Salesforce Glossary: A Comprehensive Guide 2024

Navigating the vast ecosystem of Salesforce can be overwhelming, especially with the multitude of terms, acronyms, and concepts that define its platform and services. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your Salesforce journey, understanding the language of Salesforce is crucial for maximizing its potential. 

This comprehensive Salesforce glossary is designed to demystify the key terms and concepts you’ll encounter, providing clear and concise definitions to help you master Salesforce confidently. From “Accounts” to “Workflows,” our A-to-Z guide will ensure you have the knowledge you need to succeed in the ever-evolving world of Salesforce.

A

Account

An account refers to an entity like an organization, company, or consumer you want to monitor and manage, such as a customer, partner, or competitor.

Account Assignment Rule

This rule automatically allocates accounts to specific territories based on your established criteria.

Account Team

An account team is a group of users collaborating on a single account. It might include roles such as an executive sponsor, a dedicated support agent, or a project manager.

Activity

An activity is an event, task, call log, or email you have sent. It can be linked to other records like accounts, leads, opportunities, or cases. An activity can be associated with multiple contacts in organizations with Shared Activities enabled. Workflow rules and approval processes configured by an admin can also generate tasks.

Activity History

The Activity History-related list on a record displays all completed tasks, logged phone calls, saved interaction logs, expired events, outbound emails, mass emails, emails added from Microsoft® Outlook®, and merged documents related to the record and its associated records.

Administrator (System Administrator)

Individuals in your organization can configure and customize the application. Users assigned to the System Administrator profile possess administrative privileges.

Advanced Function

A formula function intended for use in custom buttons, links, and s-controls. For instance, the INCLUDE advanced function retrieves content from an s-control snippet.

Advanced Search

A search feature within Salesforce offers enhanced search capabilities. It can be accessed by clicking Advanced Search in the sidebar.

Add-on

A type of quote for an existing customer who wants to add a license or product for the remaining duration of the current contract.

Age

In opportunity reports, Age refers to the number of days since creating an open opportunity. It represents the days between creation and closure dates for closed opportunities. In case reports, Age indicates the elapsed time from case creation to the present for open cases or from creation to closure for closed cases. Age can be displayed in days, hours, or minutes.

Agent

A Salesforce CRM Call Center user who manages inbound or outbound calls is often identified by a four-digit ID within the CTI system.

Agent Console

Refer to Salesforce Console and Console Tab.

AJAX Toolkit

A JavaScript wrapper around the API allows the execution of any API call and access to any object viewable from within JavaScript code. For more details, refer to the AJAX Toolkit Developer Guide.

Amount Without Adjustments

In Collaborative Forecasts, this is the sum of a person’s owned revenue and subordinates’ opportunities without adjustments. Subordinates include everyone reporting to a person in the forecast hierarchy. This amount is only visible on reports.

Amount Without Manager Adjustment

In Collaborative Forecasts, this forecast number is visible to the forecast owner. It includes the sum of the owner’s revenue opportunities and their subordinates’ opportunities, incorporating adjustments made by the forecast owner. It excludes adjustments by forecast managers higher up in the hierarchy.

Amount Without Owner Adjustment

In Collaborative Forecasts, visible to the forecast owner, this amount excludes the owner’s adjustments. It sums the subordinate’s opportunities, including adjustments by their manager or themselves, plus the rollup of the owner’s opportunities.

Ant Migration Tool

A toolkit enabling the writing of Apache Ant build scripts for migrating Lightning Platform components between a local file system and a Salesforce organization.

Apex Connector Framework

A set of classes and methods in the DataSource namespace for creating a custom Salesforce Connect adapter used to connect to external data when other Salesforce Connect adapters aren’t suitable.

Annuity

Refer to Quantity Schedule and Revenue Schedule.

Anonymous Block, Apex

Apex code not stored in Salesforce can be compiled and executed using the ExecuteAnonymousResult() API call or the equivalent in the AJAX Toolkit.

Answers

A feature of the Community application allows users to ask questions and receive replies from community members. Community members can vote on the helpfulness of each reply, and the question asker can mark one reply as the best answer.

Anti-Join

To create advanced queries, a subquery on another object in a NOT IN clause in a SOQL query is used. Refer to Semi-Join for more details.

Apex

Apex is a strongly typed, object-oriented programming language that allows developers to execute flow and transaction control statements on the Lightning Platform server. It uses a syntax similar to Java and acts like database-stored procedures. Apex enables developers to add business logic to system events like button clicks, related record updates, and Visualforce pages. Apex code can be initiated by Web service requests and from triggers on objects.

Apex Controller

Refer to Controller, Visualforce.

Apex-Managed Sharing

It allows developers to manage sharing to support application behavior programmatically and is available only for custom objects.

Apex Page

API Version

App

Salesforce is short for “application,” a collection of components such as tabs, reports, dashboards, and Visualforce pages that address a specific business need. Salesforce provides standard apps like Sales and Service, which can be customized. Apps can be packaged and uploaded to AppExchange, making them available to other Salesforce users.

App Launcher

Presents tiles linking to connected apps and standard apps from one location in Salesforce. All Lightning Experience users have access to the App Launcher. Salesforce Classic users need permission to use the “Use Identity Features” and the App Launcher option in their profile set to Visible. In Salesforce Classic, it appears as an app in the App menu.

AppExchange

A sharing interface from Salesforce for browsing and sharing apps and services for the Lightning Platform.

AppExchange Listing

A description of your app or service on AppExchange, serving as the primary marketing tool for promoting your app or service to the AppExchange community.

AppExchange Publishing Organization

The main organization partners used to publish listings on AppExchange, linking child organizations where applications are developed under a single provider entity.

AppExchange Security Review

Ensures that an app is safe for customers to install. Before an app can be listed publicly on AppExchange, it must pass the AppExchange Security Review. Providers must resubmit an app for review whenever it is updated.

AppExchange Upgrades

The process of installing a newer version of an app.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)

Managing an application’s lifecycle from planning, development, and integration to support.

Application Programming Interface (API)

The interface provided by a computer system, library, or application allows other computer programs to request services and exchange data.

Approval Process

Automates how records are approved in Salesforce, specifying each approval step, including who to request approval from and what actions to take at each point.

Approval Process Diagram

A visual flowchart representation of an approval process, accessible from the approval process detail page through the Process Visualizer.

Approval Request

A notification (email, Salesforce app notification, Lightning Experience notification, or Chatter post) informing the recipient that a record has been submitted for approval and requesting their approval.

Approval Steps

Define the approval chain for an approval process, specifying which records advance to each step, who to assign approval requests to, and whether approver delegates can respond. The first step specifies actions if a record doesn’t advance, and later steps specify actions if an approver rejects the request.

Approvals in Chatter

If both Approvals and Chatter are enabled, administrators can activate Approvals in Chatter, allowing users to receive approval requests as posts in their Chatter feeds.

Archived Article

Published articles that have been removed from public visibility. Article managers can manage archived articles in the Article Management tab. Archived articles aren’t visible in the Articles tab or public knowledge base and can be archived manually or automatically via an expiration date.

Article

Captures information about your company’s products and services for the knowledge base.

Article Manager

This represents a user type with access to the Article Management tab for creating, editing, assigning, publishing, archiving, and deleting articles. It requires the “Manage Articles” user permission. The Article Management tab isn’t visible to users without this permission.

Article Type

Determines an article’s content, appearance, and user access. Administrators can structure article types using layouts and templates and control user access with permissions for actions like create, read, edit, or delete.

Article-Type Layout

Allows administrators to create sections organizing fields on an article and choose which fields users can view and edit. One layout is available per article type and is modifiable from the article-type detail page.

