Compact Layouts in Salesforce Make it Easy to Streamline Your User Experience

Understanding Compact Layouts

Are you tired of digging through heaps of information to uncover the coveted key fields you need? Compact Layouts in Salesforce can help you display the most important information at a glance, making your work more efficient and streamlined.

Compact Layouts are a condensed view of a record’s key fields. They are available in the Salesforce mobile app, Lightning Experience, and Outlook and Gmail integrations. With Compact Layouts, ye can swiftly lay your eyes on the most crucial information without the need to sail through endless pages.

To create a Compact Layout, go to the Object Manager in Setup and select the object you want to customize. Then, click on Compact Layouts and select “New.” From there, you can choose which fields to include in the layout and customize the order they appear in.

One of the treasures of using Compact Layouts is that they can help increase user adoption. By displaying the most important information upfront, users can quickly understand the key details of a record without having to navigate through multiple pages. What’s more, Compact Layouts can help improve data quality by ensuring that the most important fields are always visible and easy to update.

In summary, Compact Layouts in Salesforce are a powerful tool that can help you streamline your work and increase user adoption. By displaying the most important information at a glance, you can save time and improve data quality.

Creating Custom Compact Layouts

Define Compact Layout Properties

Before you can create a custom compact layout, you need to define the properties for the layout. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Object Manager in Salesforce.
2. Select the object for which you want to create a compact layout.
3. Click on Compact Layouts in the left-hand menu.
4. Click the New button to create a new compact layout.

5. Enter a Label and Name for the layout.
6. Choose which fields you want to display in the compact layout.
7. Choose the order in which the fields should be displayed.
8. Choose the fields that should be used as the primary and secondary compact layout actions.
9. Save your new layout

Assigning Compact Layouts to Profiles

Once you have created your Compact Layouts, you need to assign them to profiles. This ensures that users with specific profiles will see the correct Compact Layout when viewing records.

Set Default Compact Layouts

 If you want to change the default layout, you can do so by editing the Compact Layout and selecting the Primary Contact Layout.

1. Select the object you want to assign the Compact Layout to.
2. Click on Compact Layouts and select the layout you want to assign.

3. Click on the Compact Layout Assignment button
4. Click Edit Assignment

5. Select the compact layout from the drop down menu and click “Save”.

Profile-Specific Compact Layout Assignment

Compact layouts can only be assigned to specific profiles through a record type. Record types can be assigned to multiple profiles so you would need to verify that was not available for other profiles.

Record Type Compact Layout Assignment

To assign a Compact Layout to a record type, follow these steps:

1. Go to Setup and select Object Manager
2. Select the object you want to assign the Compact Layout to.
3. Click on Compact Layouts and click the Compact Layout Assignment.
4. Click on the “Edit Assignment” button
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5. Select the Record type from the list of record types 
6. Select the compact layout to use from the drop down menu provided and click “Save”.

Best Practices for Compact Layouts

1. Keep it Simple

When creating a compact layout, it’s important to keep it simple and only include the most important fields. Including too many fields would defeat the purpose of having a compact field layout. Focus on the fields that are most relevant to the user and their workflow.

2. Consider Mobile Users

Compact layouts are especially useful for mobile users who need quick access to information on-the-go. When designing a compact layout, consider how it will look on a mobile device and make sure it’s easy to read and navigate.

Below shows an example of the different between the mobile view with and without a compact layout