Record Types

ObjectiveResourcesKey Facts
Describe record types.Introduction to Record Types
[Must / 7m / CertifiedOnDemand.com]

Creating a Record Type and Page Layout in Salesforce
[Should / 9m / Alex Zarowny]
Describe the effect of using records types.

Introduction to Record Types
[Repeated]

Record types influence which page layout is assigned when a user views or edits a record, as well as which picklist values can be selected.

To view the remainder of this content, you must purchase the Salesforce.com Certified Administrator Study Guide.  Please Login or purchase the study guide.

45 Responses to “Record Types”

  1. skaszyk October 10, 2017 at 4:00 pm #

    I have question about record types not influencing record level security. I followed Alex’ video but made the first record type accessible only by the Sys Admin profile. I made the 2nd record type accessible by all profiles. Then, I created a record using the first record type while logged in as sys admin. I could view the record when logged in as another profile but got the insufficient privileges error when I tried to edit it. That profile has CRED access to Opportunities but the 1st record type is not checked under Assigned Record Types. FYI, that user was able to CRED records of the 2nd record type which is checked under Assigned Record Types.

    So, it seems there is some security going on at the record type level. Is this based on that Assigned Record Type checkbox? I thought that was only to determine if they could select the record type when creating a new record not to prevent users in the profile from viewing or editing the records.

    • JohnCoppedge October 11, 2017 at 12:52 pm #

      The record type will not impact record level security – there is probably something else in play (such as org-wide defaults). Can you click the sharing button (from classic) to see what level of access they have to the record and why?

      • skaszyk October 11, 2017 at 1:45 pm #

        You nailed it – OWD! Set it to Public Read/Write and the non-admin user could view and edit the record. Thanks for your help in me understanding this.

  2. mengqinas June 9, 2017 at 2:40 am #

    Just realize that the max reply layer is 5, however I am still looking forward your professional feedback for below:

    Below formula including another invalid stage as Value Proposition:
    AND(RecordType.Name = ‘ProductSales’,
    OR( CONTAINS( TEXT( StageName ) ,’Prospecting’ ),
    CONTAINS( TEXT( StageName ) ,’Value Proposition’ )
    )
    )
    However, when I try
    NOT( CONTAINS( BusinessProcess.Name ,TEXT( StageName )))
    This gives me an error message: Error: Field BusinessProcess does not exist. Check spelling.

    Formula is powerful, you can type any related field given there is relationship between objects, even though it is not under Insert Field button. Is it right?

    Opportunity to RecordType (M:1), RecordType to BusinessProcess (M:1), so I guess inside the formula, I can refer RecordType.Name because it is unique, however I can not further refer to BusinessProcess.name because there are maybe multiple value as BusinessProcess.name under the same RecordTypeID?
    In this case, Should I get help from Apex for trigger to access object BusinessProcess?

    Thanks for your suggestion and terrific website!

  3. mengqinas June 7, 2017 at 11:12 pm #

    If I create a new Opportunity record type(ProductSales) after some opportunity records already exist with Master record type, when I change an opportunity record type from Master to ProductSales, the invalid value still exist under Stage field, no any error messages show up. In this case, the data is not clean. Can I say the record type decide the values under pickup list, instead of validation?

    • JohnCoppedge June 8, 2017 at 12:02 pm #

      You can set the enforce picklist validation requirement on the picklist field (I don’t know if this will enforce values within a record type selection however) – I don’t think there is an option to do this with stage, however. In short there’s a good chance you would need a validation rule if you wanted to strictly enforce.

      • mengqinas June 8, 2017 at 2:46 pm #

        I create a Validation Rule:

        AND(RecordTypeId = ‘0126A000000HNYX’, CONTAINS( TEXT( StageName ) ,’Prospecting’ ))

        It fires when I edit an opportunity with invalid stage under corresponding record type.

        I find RecordTypeId under URL.

        • JohnCoppedge June 8, 2017 at 2:48 pm #

          Nicely done! Any other invalid stages?

          FYI you can also reference the record type name (I think it is RecordType.Name) in your formulas (to avoid IDs)

          • mengqinas June 8, 2017 at 4:55 pm #

            Below formula including another invalid stage as Value Proposition:

            AND(RecordType.Name = ‘ProductSales’,
            OR( CONTAINS( TEXT( StageName ) ,’Prospecting’ ),
            CONTAINS( TEXT( StageName ) ,’Value Proposition’ )
            )
            )

            However, when I try
            NOT( CONTAINS( BusinessProcess.Name ,TEXT( StageName )))

            This gives me an error message: Error: Field BusinessProcess does not exist. Check spelling.