Article-Type Template

Specifies how sections in the article-type layout are rendered, with different templates for each channel. Salesforce provides standard templates (Tab and Table of Contents); custom templates can be created with Visualforce.

Asset

Represents a specific product model or type owned by a customer, either your products purchased and installed by the customer or competitor’s products used by the customer.

Assigned Approver

The user is responsible for responding to an approval request.

Assignment

A draft article is assigned to another user for editing and can include brief instructions and a due date.

Asynchronous Calls

Calls that don’t return results immediately due to the operation’s long duration, such as those in the Metadata API and Bulk API 2.0.

Audience Channel

Refers to the types of users who can access an article. Salesforce Knowledge offers four channels:

• Internal App: Access for Salesforce users based on role visibility.
• Customer: Access for customers in a community, site, or customer portal, inheriting role visibility of the account manager.
• Partner: This is access for partners in a community, site, or partner portal, inheriting the role visibility of the account manager.
• Public Knowledge Base: Access for anonymous users through a public knowledge base, often using Communities in Lightning Knowledge or Sites and Visualforce in Salesforce Classic.

Autolaunched Flow

Flows that can be initiated without user interaction, such as from a process or the Apex interview. start method. These flows run in bulk and cannot include steps, screens, choices, or choice sets.

Automatic Number Identification (ANI)

The number from which a caller calls in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Auto Number

A custom field type that adds a unique sequential number to each record, which is read-only.

Auto-Response Rule

A set of conditions for sending automatic email responses to case or lead submissions based on the submitted record’s attributes, applicable to submissions through Self-Service portals, Customer Portals, Web-to-Case forms, Email-to-Case messages, or On-Demand Email-to-Case messages.

B

Batch Apex

Batch Apex allows you to perform long-running and complex operations on many records at scheduled times. It is especially useful for handling large volumes of data in Salesforce.

Batch, Bulk API

In the Bulk API, a batch represents a set of records formatted in CSV, XML, or JSON. You can process these records by creating a job containing one or more batches. The server processes each batch independently, not necessarily in the received order.

Best Answer

In an answers community, when a question is posed, and multiple replies are received, the asker can mark one reply as the best answer. This selected answer appears directly under the question, making it easier for others with the same query to quickly find the most relevant and useful information.

Best Case Amount

In forecasting, the Best Case Amount is the revenue projection identifying the total “possible” revenue for a given month or quarter. For managers, it includes the total possible revenue they and their team can generate.

Beta, Managed Package

A beta-managed package is an early version of a managed package distributed to a subset of your intended audience for testing purposes.

Blank Lookup

A lookup operation occurs when the search term is not provided in the lookup field dialog.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators like AND and OR are used in report filters to define the logical relationship between two values. For example, the AND operator between two values returns results that include both values, while the OR operator returns results that include either value.

Briefcase

In Connect Offline, a briefcase refers to the data set that can be managed offline.

Bucketing

A feature in the report builder allows users to categorize report records based on a field without creating a formula or custom field.

Bulk API 2.0

This is a REST-based API optimized for processing large datasets. Bulk API 2.0 allows you to asynchronously query, insert, update, upsert, or delete many records by submitting a job that Salesforce processes in the background.

Business Account

A business account refers to a company or organization you want to track in Salesforce.

C

Call

A voice connection is made via phone, including inbound, outbound, consult, or internal calls.

Call Center

A division within a company or a third-party organization that handles phone sales or service. See also the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Callout, Apex

An Apex callout allows integration of Apex with external services by making calls to web services or sending HTTP requests and receiving responses.

Campaign

A marketing effort, such as an advertisement, direct mail, or conference, aims to generate prospects and enhance brand awareness.

Campaign Hierarchy

A structure consisting of up to five campaigns organized hierarchically. A parent campaign can have multiple child campaigns, but a child campaign can only have one parent.

Campaign Member

A lead or contact associated with a campaign.

Campaign ROI (Return on Investment)

The return on marketing investment is calculated as the net gain (Total Value of Won Opportunities—Actual Cost) divided by the Actual Cost and expressed as a percentage. The Campaign ROI Analysis Report can be used to analyze this metric.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

Files that define the color, font, borders, and images displayed in a user interface.

Case

A detailed description of a customer’s feedback, problem, or question is used to track and resolve customer issues.

Case, Checkout

For tracking and resolution, a detailed description of feedback, problems, or questions related to checkout issues is used.

Case Feed

This is a streamlined interface for support agents to create, manage, and view cases. It includes actions like creating notes, logging calls, changing case status, and communicating with customers. It also includes a chronological feed of important case events.

Category, Ideas

Administrator-defined values that organize ideas into logical subgroups within a zone. Users can filter ideas by category and add categories to their ideas.

Category, Solutions

Labels are applied to solutions to group similar ones together, helping support representatives and customers find relevant solutions faster.

Category, Knowledge, and Answers

See Data Category for Answers and Data Category for Articles.

Category Group for Answers

In an answers zone, a category group organizes questions into categories for easy browsing. Administrators create and associate category groups with their answer zones.

Category Group for Articles

In Salesforce Knowledge, a category group organizes data categories into a hierarchy. For example, the Sales Regions category group could include geographical hierarchies. Authors assign relevant categories to articles for better search and filter capabilities.

Channel Manager

Internal users who manage your partners.

Chat Window

A web-based interface where customers or website visitors engage in text chats with support agents by clicking a chat button or link on the organization’s website.

Chatlet

A mini-application that runs within the Chat console provides information like incoming chat requests, visitor geographical location, and browsing history and integrates with Salesforce and Salesforce Knowledge.

Chatter Answers

This is a self-service support community where users can post questions and receive answers and comments from other users or support agents.

Chatter Bookmarks

Bookmarks in Chatter let you monitor individual posts of interest, and you receive notifications when someone comments on a bookmarked post.

Chatter Favorite

Shortcuts on the Chatter tab to the latest posts and comments for topics, list views, and Chatter feed searches.

Chatter Feed

A list of recent activities in Salesforce is displayed on various tabs, such as Chatter, Home, profiles, records, and Chatter groups. These tabs show posts, updates, and group activity.

Chatter Group

Groups in Chatter are used to share information with specific people, such as project teams. They can be public or private and include members, a feed, and a photo.

Chatter Mobile

A free mobile app for collaborating in Chatter from mobile devices, allowing posting, commenting, and receiving updates about followed people, records, files, and groups.

Checkout

An online store for purchasing seats and related products for Salesforce and Data.com.

Child Relationship

A defined relationship on a sObject referencing another sObject in a one-to-many relationship, like contacts, opportunities, and tasks having child relationships with accounts.

Class, Apex

A blueprint in Apex for creating objects, consisting of other classes, user-defined methods, variables, exception types, and static initialization code, modeled on Java.

Client App

An app running outside the Salesforce UI using the Lightning Platform API or Bulk API 2.0, typically on a desktop or mobile device, treating the platform as a data source.

Clone

A feature that allows the creation of a new item by copying the information from an existing item, such as a contact or opportunity.

Cloud Computing

A model for software development and distribution over the Internet, where the technology infrastructure, including data, is hosted online, allowing service development and use with browsers or thin clients without hardware or software investments.

Code Coverage

A metric identifying which lines of code are tested by unit tests, helping identify untested sections at risk of containing bugs or regressions.

Collapsible Section

Sections on detail pages that can be hidden or shown by users.

Combination Chart

A chart that plots multiple data sets on a single chart, comparing values based on different fields and combining certain chart types for varied data presentation.

Comment

Plain text responses to posted ideas, enabling discussions. Comments are sorted chronologically on the detail page of an idea.

Comment, Chatter

A reply to a post in a Chatter feed.

Commit Amount

The forecast amount that a salesperson is confident of closing in a particular month or quarter. For managers, it represents the amount they and their team can confidently close.

