As a Salesforce Admin, you’ve probably heard about the transition from traditional page layouts to dynamic forms. In this article, we’ll explore how you can convert your existing page layouts to dynamic forms. This will save you valuable time, and it will also provide extended flexibility and customization options for your users.
By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to harness the full potential of dynamic forms to supercharge your Salesforce experience.
What Are Dynamic Forms?
Dynamic Forms replace traditional page layouts by allowing you to create smart, adaptable forms (rather than field sections) on your records. In essence, they put the power of customization in your hands, enabling you to tailor the user experience based on user profiles, record types, and more. Christine Marshall wrote an excellent article on the topic – check it out before proceeding to the next steps!
How to Convert Page Layouts to Dynamic Forms?
The process of converting your existing page layouts to dynamic forms is straightforward but requires careful planning and execution. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you make the transition smoothly:
- Navigate to the Lightning Page Editor for the object/page you wish to migrate to Dynamic Forms.
- Click on the “Record Detail” component of the page.
- Click “Upgrade Now”.
- Follow the steps in the guided path. You will be prompted to select which page layout you want to use to migrate fields. Then click “Finish”.
Now the migration is complete! You will be able to tell that it is done because the Record Detail component will be completely gone – in its place, you will have several smaller components called “Field Sections”. These field sections can be moved anywhere on the page, and can have their own visibility restrictions applied to them.
To move a Field Section around, just drag and drop it where you would like it to be.
Merging Multiple Page Layouts to a Single Lightning Record Page
Unfortunately, during the migration you can only select a single Page Layout. However, you can still combine multiple page layouts to a single Lightning Record Page. Start by migrating the primary layout (or the one with the most fields.) Then add in the missing fields from any number of remaining layouts in dedicated sections.
It might help to have two separate windows open: one with the old layout that you are copying and one with the new Lightning Record Page.
Once your fields have been added, you can apply visibility rules to the various sections. For example, if you’ve added a section including fields that should only be visible to marketing users, you can set this specific criteria. This means that users can see only the fields they need (avoiding lots of clutter).
To apply a visibility rule, simply click on the component and then click “Add Filter” under “Set Component Visibility”.
As an example, you may decide to have a section of fields that are only visible when the Opportunity Type is “Renewal”.
By using Advanced Filters, you can even determine field section visibility by Profile, Permissions, or the type of device being used.
Considerations for Record Types
Gone are the days of having a separate page layout for each Record Type! Record Types still have their place because of their unique ability to customize picklist values. However, Dynamic Forms allow you to use Record Types without also requiring a bunch of different page layouts and Lightning Record Pages.
A great example goes back to the Opportunity object – many businesses have different Record Types for New Business and Renewals. Renewals Opportunities often have fewer required fields than New Business.
In this example, we have one single Lightning Record Page. The main Opportunity Information Section is always visible. But the two sections below each have visibility filters applied. If the Record Type is “New Business”, you’ll see the New Business section. And if the Record Type is “Renewal”, you’ll see the Renewal section.
Summary
It can be difficult to keep up with the speed of Salesforce changes; although releases only take place three times a year, there are often lots of updates and plenty of new things to learn. However, Dynamic Forms is a big win for admins – migrating fields over to Dynamic Forms used to be a huge hassle, which was a barrier for admins who wanted to make real use of this new feature.
I hope that this article helps you get your org migrated over to Dynamic Forms soon!