            Formula is powerful, you can type any related field given there is relationship between objects, even though it is not under Insert Field button.

            Opportunity to RecordType (M:1), RecordType to BusinessProcess (M:1), so I guess inside the formula, I can refer RecordType.Name because it is unique, however I can not further refer to BusinessProcess.name because there are maybe multiple value as BusinessProcess.name under the same RecordTypeID?

            In this case, I think I should get help from Apex for trigger to access object BusinessProcess.

            Thanks for your suggestion and terrific website!

  4. medavis2012 April 25, 2017 at 5:37 am #

    I think that I can choose pick list values when creating/editing a record type and when creating/editing the field itself and assigning those selections to a page layout. Here is one scenario. The page layout is already established with pick list values for field (i.e. type). I assign that page layout to a record type and then choose different pick list values for that field for the record type than what was already chosen for that page layout. What happens?

    The other scenario is the record type is established. It has its assigned pick list values for each field of its assigned selected page layout. Then I go to edit the field and make new selections to apply to the page layout that is assigned to that record type. Will the pick list values for that field on the record type then be changed?

    If a record type has more than one page layout, are there any considerations when it comes to selecting pick list values?

    Thanks!

    • JohnCoppedge April 26, 2017 at 6:33 pm #

      The page layout doesnt select the picklist values, the record type chooses the picklist values and the layout. That said if you have an existing record with a valid picklist selection that you then remove from the record type I believe existing records will retain that value but you will no longer be able to select that value for that record type (unless it was previously selected and saved)

  5. batatawada February 2, 2017 at 3:10 pm #

    7. What can be done with a workflow field update action? (2 answers)
    a. Change the record type of a record
    b. Update the value of a formula field
    c. Apply a specific value to a field
    d. Update the value of a field on a child object.
    Is the answer b and c ?

    • JohnCoppedge February 15, 2017 at 2:40 am #

      C and A – I would definitely recommend testing this out in your developer org as well to make sure that makes sense

  6. nk005347 October 10, 2016 at 5:24 pm #

    Administrator Tip Sheet: Tips & Hints for Record Types — This link doesn’t work any more.

  7. golwalaonline August 28, 2016 at 1:46 pm #

    Could not make out the significance of creating business processes. For e.g. in case of Opportunity, we can have different sales processes with different list of opportunity stages. Now, if I treat opportunity stage list as yet another pick-list then why at all we need a separate step of creating sales processes? Why opportunity stages list is not available as a pick-list so that one can customize it based on record type? Sorry, my question may look silly but I fail to get the context. May be, I am missing something.

    • JohnCoppedge September 5, 2016 at 8:02 pm #

      You can’t choose the opp stage picklist values based on record type; you have to use a business process. It’s just an extra step (I’d guess this is left over configuration from legacy pre-record type salesforce).

  8. CarlosSiqueira June 7, 2016 at 4:02 am #

    My Opportunity has 2 record types: Retail (Default) , Product and Service.
    When I create a new Opportunity, I get a screen to chose which record type.
    Now, after the Opportunity record is created, how do I show it on the page layout?
    I check under Opportunity / Fields and I don’t see a field “Record Type” that I can include on all my page layouts.

    Thanks

    • CarlosSiqueira June 7, 2016 at 4:18 am #

      I meant 3 record types.

      • CarlosSiqueira June 7, 2016 at 2:17 pm #

        Never mind. I was looking for a “Record Type” field and found out that it was created as “Opportunity Record Type”.
        Also, it looks like an “Object Record Type” field will be only created if such object has a record type, otherwise none is created.
        Can you confirm?

  9. Rajesh Kulanthaivelu January 19, 2016 at 11:29 am #

    Hello Guys,

    I cleared my SFDC 401 on May 8, 2015 and SFDC 201 on Aug 8, 2015. Can anyone help me on which release exams I am supposed to take? Is there a way to check on this officially with salesforce?

    Appreciate your help!

    Regards,

    Rajesh K

    • JohnCoppedge January 19, 2016 at 11:38 am #

      Login to webassessor – you will be able to register for the appropriate maintenance exams.

  10. tejalr8@gmail.com January 19, 2016 at 5:50 am #

    and john,
    As an Admin ,
    R v allowed to create custom business process for custom object?
    thank you .

    • JohnCoppedge January 19, 2016 at 5:51 am #

      Custom objects do not use business processes- they are only used lead, opp, case, and solution…

      • tejalr8@gmail.com January 19, 2016 at 5:53 am #

        All right ,
        Thank you john ,
        that really clear my all doubts.
        appreciated.
        Thank you so much.