Community

Customizable public or private spaces for employees, customers, and partners are used for collaboration on best practices and business processes within Experience Cloud sites.

Community Application

It includes the ideas and answers features available in the app menu.

Community Expert

A community member who speaks credibly on behalf of the organization, designated by the Salesforce admin. Their posts have a unique icon next to their name.

Competitor

A related list displaying competitor names, strengths, and weaknesses entered for a specific opportunity.

Component, Metadata

An instance of a metadata type in the Metadata API, described in an XML file, can be deployed or retrievable using the Metadata API or tools like Salesforce extensions for Visual Studio Code or the Ant Migration Tool.

Component, Visualforce

An element added to a Visualforce page using a set of tags, like <apex:detail>. Includes standard and custom components.

Component Reference, Visualforce

A description of available standard and custom Visualforce components, accessible from the development footer of any Visualforce page or the Visualforce Developer’s Guide.

Composite App

An app combining native platform functionality with external web services for more flexibility and integration, running and managing external code.

Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI)

Integrating a phone system and a computer facilitates incoming and outgoing call handling and control.

Connect for Office

A product integrating Salesforce with Microsoft® Word and Excel.

Connect for Outlook

A retired product that was the legacy sync add-in for Microsoft® Outlook® 2007 and earlier.

Connect Offline

A product allowing salespeople to update Salesforce data remotely, anywhere, anytime, without an internet connection.

Connected App

An app integrating with Salesforce using APIs, employing SAML and OAuth protocols for authentication, single sign-on, and API tokens, with security policies and user access control managed by Salesforce admins.

Connected User

In the cross-org adapter for Salesforce Connect, the connected user is the provider org user whose credentials are used by the subscriber org to log in to the provider org, affecting data access in the subscriber org.

Connection (for Salesforce to Salesforce)

A business partner was invited to share data using Salesforce with Salesforce.

Console Layout

Objects selected by an admin to display in the list view frame of the Agent console, allowing users to see list views of selected objects like cases in the console.

Console Tab

A tab containing the Agent console, combining related records into one screen with different frames for viewing and editing information.

Consult Call

A call resulting from a Salesforce CRM Call Center user initiating a conference or transfer.

Contact

Individuals associated with accounts in Salesforce.

Contact Manager Edition

A Salesforce edition for small businesses, providing access to key contact management features.

Contact Role

A contact’s role in an account, contract, or opportunity, such as “Decision Maker” or “Evaluator.” Contacts can have different roles in various accounts, contracts, or opportunities, with one contact marked as the “primary” contact.

Content Delivery

A file converted into an optimized online format for distribution to leads, contacts, and colleagues.

Content Pack

A collection of related documents or files stored as a group in Salesforce CRM Content.

Contract

An agreement defining business terms between parties.

Contract, Checkout

A written agreement defining business terms between Salesforce and your organization.

Contract Line Item

The Contract Line Items related list on service contracts displays specific products covered by a service contract to users.

Controller, Visualforce

An Apex class provides a Visualforce page with the required data and business logic, using standard controllers for default object behavior or custom controllers for specific needs.

Controller Extension

An Apex class extends the functionality of a standard or custom controller.

Controlling Field

A picklist or checkbox field controlling the available values in corresponding dependent fields.

Convert

A button or link that allows the conversion of a qualified lead into an account, contact, and, optionally, an opportunity, transferring lead field information to the appropriate fields.

Cookie

Web applications use client-specific data to store user and session-specific information. Salesforce issues a session cookie to record encrypted authentication information for the duration of the session.

Credit Memo

A pricing adjustment crediting your account.

CSV (Comma Separated Values)

A file format for sharing and transporting structured data, supported by import wizards, Data Loader, and Bulk API 2.0. Each line represents a record, with fields separated by commas.

CTI Adapter

A software program controlling the appearance and behavior of a Salesforce softphone, acting as an intermediary between a CTI system, Salesforce, and a CRM Call Center user, and requiring installation on machines needing CRM Call Center access.

CTI Connector

A CTI adapter component maintains an in-memory representation of a CRM Call Center user’s softphone, including phone numbers, records, and call status, and is customizable by organizations.

CTI System

The hardware and software implementing CTI for a call center.

Custom App

Custom Console Component

An admin adds a Visualforce page to a Salesforce console to customize, integrate, or extend console capabilities.

Custom Controller

An Apex class implementing all logic for a Visualforce page without using a standard controller, running entirely in system mode, bypassing user permissions and field-level security.

Custom Field

A field was added to customize Salesforce for an organization’s needs, in addition to standard fields.

Custom Help

Custom text created by admins to provide users with on-screen information specific to a standard field, custom field, or custom object.

Custom Labels

Custom text values are accessible from Apex classes, Visualforce pages, or Lightning components.

Custom Links

URLs defined by admins to integrate Salesforce data with external websites and back-office systems, previously known as Web links.

Custom Object

Custom records store information unique to an organization.

Custom Report Type

Custom Settings

Similar to custom objects, they allow developers to create custom data sets for an organization, profile, or user. They are exposed in the application cache for efficient access and are usable by formula fields, validation rules, flows, Apex, and SOAP API.

Custom S-Control

Custom web content for custom links is now superseded by Visualforce pages. S-controls can contain any content displayable in a browser, like Java applets, Active-X controls, Excel files, or custom HTML web forms.

Custom View

A feature displaying a specific set of records for a particular object.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A business strategy for developing and improving relationships between companies and their customers.

Customers, Chatter

Users outside your company’s email domains with limited Chatter access only see and interact with groups they are invited to.

D

Dashboard

A dashboard visually represents source reports’ data through charts, gauges, tables, metrics, or Visualforce pages. Each dashboard can include up to 20 components and offers a snapshot of your organization’s key metrics and performance indicators.

Dashboard Builder

A drag-and-drop interface for creating and modifying dashboards, making it easy to build customized views of your data.

Dashboard Filters

Filters on a dashboard allow users to view data from different perspectives, providing flexibility in data analysis.

Data Category for Answers

Data categories on the Answers tab help classify questions in an answers zone. For example, categories might include laptops, desktops, and printers in a hardware product zone. Users can browse these categories to quickly find relevant answers, and administrators can control access to questions using these data categories.

Data Category for Articles

In Salesforce Knowledge, data categories are criteria organized into hierarchical category groups. Articles can be classified according to multiple categories, making it easier for users to find the necessary information. For instance, you can create category groups like Sales Regions and Business Units, each with its hierarchical structure. Authors assign these categories to articles, and administrators use them to control access.

Data Encryption

Encryption is the process of converting data into ciphertext using cryptographic functions. Salesforce uses symmetric key encryption with a 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm in CBC mode, PKCS5 padding, and a randomized 128-bit initialization vector (IV) to encrypt field-level data and files stored on the platform. Both encryption and decryption occur on the application servers.

Data Encryption Keys

Keys used by Shield Platform Encryption to encrypt and decrypt data. These keys are derived from keying material split between a master secret and an organization-specific tenant secret stored encrypted in the database. The 256-bit derived keys exist in memory temporarily.

Data Loader

Data Loader is a tool for importing and exporting data from your Salesforce organization. It supports large volumes of data and various operations like insert, update, delete, and export.

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Apex uses a subset of SQL to insert, update, delete, or retrieve data from the database.

Data State

The specific structure and data content in an object at a given time.

Database

An organized collection of information stored in a structured format, Salesforce’s underlying architecture includes a database where your data is stored.

Database Table

A list of information organized in rows and columns about the entity you want to track. In Salesforce, this is often referred to as an object.

Database.com

Salesforce’s enterprise cloud database service offers database capabilities in the cloud.

Date Literal

Keywords in a SOQL or SOSL query represent relative time ranges, such as last month or next year.

