Page Layouts

Jan 05, 2022

Page Layouts are the views that your users see on your Elements Objects, like Relationships, Contact, Portfolios, and Financial Accounts. Salesforce allows for customization of these page layouts so that they work best for your firm. Below are the instructions on how to change existing Page Layouts and some best practices around making these updates.

Edit an Existing Page Layout

Go to Setup
Click Object Manager
Choose the Object you would like to edit the Page Layout for (e.g. Relationships)
Click Page Layout on the left menu
Choose the Page Layout Name you would like to edit (e.g. Client Layout - Summer 19)

The enhanced page layout editor has two parts: a palette on the upper portion of the screen and the page layout on the lower portion of the screen. The palette contains the user interface elements that you can add to your page layout, such as fields, actions, buttons, links, and related lists.

When working with the enhanced page layout editor:

To select multiple elements individually, use Ctrl+click. To select multiple elements as a group, use Shift+click.
To change the properties of an element on the page layout, double-click the element or click the wrench icon () next to it. You can’t change the properties of elements in the palette.
To make a field read-only or required, double-click the field in the page layout and select the appropriate checkbox.
To access the other layouts for an object with multiple page layouts, click the page layout name at the top of the page and select another layout to view.
To change the name of the page layout, add personal and public tags if available, and display standard object checkboxes on the page layout, click Layout Properties.
When you’re done customizing the page layout, save it. If you navigate away from your page layout before saving, you lose your changes.

Page Layout Assignments

To understand which page layout each Profile currently views, when you are on the Page Layout list, you can click Page Layout Assignment to view the current assignments.

Here's how to view and edit the current Page Layout Assignments:

Guidelines for using Page Layouts

Elements that are already on the page layout still appear on the palette but are inactive. When you click an inactive element on the palette, Salesforce highlights the element on the page layout.
Removing a field from a page layout doesn’t remove it from the object’s compact layout. The two layout types are independent.
If the original page layout editor is enabled, users can click the page layout name to access the detail page of the page layout. The enhanced page layout editor doesn’t have detail pages, as all the detail page functionality is always available on the enhanced editor. Salesforce displays a read-only version of the enhanced page layout editor to users with the “View Setup and Configuration” permission.

Page Layout Tips

Here are a few tips to keep your page layouts organized and easy to use.

Use field-level security to restrict users’ access to fields; then use page layouts to organize detail and edit pages within tabs. This reduces the number of page layouts for you to maintain. Field-level security settings override the visible and read-only settings on the page layout if the field-level security has a more restrictive setting than the page layout.
Remove unnecessary fields.
Keep the number of required fields to a minimum.
Group similar fields with sections.
We recommend top-down, rather than left-right for Tab-key order to be consistent with other page layouts.
Check your layouts in Read and Edit modes.
Add help and description text to custom fields. Use it to explain to users what data you’re looking for in the field.
Optimize related lists—adjust their overall order, the sorting of the records, and display of relevant columns and buttons.
If you want to customize the user profile layout in the Salesforce mobile app, create a new layout or edit an existing layout in the User Profile Page Layouts section.
If a dependent lookup is above its controlling field on a page layout, make its lookup filter optional or redesign the page layout. Placing a required dependent lookup above its controlling field on a page layout could confuse users who typically start from the top of the page when entering data.
A background process periodically runs that cleans up metadata associated with deleted custom fields. This process will affect the Last Modified Date and Last Modified By fields on page layouts, record types, and custom objects.
Salesforce recommends creating no more than 200 page layouts. Although there is no limit, it can be difficult to manage your page layouts if you have more than 200.

Page Layout Considerations

Fields in Page Layouts

A field can display one or more of these icons:

―The field must have a value to save the record, but isn’t required on the page layout itself.
―The field must be included on the page layout because an administrator configured the field as universally required or Salesforce automatically requires the field. Although you can’t remove such fields, you can move them to different locations.
―The field is a controlling field.
―The field is a dependent field.
―The field is read-only.

To set which fields are required and read-only, select one or more fields and click Wrench icon on any selected field.

You can’t change the field properties of some standard fields. You can change custom fields only if they aren’t universally required fields.
Administrators and users with the Edit Read Only Fields permission can always edit fields marked as read-only.
If you make a picklist field read-only, all new records contain the default value for that picklist.
Auto-number fields are always read-only.

When working with fields:

Users can import values into a field only if they have read and edit access. User permissions, page layout assignments, and field-level security settings determine field access.

Sections in Page Layouts

You can add and move sections anywhere above the related lists on the page layout. The sections you add can contain fields, s-controls, and blank spaces. In addition, each page layout has a default section that can only contain custom links and blank spaces. You can change the location of the custom link section, but you can’t remove it from the page.

The Section user interface element is the second option in the palette when you select the Fields category on the palette.

To change the attributes of a section, double-click the section or select its associated wrench icon (). You can:

Enter a name for the section. Names of some standard page sections cannot be changed.
Specify whether the section has one or two columns.
Specify the order in which users can tab through the items in that section.
Specify whether the section heading is shown on the detail and edit pages.

Related Lists in Page Layouts

You can include up to 10 fields per related list.
In Lightning Experience, the related list type determines how many fields are displayed in a related list. The Basic List related list type displays only the first four fields of a related list. The Enhanced List type shows up to 10 fields, lets you resize and sort columns, perform mass actions, and wrap text. To change the related list type, customize the related list component in the Lightning App Builder.
You can’t move the first field of a related list, because it’s a unique identifier for the record.
You can add custom fields of the long text area type to a related list. However, you can’t add some standard fields of the long text area type.
The default sort order varies per record. The Sort By dropdown isn’t available for activities.
Lookup fields aren’t available for display on their corresponding lookup related list.
You can’t customize the History related list because it links to data stored elsewhere.