map 10 extended attributes. Which means we can create 10 extended searchable attributes, which will be stored in extended1, extended2, extended3,… extended10 in the sequence (make sure t… ---
**Author:** ![NikitaDeshmukh0811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@NikitaDeshmukh0811](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/NikitaDeshmukh0811)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/6 "2026-03-10T12:22:24Z")
In SailPoint, we can create attributes of type **String** or **Identity**. **extended1** attributes are of type **String** and are used to store details about an identity (ABC), such as name, address, and other related information. And, **extendedIdentity1** attributes are of type **Identity** and store references to another identity. For example, the manager (XYZ) of identity (ABC), where the manager is also an identity in SailPoint. Both **extendedIdentity1** and **extended1** are defined in the **HBM files** and are represented in the SailPoint UI as attributes of type **Identity** and **String** , respectively. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/original/3X/5/4/54ea5fd5715c67ccfce9181cef23dd2d82817cf3.png) ---
**Author:** ![neel193](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/discuss/user_avatar/developer.sailpoint.com/neel193/32/34038_2.png) [@neel193](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/neel193)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/7 "2026-03-10T14:09:24Z")
@Prash I hope details shared by fellow Sailors helped you out. If yes, could you please accept the valid response as solution, so it can help others having the similar issue. If you need any more details, please let us know. ---
**Author:** ![narayanag](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/discuss/user_avatar/developer.sailpoint.com/narayanag/32/25441_2.png) [@narayanag](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/narayanag)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/8 "2026-03-10T14:14:30Z")
@Prash I’m really impressed that you’re trying to understand the system design at a deeper level. That’s really great. I’m assuming you’re referring to this point from the `IdentityExtended.hbm.xml` file. ```auto extended1 is for custom text data, while extendedIdentity1 is for identity-to-identity relationships such as mentor, backup approver, or secondary manager. ``` below content from sailpoint configuration files. By default we will map 10 extended attributes, but this may be raised to a maximum of 20. Using ExtendedPropertyAccessor can add attributes beyond the limit of 20 and have meaningful names. Example of ExtendedPropertyAccessor is shown below. Only the first five attributes are indexed, to provide an example of how to specify an index. In a production deployment you will usually index most of the extended attributes since they are usually added for searching, but index maintenance slows down updates to the identity cube so add them only if necessary. All extended properties must be of type=“string”. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sailpoint/original/2X/f/f2136700ed5e3703e0b85e02f6be799dacca7735.png) [@system](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/identity-extended-attribute/198992/9 "2026-05-09T14:15:11Z")
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.