Dated Exchange Rates

These allow you to map currency conversion rates to specific date ranges. For example, if the USD to AUD exchange rate changed from 1.39 to 1.42 on a certain date, opportunities closed within each period use the respective rates.

Decimal Places

Defines the number of digits allowed to the right of a decimal point for number, currency, and percent custom fields. Salesforce rounds numbers based on the round half-up algorithm, where halfway values are always rounded.

Delegated Administration

A security model allows non-admin users to perform specific administrative tasks.

Delegated Authentication

A security process where an external authority authenticates Lightning Platform users.

Delegated Approver

A user appointed by an assigned approver to act as an alternate for approval requests.

Demote

An action allows users to decrease an idea’s popularity score by subtracting 10 points. An idea can only be demoted once per user, and users cannot promote an idea after demoting it.

Dependency

A relationship where one object’s existence relies on another. This includes mandatory fields, parent-child object relationships, file inclusions, and ordering dependencies.

Dependent Field

A custom or multi-select picklist field displays values based on a selected value in a controlling field.

Deploy

The process of moving functionality from development to production, making it active and visible to users. This includes moving metadata components from a local file system to a Salesforce organization and making custom objects available to users.

Deprecated Component

Components in a managed package that developers can no longer delete but can mark as deprecated in later versions. These components continue to function for existing subscribers and API integrations.

Detail

This is a page displaying information about a single object record. The detail page allows viewing, while the edit page allows modifying the record.

Detail View

The center frame of the Agent console displays the detail page view of any selected record, with the same layout defined for the object’s detail pages.

Developer Edition

A free Salesforce organization designed for developers to extend, integrate, and develop with the Lightning Platform, available at developer.salesforce.com.

Salesforce Developers

The Salesforce Developers website, developer.salesforce.com, provides resources for platform developers, including sample code, toolkits, an online community, and access to limited Lightning Platform environments.

Developer Sandbox

A sandbox environment copying customization (metadata) without production data for coding and testing purposes.

Developer Pro Sandbox

Similar to Developer sandboxes but with more storage, used for coding and testing, depending on the edition of your production organization.

Development as a Service (DaaS)

An application development model where all development activities, including source code, compilation, and development environments, are web-based services.

Development Environment

A Salesforce organization used for making configuration changes that do not affect the production organization, including sandboxes and Developer Edition organizations.

Dial-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF)

The system indicates the numbers pressed by a caller in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS)

The number is dialed by a caller in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Direct Inward Dial (DID)

A phone number allowing direct calls to a Salesforce CRM Call Center user, used instead of extensions.

Directory Number (DN)

An internal number configured on a public branch exchange, with additional directory numbers definable through Salesforce CRM Call Center setup.

Document Library

A place to store documents without attaching them to specific records like accounts, contacts, or opportunities.

Draft Article

In-progress articles that haven’t been published are not visible on the Articles tab or in a public knowledge base. Article managers can access and filter draft articles for editorial work.

Draft Translation

In-progress translations of articles into multiple languages that haven’t been published. Article managers can access and filter draft translations for publishing.

Dynamic Dashboard

A dashboard that runs using the security settings of the user viewing it, showing data according to their access level, allowing administrators to share one common set of dashboard components across users with different access levels.

Dynamic Visualforce Binding

A method of writing generic Visualforce pages that display information about records without knowing which fields to show, with fields determined at runtime.

E

Email Alert

Email alerts are automated actions that send emails to specified recipients using predefined email templates.

Email Approval Response

This feature lets users respond to approval requests directly by replying to an email notification.

Email Notification

Notifications are sent via email when specific activities occur in Chatter. Users can configure which activities trigger these notifications.

Email Template

A preformatted email designed to communicate a standard message, such as a welcome letter or service request acknowledgment. Email templates can include personalized merge fields and be created in text, HTML, or custom formats. Note: Lightning email templates aren’t packageable.

Encrypted Data at Rest

Data that is encrypted while stored on disk. Salesforce supports encryption for fields in the database, documents in Files, Content Libraries, Attachments, and archived data.

Encryption Key

Keys are used by encryption algorithms to convert plaintext to ciphertext and vice versa. Platform Encryption employs the AES algorithm with 256-bit symmetric keys and a random Initialization Vector (IV) to encrypt and decrypt data stored on Salesforce.

Encryption Key Management

Refers to the creation, process, and storage of encryption keys. Tenant secret management is conducted by administrators or users with the “Manage Encryption Keys” permission, configurable from Setup under Security Controls | Platform Encryption.

Enterprise Application

An application is designed to support an organization’s overall functionality rather than addressing a specific problem.

Enterprise Edition

A Salesforce edition tailored for larger, more complex businesses, offering extensive features and customization options.

Enterprise WSDL

A strongly typed WSDL is used for building integrations with a specific Salesforce organization. It’s ideal for tools requiring strong typecasting but is limited to the schema of a single Salesforce organization.

Entitlement

Entitlements determine if customers are eligible for support, allowing you to create cases for them. Eligibility can be based on assets, accounts, or service contracts.

Entitlement Contact

Contacts specified to receive customer support, such as a named caller, are listed on an entitlement’s Contacts-related list or the contact’s Entitlements-related list.

Entitlement Process

Timelines define all steps (milestones) that support teams must complete to resolve cases and ensure the correct service level for customers.

Entitlement Template

Predefined terms of customer support that can be quickly added to products, such as web or phone support templates.

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

A data modeling tool that organizes data into entities (objects) and defines relationships between them. ERDs for key Salesforce objects are available in the Salesforce Object Reference.

Enumeration Field

It is equivalent to a picklist field in WSDL, restricting field values to a strict set of possible values of the same data type.

Event

An activity scheduled for a specific time, such as a meeting or a phone call.

Event Series

A regular pattern defines a recurring series of events, like a weekly meeting with a customer.

Event Sink, CTI

An object in a CTI connector that receives CTI system events and routes them to other methods for processing.

External Data Source

Specifies how to access an external system. Salesforce Connect uses external data sources to access data stored outside Salesforce, while Files Connect uses them to access third-party content systems.

External Lookup Relationship

Links a child standard, custom, or external object to a parent external object by matching the parent’s External ID field with the child’s external lookup relationship field values.

External Object

Objects that behave like custom objects but map to data stored outside Salesforce. Each external object maps to a table in an external data source, and each field maps to a table column.

External User

Users with Community, Customer Portal, or partner portal licenses.

F

Facet

In Visualforce, a facet is a child component that overrides an area of the rendered parent component with its content.

Feature License

A feature license grants users access to additional features not included with their user license, such as Marketing or WDC. Users can have multiple feature licenses assigned to them.

Feed Attachment, Chatter

A file or link attached to a post in a Chatter feed.

Feed Filter, Chatter

Settings that allow you to display a subset of posts in your Chatter feed based on specific criteria.

Feed Tracking, Chatter

Administrator settings that determine which records can be followed and which fields can be tracked in Chatter feeds. This allows users to see updates when changes occur to tracked fields on records they follow.

Field

A part of an object that stores specific information, such as text or currency values.

Field-Level Help

Custom help text provides users with information about a field. It is displayed when hovering over the help icon adjacent to that field.

Field-Level Security

Settings that determine whether fields are hidden, visible, read-only, or editable for users, available in Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions.

Field Dependency

A filter that allows the contents of a picklist to change based on the value selected in another field.

Field Sets

A grouping of fields that can be referenced on Visualforce pages dynamically. Administrators can add, remove, or reorder fields in a fieldset without modifying code, making customizing field presentations on Visualforce pages easier.

Field Update

An automated action that updates a field with a new value based on specific criteria.

File Collaborator

Users with collaborator permissions can view, download, share, change permissions, edit, and upload new versions of files in Chatter.