        • JohnCoppedge January 19, 2016 at 5:57 am #

          Excellent 🙂 Biz process is probably a legacy feature that was left over from a time long before record types… hence only used on a few objects

  11. tejalr8@gmail.com January 19, 2016 at 5:13 am #

    hello john,
    I have question that when we as admin create custom object ,
    Can we create record type for custom object without having business process for that custom object?

    if yes
    then please make me understand ..

    and if no then
    how can we create business processes for my custom object
    i saw place to create business process
    Setup>workflow and approval>build process
    Is this a right way to create custom business process ?
    can u explain how to create it?

    or else all this (is this a limit?)that ,
    we can only use existing business process to the respected standard object we have(Like lead object is having lead process to implement record type for lead related for particular profile) ,and we can never have our own custom business process that we can use in implementation of record type in our app?

    • JohnCoppedge January 19, 2016 at 5:18 am #

      You do not need a business process for a custom object- you can create a record type for a custom object; no need for a business process. You can create your own business process and reference when you create a new record type (e.g. on opportunity)…

  12. tejalr8@gmail.com January 17, 2016 at 9:00 pm #

    Hello john,
    When you say record type to make default and u shared the link from sales force help ..
    there the path goes likt this ..
    setup>record type>Set Default Record Types or Record Type Selection—
    as per how they explain as below …to set record type as defaut for users landing page…
    “From your personal settings, enter Record Type in the Quick Find box, then select Set Default Record Types or Record Type Selection—whichever one appears.”

    truly speaking…i m not finding the link to
    can you explain it where i m going wrong?

    Thank you
    Tejal .

    • JohnCoppedge January 18, 2016 at 5:22 am #

      Try looking under Setup –> My Personal Information –> Record Type Selection

  13. Kevin Brown March 11, 2015 at 6:29 pm #

    Needs editing:

    The “master” record type include all picklist values

    …should read:

    The “master” record type includes all picklist values

  14. Lisa Seyler October 10, 2014 at 1:52 am #

    How do you edit the record type(s) associated with the profiles after you save the record type? I see that the option is available on create, but I don’t find how to get back to it once the record type is created.

    • JohnCoppedge October 17, 2014 at 10:34 pm #

      Navigate to the profile, click on the profile (do not edit it) and they are below on the profile screen (in non edit mode) – if you are using the standard profile editor. If you are using the advanced profile editor, you will need to search for the object.

  15. Tasnim Tailor July 12, 2014 at 2:14 am #

    This is one of the requirements and I’m confused with the use of RecordTypes –
    I have a Contact and I want to track and report on the type of Contacts (Subscriber, Volunteer and Donor). So I decided to create Record types with these values and different page layouts based on needs. But now the issue is a Subscriber can be a Volunteer too (either two of them or a combination of all the three). In this case Record types won’t work as I can’t assign multiple record types to a record.
    I’m not sure what to use in this case – a multi-select Picklist? Would I be able to track the Contacts in this case? Is there any other feasible way to achieve this?

    • JohnCoppedge October 17, 2014 at 10:30 pm #

      Good question. Multi-select picklist is one option. Checkboxes for each (subscriber, volunteer, donor, etc.) is another – I would suggest playing with each. Reporting will be a bit different (although you could potentially use both and keep the values in sync).

      You could also consider a hybrid record type (e.g. subscriber, volunteer, donor, hybrid) – hybrid would have the fields of all 3 on the page layout. Use workflow to update the value of the subscriber/volunteer/donor field(s) when the single RT is selected, when hybrid is selected the user would need to set them.

  16. Cooper Miller March 6, 2014 at 10:00 pm #

    Thank you John!

  17. Cooper Miller March 4, 2014 at 9:53 pm #

    I am a bit confused on the purpose of Processes. Why wouldn’t the Lead Status/Opportunity Stage/ etc. fields just be included as an editable picklist on the Record Type? Would this not eliminate the need to assign a Process? As far as I can see the only role of the Processes is to filter these picklists. I guess I’m overlooking some other function of the Processes. Could someone help me? Thank you for your help.
    -C

    • JohnCoppedge March 6, 2014 at 2:37 pm #

      My guess is that this is legacy configuration from Salesforce 10 years ago from before record types existed. The RT ultimately drives picklist values and page layouts, but for a select few fields it does so through a biz process via record type. It doesn’t make sense on the surface, but that’s the way it works.

  18. Kaira Bergstra January 11, 2014 at 1:05 am #

    *effect of using Record Types (not “affect”).

Leave a Reply