Welcome to another “How I Solved It.” In this series, we do a deep dive into a specific business problem and share how one Awesome Admin chose to solve it. Once you learn how they solved their specific problem, you’ll be inspired to try their solution yourself! Watch how Dee Ervin searched unsearchable field data types using a text field and a record-triggered flow.
Global Search is a powerful tool in Salesforce that both users and admins use frequently. Most standard object fields are searchable by default. However, when customizing Salesforce with custom fields and objects, there’s a set of rules for searchable fields which limits search options to certain field data types. In a highly customized org, not being able to find records by data in key fields within the user interface becomes a major problem for business teams.
First, I researched which field data types are searchable via Global Search. I found that most text fields were searchable, so I started by creating a long text field to hold data from non-searchable fields on the custom object called Vehicle.
Field: Keyword Search
Next, I created a pretty simple one step record-triggered before save flow to populate the text field when a new Vehicle record is created or updated.
1. Configure a Start element to trigger when a record is created or updated, and optimize the flow for Fast Field Updates.
2. Since this is a flow that runs before a record is saved to the Salesforce database, I only needed to add an Assignment element to save new values to the Keyword Search field using the formula resource I called for_Keywords.
2a. To concatenate the field values users have identified as important keywords, I created a formula resource with semicolon-separated values.
💡Tip: If you have formula fields on records, you won’t be able to add the formula, but you will be able to add by the source.
This simple solution is flexible and makes a significant impact on the user experience. Users will have the freedom to search by any field meaningful to their workflow to find the records required to complete their tasks.
Custom fields created on standard objects will yield the same business problem—try this solution on standard objects too.
Welcome to another post in the “How I Solved It” series. In this series, we do a deep dive into a specific business problem and share how one #AwesomeAdmin chose to solve it. Once you learn how they solved their specific problem, you’ll be inspired to try their solution yourself! Watch how Stacy O’Leary gives […]
Welcome to another “How I Solved It.” In this series, we do a deep dive into a specific business problem and share how one Awesome Admin chose to solve it. Once you learn how they solved their specific problem, you’ll be inspired to try their solution yourself! Watch how Deanne Walters uses Flow to create […]
Welcome to another “How I Solved It.” In this series, we do a deep dive into a specific business problem and share how one Awesome Admin chose to solve it. Once you learn how they solved their specific problem, you’ll be inspired to try their solution yourself! Watch how Erick Mahle improved user navigation within […]