File Owner

The person who uploads a file in Chatter attaches it to a Chatter feed or uploads it in Salesforce CRM Content. The file owner can view, edit, download, share, upload new versions, delete the file, make it private, and change its permissions.

File, Private

A private file in Chatter is indicated by a lock icon. It is only available to the file owner and is not shared with anyone else.

File, Privately Shared

A file that is shared with specific people or groups, indicated by a special icon. Only the file owner and the specified recipients can access it.

File Viewer

Users with viewer permissions can view, download, and share files in Chatter.

File, Your Company

A file shared with all Chatter users within your company, indicated by a company-wide icon. All Chatter users in the company can find and view this file.

Files Tab

A tab listing a user’s Chatter and Salesforce CRM Content files.

Filter Condition/Criteria

Conditions applied to fields to qualify items for inclusion in a list view or report, such as “State equals California.”

Final Approval Actions

Actions that occur when all required approvals for a record have been received.

Final Rejection Actions

Actions occur when a record’s approval request is rejected and enters the final rejection state.

Fiscal Year

A period used by an organization for financial planning, often equivalent to a calendar year, but divided into smaller periods like quarters or trimesters.

Flag

An icon that users can click to report a question or reply as spam, hateful, or inappropriate.

Flex Toolkit for Lightning Platform

An Adobe® Flex library allows access to Salesforce data within a Flex 2 application.

Flow

An application built using Flow Builder that can execute logic, interact with the Salesforce database, call Apex classes, and collect data from users.

Flow Interview

A running instance of a flow.

Flow Trigger

A workflow action that launches a flow, automating complex business processes without writing code. For example, a flow trigger can automatically assign entitlements to cases upon creation.

Folder

A place to store reports, dashboards, documents, or email templates. Folders can be public, hidden, or shared, with access controlled based on roles, permissions, public groups, and license types.

Follow

Subscribing to a user or record to see related updates in your Chatter feed. Following a user shows their posts while following a record shows posts, comments, and field changes.

Follow, Chatter Answers

Subscribe to a question to receive email notifications when someone answers or comments.

Forecast Amount

In Collaborative Forecasts, the revenue forecast is seen from the forecast manager’s perspective, including the sum of the owner’s and subordinates’ opportunities with all forecast adjustments.

Forecast Category

A category to which an opportunity is attributed in a forecast, based on its stage in the Stage picklist. To update the Forecast Category for an opportunity, edit the opportunity’s forecast.

Forecast User

A user who can see and work with forecasts below them in the forecast hierarchy.

Forecast Quantity

In collaborative forecasts, the quantity forecast is from the forecast manager’s perspective and includes the sum of the owner’s and subordinates’ opportunities with all forecast adjustments.

Forecasts

Projections of sales for a specified period.

Foreign Key

A field in one table that matches the primary key of another table creates a relationship between the tables.

Formula Field

A custom field that automatically calculates its value based on the values of other fields, expressions, or values.

Full Sandbox

A sandbox environment that copies the entire production organization and all its data, including standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments, used for coding, testing, and training. It can be refreshed every 29 days.

Function

Built-in formulas that can be customized with input parameters, such as the DATE function, which creates a date field type from a given year, month, and day.

G

Generate Orders

The Generate Orders package includes a set of flow templates designed to help sales teams automatically create orders and order products from opportunities or quotes. These templates also allow sales reps to generate contracts and associate orders with those contracts.

Get Request

A get request occurs when a user initially requests a Visualforce page by entering a URL or clicking a link or button.

Getter Methods

Apex methods that return values enable developers to display database and other computed values in page markup. See also Setter Methods.

Global Search

Global search is a powerful Salesforce search feature that allows users to search across more records and fields from the header search box. It prioritizes search results based on the objects and fields you use most frequently.

Global Variable

A special merge field is used to reference data within your organization. It can also refer to a method access modifier for methods that must be referenced outside the application via SOAP API or other Apex code.

Gmail

A free, web-based email service from Google that operates on standard browsers and can be integrated with your company’s domain.

Google Apps

Salesforce is a suite of on-demand communication and collaboration services hosted by Google designed for business users. It integrates with key Google Apps services and provides several AppExchange apps to enhance and customize Google-related functionality.

Google Docs

Google’s on-demand service allows you to create, edit, and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in real-time within your browser.

Google Talk

Google Talk is an instant messaging tool. When the Google Talk Sidebar Component is activated in Salesforce, it displays in the sidebar and can be toggled on, off, or expanded into its window. Chats can be logged as activities on Salesforce lead or contact records.

Governor Limits

Apex execution limits prevent developers from monopolizing Salesforce resources with inefficient code, ensuring fair usage across users.

Gregorian Year

The 12-month calendar system is used throughout much of the world.

Group

A collection of users that can include individual users, other groups, or users in a specific role. Groups are used to define data-sharing access and synchronization configurations in Salesforce for Outlook and Lightning Sync. Users can create personal groups, while administrators can create public groups for organizational use.

Group Edition

A Salesforce product designed for small businesses and workgroups with limited users.

Group Task

A task assigned to multiple users upon creation. Each group task is an independent record, allowing individual editing, transferring, or deletion.

Guest User

A user can access public Site.com and Salesforce sites and public pages in Communities via the Guest User license associated with each site or community. Guest users’ access to objects and data is controlled by public access settings on the Guest User profile.

H

Half-life

The half-life setting determines how quickly older ideas drop in ranking on the Popular Ideas subtab, making room for more recent ideas with new votes. A shorter half-life moves older ideas down the page faster than a longer half-life, affecting all zones in your organization.

Hardware Security Module (HSM)

A hardware device that provides cryptographic processing and key management for authentication. Shield Platform Encryption uses HSMs to generate and store secret material and execute the function that derives data encryption keys to encrypt and decrypt data.

Hierarchy Custom Settings

A type of custom setting that uses hierarchical logic to personalize settings for specific profiles or users. The hierarchy logic checks the current user’s organization, profile, and user settings and returns the most specific or lowest value. In this hierarchy, organization settings are overridden by profile settings, which are overridden by user settings.

Highlights Panel

A customizable table of up to four columns and two rows appears at the top of every primary tab in a Salesforce console, allowing users to view key information about records at a glance.

High-Volume Portal Users

Limited-access users are designed for organizations with thousands to millions of portal users. These users do not have roles, eliminating performance issues related to role hierarchy calculations. High-volume portal users include High Volume Customer Portal User and Authenticated Website User license types.

Home Organization

The organization is used to retrieve components from a local file system. In Salesforce extensions for Visual Studio Code, the home organization is used to create a project. In the Ant Migration Tool, the server is specified in build.properties when retrieving components.

Home Tab

The starting page from which users can choose sidebar shortcuts and options, view current tasks and activities, or select another tab.

Hover Detail

An interactive overlay displays record details when users hover over a link to that record in the Recent Items list on the sidebar or in a lookup field on a record detail page. Users can quickly view information about a record before clicking to view or edit it. The record’s mini page layout determines which fields are included in the hover details, which users cannot customize.

HTML S-Control

(Note: S-controls have been superseded by Visualforce pages. After March 2010, organizations that have never created S-controls, as well as new organizations, cannot create them. Existing S-controls remain unaffected and can still be edited.) An S-control containing the actual HTML rendered on a page. When saved, the HTML is hosted on a platform server but executed in an end user’s browser.

HTTP Debugger

An application used to identify and inspect SOAP requests sent from the AJAX Toolkit. These applications behave as proxy servers running on a local machine, allowing inspection and authoring of individual requests.

I

ID

Refer to Salesforce Record ID for details.

Idea

Ideas are suggestions posted by members of an ideas community and are organized by zones. For instance, if a zone focuses on “Ideas for car features,” an idea in that zone might be “Insulated cup holders that keep beverages hot or cold.” Another example could be a zone focused on “Ideas for employee benefits,” where an idea could be “On-site daycare.”

