Salesforce “How To” ABCs: H

How to Hide Fields

As we drift gently into another Spring, our spirits buoyed by the daily-increase in our allotted daylight, our rekindled ambitions reflected in the colorful buds of future flowers bursting against the bleary backdrop that too-long blanketed our Wintery world, admins everywhere find themselves shaking off the holiday haze and googling those things that “they definitely, definitely knew how to do just a few months ago”.

And that makes it the perfect time for another installment of our Salesforce “How to” ABCs! The series where we tackle the most commonly Googled Salesforce questions, letter by letter, to help admins find the answers they’re looking for fast!

Today’s letter is “H” as in, “How to Hide Fields”. Let’s dive in!

Getting Started

This question actually has a few answers depending on what you mean exactly by “hiding” fields, so we’ll run through all the possibilities. But all of the solutions start in the Object Manager, so navigate there first by clicking the cog in the upper right corner of your org and selecting “Set Up” from the drop down menu.

On the Set Up screen, type Object Manager into the “Quick Find” box and select it.

And, once on the Object Manager page, simply select the object you’d like the hide the field/s on!

Now we’re ready to run through the possibilities!

Feel free to skip ahead here, looking for the heading that best fits what you mean by “hide”.

“Deleting” Fields

First, if it’s a custom field and you’re just trying to get rid of it, select “Fields & Relationships” from the left-hand column.

Then, find the field you’d like to delete and click the menu arrow on the right-side of its row.

Then select “Delete” from the drop-down menu.

You’ll see a very serious pop-up letting you know that this action will also delete all dependent info for any dependent or controlling fields and affect Assignment and Escalation Rules that rely on the field’s data. It’ll also move the field to “Deleted components” for 15 days, so you have 2 weeks to change your mind if you need to resurrect the field and its data. See:

Once you’re sure you’re going to be ok, click Delete.

TaDa! The field is gone and won’t clutter up your org any longer!

“Removing” Fields (from the Page Layout)

Ok, but let’s say you have a field that contains data you need (maybe you report on it, or it’s relevant to a third-party system, etc…, but your users never need to update it and they don’t need to see it on their screens in their day-to-day). In that case, to “hide” the field, we’ll just need to remove it from the Page Layout!

So begin by selecting “Page Layouts” from the left hand column.

Then select the layout you’d like to edit (the one where you want to hide the field).

All you have to do now is find the field you’d like to hide and click, hold, and drag it up to the box of fields at the top of the page (so that you see the green ✅ appear), then release.

Now click “Save”

And you’re all set, the field is now hidden from the page layout!

(Note: You can’t remove “required” fields, they’ll always have to be displayed on edit and create).

“Hiding” Fields from Users or Profiles

Alright, next up — hiding fields from individual users or profiles!

This time, from the Object Manager, click on “Fields & Relationships”.

Select the field you’re looking to modify.

Then, select “View Field Accessibility”.

From the drop down, select the field you’re interested in hiding.

That will reveal a list of all your Profiles and their current access level. Hovering over their access status will reveal a brief explanation.

To change that profiles field visibility, simply click on their current status.

That’ll land you on the page displays that profile’s current field-level security (and below that page layout, but ignore the page layout section here).

Uncheck “Visible” on the field you’re trying to hide.

Click “Save”

And you’re all set! Any users assigned to that profile will no longer see the field when they access a record on that object!

(Note: If you’re trying to hide several fields at once, there is a more convenient method using the Enhanced Profile User Interface that we’ll tackle in an upcoming post).

Use Record Types to Hide an Irrelevant Field

Finally, one last way to hide a field is via Record Types!

This is a good solution if you have multiple types of the same object that require different fields (for instance, if you manage residential and commercial properties and use a Property object, you might want to keep a record of “pets” or the like on your residential records, but that field would be unnecessary on the commercial records).

To begin, we’ll need to create an alternative Page Layout (missing the relevant field) so we’ll be able to assign it to the new Record Type we’re going to create.

From the Object Manager, select “Page Layouts”.

Then click “New” in the top right.

From here you’ll be able to choose to clone your existing layout (and then tweak it), or start from scratch. Either way make sure to give your new page layout a name and then click “Save”.

With the new layout saved, make the relevant changes by finding the field you’d like to hide and click, hold, and drag it up to the box of fields at the top of the page (so that you see the green ✅ appear), then release.

Then click “Save” in the top left.

Now your alternative page layout is saved!

Which means it’s time to tweak our Record Types so we can choose when each layout will appear.

Begin by selecting “Record Types” on the left-hand side.

Now, either select the Record Type you’d like to edit, or, click “New” to create one!

Begin by giving your new Record Type a Label (Name will auto-populate) and a description to help you out in the future.

Then select the profiles you’d like to have access to the Record Type, and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.

Here you’ll see a list of all your user profiles and which Page Layout they see on the record. Make sure to select “Apply a different layout for each profile” so you can change the individual profiles.

Then, using the drop-down next to the profile you’d like to affect, select your modified Page Layout!

Click “Save” in the bottom right when you’re finished.

And now you’ll see your new record type created and the profiles you assigned will see the new, field-hidden page layout on the record!

Your users will now also have the ability to change the record type as needed (if you’ve left the standard “Change Record Type” button on the layout and given them permission to do so) so they can see choose to see only the fields relevant to that specific record!

Congratulations! You now have several tools at your disposal for hiding a field! Which you use will ultimately depend on your specific circumstances and goals, but now you’re ready for whatever requests get thrown your way.

As always, if you need any help with this or any other Salesforce related challenges — drop us a line! We’re always happy to help.

Stay tuned (and subscribe!) to the blog here for all the latest and greatest Salesforce news, tips, and tricks. And, in the meantime, keep working hard, smart, and happy.

We’ll see you in the cloud!