Record Types in Salesforce

It is a well-known fact that in Salesforce, the one-page layout can be assigned to different profiles, but one profile cannot have more than one-page layout assigned to it. But few business use cases might require you to assign multiple page layouts to a single profile. This is when the record type comes into the picture.

Record types are a powerful feature in Salesforce that allows you to group similar records within an object and customize them based on specific needs. They help you organize your data more effectively and streamline your workflows. Let’s understand what record types are in Salesforce exactly!

What are Record Types in Salesforce?

Salesforce Record Types are a way to categorize and group different sets of records within the same object. They allow you to customize how different groups of records are displayed, managed, and used.

For example, you could create different record types for opportunities to differentiate between new business, upsell opportunities, and renewals. Each record type could have its unique fields, picklist values, and page layouts.

There can be a situation wherein you need to store different types of information in a single object rather than creating multiple similar objects. For example, create a single student object with multiple page layouts like fresher students and experienced students, rather than create two separate objects, namely, fresher students and experienced students. This can also be handled with the record-type functionality of Salesforce.

Why Use Salesforce Record Types?

Salesforce Record Types allow us to specify a category of records that display different picklist values and page layouts. Additionally, it also allows the administrator to set different picklist values in different page layouts.

In simple words, it is a functionality of Salesforce that controls the picklist values and page layouts that should be available for the user if s/he is creating a record of that particular record type.

Administrators can also associate record types with profiles so that different types of users see different picklist values and page layouts on the record’s detail page. As demonstrated in the image below, it even allows administrators to assign multiple page layouts to a single user if needed.

How to Create Record Types in Salesforce?

Before setting up a record type, you first have to make sure to create all the custom fields you will need. Create the desired page layouts for each record type after that, including choosing and organizing the fields.

After this, you can start creating your record type by following the steps given below:

Step 1: Go to the gear icon, Select the setup option, and then click on the Object Manager.

Step 2: After clicking on the Object Manager, Go to the Quick Find box, enter the object name that we created previously, and select the object.

Step 3: After selecting the object, click on the Record Types that are present in the left sidebar.

Step 4: After clicking on the Record Types option, Go to the New button and click on it.

Step 5: After clicking on the New button, the New Record Type Page is opened. Here, we are entering the Record Type label and Record Type Name. Then click on the check box “Make available”. After that, click “Next”.

Note: Here, you will also get the option to assign the Same page layout to all profiles or a different page layout to different profiles using the same Record Type.

Step 7: After clicking on Next, the record type you added is open, and you can see that the record type was created successfully. Below it, you will be able to see that Picklists are available; you can also edit this picklist.

Step 8: After creating the record type, click on the save button, and our record type is saved.

Note: You will be able to see a Page Layout assignment option where you can edit the assignment of the record type you created and assign it to multiple profiles.

How to Delete Record Types in Salesforce?

The steps to delete a record type are as follows:

1. Go to Setup.
2. Click on Object Manager.
3. Select the object that contains the record type you want to delete.
4. Click on Record Types.
5. Select the record type you want to delete. Before deleting a Record Type, make sure it is not assigned to any Profile; only then can it be deleted.
6. Click on Delete.
7. Follow the prompts to confirm the deletion.

How to Deploy Salesforce Record Types?

It’s time to deploy your record type to your production environment when it has been produced and tested. If it’s a new object, this might be simple, but there are more factors to take into account if it’s currently in use.

Points to remember

1. When we create a record type on an object, then a new standard RecordTypeId field gets added to its field list. It stores the record type ID for which the record is created and used whenever the particular record is edited next time.
2. Picklist values can be different in different record types, indicating that the picklist values are independent of the profile.
3. Within a single record type, picklist values are the same for every profile.
4. On the contrary, within a single record type, page layouts can be different for different profiles.
5. Record types only control the creation of records. This implies that even if a profile does not have access to create records using a particular record type, the user of that profile can still view, edit, and delete the records belonging to that record type.
6. Either customized Record Type or Master Record Type can be assigned to a Profile at a time. It means if we want to assign a Master Record Type to a profile then first of all, we need to remove all the customized Record Type from this particular profile only then the Master Record Type can be assigned.

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