IdeaExchange

Salesforce’s platform for continuous feedback, connecting the Trailblazer Community with Salesforce product managers. It’s where users post ideas and contribute feedback to improve products and experiences. Visit IdeaExchange at ideas.salesforce.com.

Idea Themes

Idea Themes allow community members to post ideas about specific topics, helping solve problems or propose innovations for a company. For example, members can collaborate to create the product’s name to engage the community and create excitement around a new product launch. Community members vote and comment on each other’s ideas until a winner is found.

Immediate Action

A workflow action that executes instantly when the conditions of a workflow rule are met.

Import Wizard

A tool in Salesforce Setup for importing data into your Salesforce organization.

Inbound Call

A call that originates from another party within the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Indirect Lookup Relationship

An indirect lookup relationship links a child’s external object to a parent’s standard or custom object. This involves creating an indirect lookup relationship field on an external object, specifying the parent object field, and matching it with the child object field. The parent object field is typically a custom, unique, external ID field, and the child’s field values come from an external data source.

Influence, Chatter

An indicator of a person’s influence within Chatter. This is determined by the number of posts and comments they make and the comments and likes they receive.

• Top Influencers: Regularly share essential content and lead collaboration efforts.
• Active Influencers: Encourage others to get involved and share knowledge.
• Observers: Are you quieter participants, or are you just getting started in Chatter?

Initial Submission Actions

Actions that occur when a user first submits a record for approval. By default, the record is locked.

Initialization Vector (IV)

A random sequence is used with a key to encrypt data, ensuring secure encryption processes.

Inline S-Control

(Note: S-controls have been superseded by Visualforce pages. As of March 2010, new organizations and those that never created S-controls cannot create them. Existing S-controls remain unaffected and editable.) An S-control that displays within a record detail page or dashboard rather than on its page.

Installed Product

A product purchased through Checkout and installed within your Salesforce organization.

Instance

A combination of software and hardware acts as a single logical server that hosts an organization’s data and runs its applications. The Lightning Platform runs on multiple instances, but data for any single organization is always stored on one instance.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

A software application providing comprehensive facilities for developers, including a source code editor, testing and debugging tools, and integration with source code control systems.

Integration Testing

Integration testing is an intermediate phase of software testing in which individual projects are combined and tested as a group. It follows unit testing and precedes system testing.

Integration User

A Salesforce user designated solely for client apps or integrations, also referred to as the logged-in user in a SOAP API context.

Interaction Log

An area in a Salesforce console for jotting down notes about the main record being worked on without needing to click a button, view a new tab, or scroll to the Notes & Attachments list. Interaction logs are archived on the Activity History list for easy review and retrieval. Administrators can customize interaction logs to include task fields.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

IVRs are hardware and software that prompt a Salesforce CRM Call Center caller to enter specific digits, such as a menu selection or account number. They are also known as Voice Response Units (VRUs).

Internal Call

A call between users within the same call center in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Interview

See Flow Interview.

Invoice

A printable statement in Checkout listing all products and charges for an order.

ISO Code

The International Organization for Standardization country code represents each country with two letters.

 J

Job, Bulk API 2.0

In Bulk API 2.0, a job specifies the object being processed (such as Account or Opportunity) and the type of action (insert, upsert, update, or delete). A job processes a set of records by creating and executing it within the API.

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write and for machines to parse and generate. It is commonly used for transmitting data in web applications.

Junction Object

A custom object that establishes a many-to-many relationship between two objects using two master-detail relationships. For instance, if you create a custom object called “Bug” that relates to the standard Case object, each Bug can be linked to multiple Cases, and each Case can be linked to multiple Bugs, creating a many-to-many relationship.

K

Key Derivation Function (KDF)

A function that uses a pseudorandom number generator and input, such as a password, to derive cryptographic keys. Shield Platform Encryption employs PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) with HMAC-SHA-256.

Key Pair

Refer to Salesforce Certificate and Key Pair for details.

Key Tenant Secret Rotation

Create a new tenant secret and archive the previously active one. Active tenant secrets are used for encryption and decryption, while archived ones are used only for decryption until all data has been re-encrypted with the new tenant secret.

Knowledge Agent

A specific type of user in Salesforce Knowledge is designated as an article consumer. Knowledge agents can search for and view articles in the Articles tab but do not have permission to create, edit, or manage articles.

Knowledge Sidebar

A feature in the Salesforce console that displays titles of relevant Salesforce Knowledge articles to help solve the case you’re working on. It automatically searches the knowledge base and returns matching articles based on the words typed in the case’s subject. This sidebar is available to Salesforce Knowledge users after being set up by administrators.

L

Layout

Refer to Page Layout for detailed information.

Lead

A sales prospect who has shown interest in your product or company.

Length

A parameter for custom text fields specifying the maximum number of characters (up to 255) that a user can enter. For number, currency, and percent fields, it specifies the number of digits allowed to the left of the decimal point (e.g., 123.98 for an entry of 3).

Letterhead

Defines the basic attributes of an HTML email template, including background color, logo, font size, and font color.

Library

A repository for storing files in Salesforce CRM Content.

Library Permission

A set of privileges determining user access within a Salesforce CRM Content library.

License Management Application (LMA)

A free AppExchange app that tracks sales leads and accounts for users who download your managed package from AppExchange.

License Management Organization (LMO)

The Salesforce organization tracks all Salesforce users who install your package. This organization must have the License Management Application (LMA) installed and automatically receives notifications whenever your package is installed or uninstalled, allowing you to notify users of upgrades. Any Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, or Developer Edition organization can be designated as your license management organization.

Lightning for Gmail

An app that integrates Gmail and Salesforce is available in the Chrome Web Store. It allows users to view or create relevant Salesforce records without leaving their Gmail application.

Lightning for Outlook

An app available in the Microsoft Office Store that integrates Microsoft email and Salesforce, enabling users to view or create relevant Salesforce records without leaving their Microsoft email application.

Lightning Knowledge

A feature that allows you to create and manage your knowledge base within the Lightning Experience.

Lightning Sync

The synchronization component for Lightning for Outlook, syncing contacts and events between Microsoft Exchange servers and Salesforce.

Like

A feature in Chatter to show support for a post or comment. When you like a post or comment, you receive email notifications for subsequent comments.

Like, Chatter Answers

A feature to show support or indicate the quality or usefulness of a question, answer, or knowledge article.

List Custom Settings

A custom setting provides a reusable static data accessible across your organization. This data does not vary with profile or user but is available organization-wide, streamlining access to frequently used data such as state abbreviations or product catalog numbers.

List Price

The price of a product in a custom price book.

List View

A display of items (e.g., accounts or contacts) based on specific criteria. Salesforce provides predefined views. The list view appears in the top frame in the Agent console, displaying records based on specific criteria. You cannot create list views within the console but select from predefined views.

Local Name

The value stored for a field in the user’s or account’s language is associated with the standard name for that field.

Local Project

A .zip file containing a project manifest (package.xml file) and one or more metadata components.

Locale

The country or geographic region where the user is located affects the date format and number fields. For example, the dates are displayed as 06/30/2000 in the English (United States) locale and 30/06/2000 in the English (United Kingdom) locale. In certain editions, a user’s Locale setting overrides the organization’s Default Locale setting.

Logged-in User

In a SOAP API context, the username is used to log into Salesforce. Client applications run with the permissions and sharing of the logged-in user, also called the integration user.

Long Text Area

A data type for custom fields allows entry of up to 32,000 characters on separate lines.

Lookup Dialog

There is a popup dialog available for some fields, allowing users to search for and select a new item, such as a contact, account, or user.

