Organizing a huge amount of business data might seem like a daunting task to an administrator. But in Salesforce, this is seamlessly accomplished through the global picklist feature.
What is a Global Picklist?
In Salesforce, a picklist lets users make a pre-defined option list for a particular data field. Picklists help in clearly categorizing organization data.
A global picklist can be defined as that set of shareable picklist options or values which a custom picklist field in all objects can access and use. It is created on the basis of a master values list. This means that a user can now create picklist fields based on the central values set of a global picklist.
Creating a Salesforce Global Picklist
For instance, an organization would like to collect data about different cities where their new and existing customers reside. A global picklist may be created to standardize the list of cities. That way, every time data on both the New Customer and Existing Customer objects are updated, the City global picklist will show a standard list of choices, making it easier to enter data, and prevents redundant data input as well.
Here are the steps in creating a global picklist based on the example above:
- Navigate to Setup, then click Create.
- Select Picklists from the drop-down menu.
- The Global Picklists page will pop out. Select New to start creating a new picklist.
- Enter a name for the Label and the Developer Name. In the example above, the admin may use the name City for both fields. Note that Developer Name will become the picklist’s actual name.
- Enter a description for the picklist (optional).
- Hit Save. A details page will then appear. The user will see three lists: Picklist Value Set, Inactive Picklist Values, and Fields Where Used.
- Click on the New button on the Picklist Value Set. Enter a new value for the list. In this case, enter the names of cities separately per line. Once done, hit Save.
A global picklist is now created for City. The admin may add this global picklist in the custom objects New Customers and Existing Customers by adding it as a new custom field. In the New Custom Field box under the New Customers object, tick the button that specifies “Use global picklist definition” to include the global picklist on the objects. Do the same for the Existing Customers object, and save everything.
Check if the global picklist works by going to the New Customers page layout. The City field must have a drop-down list that displays the active city names entered in the global picklist. The Existing Customers page layout should have a similar global picklist as well.