Will Mesler, Author at ForceMedic Design

Salesforce Duplicate Records in Lightning

by Will Mesler | May 17, 2022 | Salesforce, Salesforce Lightning

Salesforce duplicate records, who needs them, who wants them! Am I right?

With Lightning, there is an easy way to find these lurkers in our records. This agent of truth appears like the following.

This Hero is known as the Duplicate Matching Component and is fueled by Duplicate Rules, Matching Rules, and justice.

These rules can differ from company to company, but they serve as the primary identifier of duplicates. For example, in our organization, a duplicate will only be flagged on Contacts if three of the following criteria are met. 1) First and Last Name Matches 2) Email Matches 3) Account Name Matches 4) Phone Number Matches.

Finding and Merging Salesforce Duplicate Records

Like all true and good Heroes, it knows that the real work must come from all and thus will not take action against these duplicates. That is the responsibility of the masses. When found, these duplicate records must be merged and properly subjugated to the correct account.

This is done by clicking “View Duplicates”.

An important note: When a Duplicate is merged, the second record will be destroyed and the Merge CAN NOT be undone.

From here, select the records you would like to merge. Click next.

When a record is merged all related records will be moved over as well. The Chatter Feed will only be preserved on the master records. Best to look through and see if there is any information that needs to be kept. Files uploaded to the chatter feed or saved to the records will be saved on the merged records.

Merged Records

In this next screen we will decide which record is the master and which record is going to be merged into the master.

Best practice is to use the oldest of the two records or the record that has the most records related to it. By that I mean if a Contact has 10 more Opportunities attached it, that one should be used.

Click Next.

Here our good and faithful hero explains to us again the importance of this task and reminds us the Merge CAN NOT be undone.

When you are sure that you gathered the correct information and most current information. Click finish. Lean back and know that you did good work.

Well done. Our Hero solutes you.

If you have questions about how to identify and delete duplicate records, or any other Salesforce questions, the crew at ForceMedic Design would love to help. Give us a shout here!

Salesforce Calendars: What Are They and How Do They Work?

by Will Mesler | Apr 27, 2022 | Salesforce

Alright, everyone. We have all heard of calendars and we all know Salesforce has them. Now, it’s time to ask: Salesforce calendars: What are they? What do they do? How do they work? What do they not do?

What are Salesforce calendars and what do calendars do?

We all know what a calendar is. We have seen them on walls and refrigerators since we were children. In Salesforce, calendars are used to collect objects, like events and tasks, and display them on a calendar. Any object with a date field can be displayed on a calendar. Public Calendars, however, can only display events.

How do Salesforce calendars work?

Personal Calendars

Personal calendars are object-specific. In other words, you can have a calendar for events and tasks but you cannot have one calendar that shows both.

Public Calendars

These calendars can only hold events and will only show events assigned to the calendar.

When you create an event, instead of assigning that event to a person assigned the event to the calendar. It looks like this. If you have access to the calendar, you can assign events to it.

How to add calendars to your calendar.

After navigating to calendars using the app manager or tab.

How to add salesforce calendars to your calendar

On the bottom right of the page, you will see every calendar that you have either created or that has been shared with you. Using the gear by “Other Calendar” you can add public and personal calendars. Use the gear close to “My Calendars” to create a new personal calendar. To toggle what items are displayed simply click on the colored square.

The different ways Salesforce calendars can be viewed.

Calendars can be viewed by day, week, or month. Calendars can also be displayed as a list view using “table view”. If you select table view you are taken to the “recently viewed” events list view

And there you have it! Now you know what Salesforce calendars are and how they work!

Calendars are a great way to look at upcoming and completed events and tasks. And if you find that you need access to a public calendar just reach out to your friendly neighborhood Platform Administrator.

If you have questions about how to maximize the potential of calendars, or any other, Salesforce feature, the crew at ForceMedic Design would love to help. Give us a shout here!

Two Salesforce Chatter Features to Save You Time

by Will Mesler | Sep 17, 2021 | Salesforce

The day you began using Salesforce, you already took a powerful tool for organization, speed, and efficiency into your hands. But there’s always room to go faster and to be more efficient, right? Of course! We’re going to highlight two features in Salesforce Chatter and records that will save you time and help keep you further away from carpal tunnel by saving you thousands of clicks and scrolls as you navigate your records.

Collapse a Section

Did you know that Salesforce pages have collapse sections? Crazy, right? Think of all time you’ll save when you don’t have to scroll past information you don’t need all the time. Take a look below to see how it’s done.

Take a look at an Account record, where it says account information. There will be a down-pointing arrow beside the menu heading.

If you click that down arrow, the section will collapse down to a single line. Keep in mind: Salesforce is smart and will remember what sections you have collapsed. If you see anything missing from your page the next time you sign in, looking for section labels with right-pointing arrows is a great place to start.

Filter and Search a Salesforce Chatter Feed

Salesforce also allows you to filter and search within your chatter feeds. When it comes to saving time, this feature is even better than collapsing sections. This is a straightforward feature that works in both Lightning and SF Classic.

In Classic, under where you post to chatter, there is a magnifying glass icon.

Click that icon and you can enter whatever search term you’re looking for. You can also filter your chatter by most recent post and latest activity.

Maybe you want to see the most recent post. Or you just remembered something So-and-So said at the beginning that has now become critical information. Save yourself the scrolling: Filter the chatter. Search the person who posted it.

This is what searching and filtering looks like in Salesforce Lightning.

Start using these features today to save yourself some time and take these record pages into your own hands. You already know Salesforce is a powerful tool. Now you can make it a faster one too!

If you’d like to learn more about using platforms like Salesforce, integrating existing systems with Salesforce, or custom platform development, we’re here to help. Drop us a line any time!