Lookup Field

A field containing a linkable value to another record is displayed on page layouts where the object has a lookup or master-detail relationship with another object.

Lookup Filter

An administrator setting on a lookup or master-detail relationship field specifies the criteria records must meet to be valid values for the field. Invalid records do not appear in lookup results, and Salesforce blocks the save and displays an error message if a user manually enters an invalid record name.

Lookup Icon

A magnifying glass icon next to certain fields launches the lookup dialog window.

Lookup Relationship

A relationship between two records allows the association of records with each other. For example, cases have a lookup relationship with assets, enabling the association of a particular asset with a case. If a lookup field references a deleted record, Salesforce clears the lookup field by default. However, it can be configured to prevent record deletion if they are in a lookup relationship.

M

Mail Merge

Mail merge is the process of generating personalized form letters and other Microsoft Word documents for recipients, such as contacts or leads. Mail merge templates include variables called merge fields, where data from Salesforce records, like a contact’s name and address, are displayed in the generated document.

Major Release

A significant release of a package, during which the major and minor version numbers of a package can increase to any chosen value.

Managed Package

A collection of application components posted as a unit on AppExchange, associated with a namespace and possibly a License Management Organization. Managed packages can be upgraded and include locked components to protect the developer’s intellectual property. They differ from unmanaged packages, which do not have locked components and cannot be upgraded.

Managed Package Extension

Components or sets of components that add functionality to a managed package. Extensions cannot be installed before the managed package they extend.

Manifest File

The project manifest file (package.xml) lists the XML components to retrieve or deploy when working with the Metadata API or clients built on top of it, such as Salesforce extensions for Visual Studio Code or the Ant Migration Tool.

Manual Sharing

Record-level access rules allow record owners to give read and edit permissions to other users who don’t have access to the record in any other way.

Many-to-Many Relationship

A relationship where each side can have many children on the other side is implemented through junction objects.

Marketing User

Marketing users are individuals designated to manage campaigns within the organization. They can create, edit, and delete campaigns, configure advanced campaign setup, and use the Data Import Wizard to add campaign members and update their statuses. Administrators designate marketing users by selecting the Marketing User checkbox in the user’s personal information.

Master-Detail Relationship

A relationship between two types of records that associates them with each other. For example, accounts have a master-detail relationship with opportunities. This type of relationship affects record deletion and security and requires the lookup relationship field on the page layout.

Master HSM

The master Hardware Security Module (HSM) consists of a USB device that generates secure, random secrets for each Salesforce release. The master HSM is “air-gapped” from Salesforce’s production network and stored securely in a bank safety deposit box.

Master Picklist

A list of picklist values is available for a record type or business process.

Matrix Report

A matrix report is similar to a summary report but allows grouping and summarizing data by both rows and columns. Matrix reports are useful for comparing related totals, especially when summarizing large amounts of data by different fields or viewing data by date, product, person, or geography.

Master Secret

It is used with the tenant secret and key derivation function to generate a derived data encryption key. Salesforce updates the master secret each release and encrypts it using a per-release master wrapping key, which is further encrypted with the Key Derivation Servers’ public key for secure storage. Only HSMs can decrypt it, and no Salesforce employees can access these keys in cleartext.

Master Wrapping Key

A symmetric key is used as a master wrapping key, also known as a key wrapping key, encrypting all the pre-release keys and secrets bundle.

Member Status

The status of a lead or contact about a campaign. Statuses like “Planned,” “Sent,” or “Responded” indicate the stages of engagement in an email campaign.

@Mention

An @mention is the @ symbol followed by a person’s or group’s name (e.g., @Bob Smith or @DocTeam). When you @mention someone in Chatter posts and comments, it links to their profile, displays the post or comment in their feed, and sends an email notification.

Merge Field

A field used in an email template, mail merge template, custom link, or formula to incorporate values from a record. For example, “Dear {!Contact.FirstName},” uses a contact merge field to insert the recipient’s first name into the email.

Message, Chatter

Private communication with other Chatter users allows you to send questions or messages to specific people without publicizing the discussion. Messages don’t appear in your feed, profile, or other publicly visible part of Chatter.

Metadata

Information about an organization’s structure, appearance, and functionality and its parts. Salesforce uses XML to describe metadata.

Metadata Component

An instance of a metadata type. For example, the Account standard object is a metadata component, an instance of the CustomObject type.

Metadata-Driven Development

An app development model where apps are defined as declarative “blueprints” without requiring code. Apps built on the Salesforce platform—data models, objects, forms, workflows, and more—are defined by metadata.

Metadata Type

A type of object in a Salesforce organization, such as CustomObject or CustomTab.

Metadata WSDL

A WSDL for users who want to use the Salesforce Metadata API calls.

Migration

Moving metadata from one organization to another, typically between development environments. See also Deploy.

Milestone

The required steps in your support process represent the service levels provided to customers. Examples include first response and resolution times for cases.

Milestone Actions

Time-dependent workflow actions that occur at each step (milestone) in an entitlement process. Examples include email alerts before a first response violation or automatically updating fields on a case after a first response is completed.

Mini Page Layout

A mini page layout is a subset of items in a record’s existing page layout that administrators choose to display in the Agent console’s Mini View and Hover Details. Mini page layouts inherit record type and profile associations, related lists, fields, and field access settings from the page layout.

Mini View

The Agent console’s right frame displays records associated with the record shown in the detail view. An administrator defines the fields in the mini view in the mini page layouts. If no records are associated with the detail view record, the mini view doesn’t display.

Mobile Configuration

A set of parameters determining the data Salesforce transmits to users’ mobile devices and which users receive that data. Organizations can create multiple mobile configurations to suit different types of mobile users.

Multitenancy

An application model where all users and apps share a single, common infrastructure and codebase.

Multi-Person Event

A planned event to which multiple users are invited is also referred to as a meeting. Users can create multi-person events by inviting others to any calendar event they create.

Multi-Select Picklist

Refer to Picklist (Multi-Select) for details.

MVC (Model-View-Controller)

A design paradigm deconstructing applications into components that represent data (model), display data in a user interface (view) and manipulate data with business logic (controller).

My Settings

With the improved Setup user interface enabled in Salesforce Classic, personal settings are available from the My Settings menu under the user’s name.

N

Named Credential

A named credential specifies the URL of a callout endpoint and its required authentication parameters in a single definition, simplifying the setup of authenticated callouts by providing a centralized location for endpoint and authentication details.

Namespace

In a packaging context, a one- to 15-character alphanumeric identifier that distinguishes your package and its contents from those of other developers on AppExchange, similar to a domain name. Salesforce automatically prepends your namespace prefix, followed by two underscores (“__”), to all unique component names in your Salesforce organization.

Namespace Prefix

A one- to 15-character alphanumeric identifier in a packaging context that differentiates your package and its contents from those of other developers on AppExchange. Namespace prefixes are case-insensitive and must be globally unique across all Salesforce organizations, ensuring your managed package remains exclusively under your control.

Native App

An application built entirely with setup (metadata) configuration on the Lightning Platform without requiring external services or infrastructure.

Navigation Tab

A tab in a Salesforce Classic console that features a dropdown button, allowing users to select and view object home pages.

New Business Quote

A type of quote for a new customer who has a trial version of Salesforce and wants to purchase Salesforce seats and other related products.

Nickname

The name is used to identify a community user, allowing up to 40 alphanumeric characters. Standard users can edit this field.

Notes

Miscellaneous information related to a specific record is used for capturing additional details and context.

O

Object

An object in Salesforce is a database table that allows you to store information within your organization. Each object defines the type of information being stored, such as customer inquiries in the case object. Multiple records within an object store specific data instances, like separate case records for different customer issues.

Object-Level Help

Custom help text is provided for any custom object and displayed on the custom object record home (overview), detail, and edit pages, as well as list views and related lists.

Object-Level Security

Settings allow an administrator to hide entire objects from users, ensuring they are unaware that type of data exists. Object-level security is managed through object permissions.

OData Producer

A remote data service using the Open Data Protocol (OData) to expose data stored on an external server. Salesforce Connect uses OData producers to define external data sources and map external objects to this data.

Omni-Channel

A customer service solution that routes various types of incoming work items (e.g., cases, chats, leads) to the organization’s most qualified, available agents.

On-Demand Document

Documents hosted by an application service provider and accessed via the Internet, such as Google Docs.

onClick JavaScript

JavaScript code that executes when a button or link is clicked.

One-to-Many Relationship

A relationship where a single object is related to many other objects. For example, an account can be related to multiple contacts.

Open CTI

An API that allows developers to build CTI (computer-telephony integration) systems that integrate with Salesforce without requiring CTI adapters or client applications.

Operator

An item is used to narrow or broaden a search. Common operators in Salesforce searches include AND, OR, AND NOT, parentheses ( ), and quotation marks ” “.

Opportunities

Records that track sales and pending deals within Salesforce.

Opportunity Team

A group of users who work together on sales opportunities. A typical team might include an account manager, sales representative, and pre-sales consultant. Each opportunity can have a specific team assigned to it.

Order

A transaction indicating an agreement to purchase specific products and services from Salesforce, such as seats, training courses, or professional services.

Organic Search Leads

Leads are generated when a user arrives at your website via an unpaid (organic) listing on a major search engine and fills out a Web-to-Lead form containing a Salesforce tracking code. The lead source details include the search engine and search phrase.

Organization

A deployment of Salesforce with a defined set of licensed users. It includes all your data and applications and is separate from all other organizations.

Org

An abbreviation for organization refers to a deployment of Salesforce with a defined set of licensed users. Each org includes all its data and applications, separate from other orgs.

Organization-Wide Defaults

Settings specifying the baseline level of data access users have in your organization. For example, you can set defaults so users can see all records of a particular object but need additional permissions to edit them.

Organization-Wide Address

An email address is associated as an alias for all users within a user profile.

Outbound Call

A user initiates a call to a number outside the call center in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Outbound Message

A message that sends information to a designated external endpoint. Outbound messages are configured from Setup, and the external endpoint must have a listener for the messages using SOAP API.

Overlay

Additional information is displayed when hovering over certain user interface elements. Depending on the overlay, it closes when you move the mouse away, click outside it, or click a close button.

Owner

The individual user assigned to a record, such as a contact or case.

Owner Only Amount

In Collaborative Forecasts, the sum of a person’s revenue opportunities without adjustments.

Owner Only Quantity

In Collaborative Forecasts, the sum of a person’s quantity of opportunities without adjustments.

P

PaaS

Refer to Platform as a Service.

Package

A group of Lightning Platform components and applications available to other organizations through AppExchange. Packages bundle an app and its related components for uploading to AppExchange.

Package Dependency

Dependencies are created when one component references another required component, permission, or preference. Components include fields, objects, Visualforce pages, and Apex code. Permissions and preferences include divisions, multicurrency, and record types.

Package Installation

Incorporates the contents of a package into your Salesforce organization. A package on AppExchange can include apps, components, or both. After installation, you can deploy components to make them available to users.

Package Publication

Makes your package publicly available on AppExchange.

Package Version

A number identifies the components uploaded in a package, formatted as majorNumber.minorNumber.patchNumber (e.g., 2.1.3). Managed packages use versions to evolve components without breaking existing integrations.

Page Layout

Organizes fields, custom links, and related lists on a record detail or edit page. Primarily used for organizing pages for users, with field-level security to restrict access to specific fields.

Parent Account

An organization or company affiliated with an account. Specifying a parent for an account allows for a global view of all parent/subsidiary relationships using the View Hierarchy link.

Parent Category

The category directly above the category to which a solution belongs.

Partial Copy Sandbox

A Developer sandbox plus data is defined in a sandbox template.

Partial Page

An AJAX behavior in which only a specific portion of a page updates following user action rather than reloading the entire page.

Partner

Companies with which you collaborate to close sales deals. The Partners-related list of opportunities or accounts stores information about partners and their roles. A partner must be an existing account in Salesforce.

Partner Accounts

Salesforce accounts are managed by a channel manager to handle partner organizations, users, and activities in a partner community or portal.

Partner Portal

Allows partner users to log in to Salesforce through a web portal instead of Salesforce.

Partner Role

A selection for an account on the Partners-related list of an account or opportunity specifies the account’s role in related sales deals.

Partner User

Salesforce users with limited capabilities who are external to your organization but sell your products or services through indirect channels. They are associated with a partner account and have limited access to your data, logging in via a partner portal.

Partner WSDL

This is a loosely typed WSDL for customers, partners, and ISVs to build integrations or AppExchange apps that work across multiple Salesforce organizations. It provides flexibility in data representation and independence from specific data models or Salesforce organizations.

Patch

A minor update to a managed package ensures no visible behavior changes for subscribing organizations. Patches can modify existing components but cannot add, deprecate, or remove methods. They are tracked by a patch number appended to the package version.

Patch Development Organization

The organization where patch versions are developed, maintained, and uploaded is automatically created when a developer requests to create a patch.

Patch Release

A minor upgrade to a managed package, incrementing the patch number of the package version.

Payment

An amount of money paid toward your account. Checkout shows all payments made for orders placed by users in your organization.

People

Users in your Salesforce organization. A list of people is available on the People tab in Chatter.

Percent (%) Quota

For forecasting, the quota percentage attainment is calculated as the Commit Amount divided by the Quota, indicating the percentage of the quota a salesperson is confident of closing.

Performance Edition

Designed for customers aiming for significant growth, customer satisfaction, and sales and service success in the social and mobile world. Performance Edition Limited is available in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, excluding Data.com functionality.

Permission

A setting allowing a user to perform specific functions in Salesforce, enabled in permission sets and profiles. Examples include the “Edit” permission on a custom object and the “Modify All Data” permission.

Permission Set

A collection of permissions and settings granting users access to specific tools and functions.

Permission Set License

Incrementally entitles users to access features not included in their user licenses. Users can have multiple permission sets and licenses assigned.

Person Account

An individual consumer with whom you do business, such as a financial services client, online shopper, or vacation traveler. This definition is applicable to organizations operating on a business-to-consumer model.

Personal Edition

A product designed for individual sales representatives and single users.

Personal Information

User information, including personal contact details, quotas, personal group information, and default opportunity team.

Personal Settings

Settings and customization options for personalizing the Salesforce experience. Users can edit their settings from the Personal Setup area of the Setup menu or under their avatar or name, depending on the interface settings.

Phrase Search

A full-text search type that matches items containing a specified phrase, such as “customer relationship management.”

Picklist

A selection list of options available for specific fields in a Salesforce object. Users choose a single value from a list rather than directly entering data into the field.

Picklist (Multi-Select)

A selection list of options for specific fields in a Salesforce object allows users to choose one or more values by double-clicking or holding down the CTRL key while clicking values.

Picklist Values

Selections are displayed in dropdown lists for particular fields. Administrators can define or change values, and some come predefined.

Pinned Lists

Lists are displayed at the top or left side of a Service Cloud console. They are always visible so that the working list and record details can be seen simultaneously. Administrators must enable pinned lists.

Pipeline

The calculated number of open opportunities with a close date within the quarter is shown on the forecasts page. This includes opportunities for managers and their teams.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

An environment where developers use programming tools offered by a service provider to create applications and deploy them in the cloud, hosted as a service and provided to customers via the Internet. The PaaS vendor provides APIs, daily maintenance, operation, and support for the deployed application and customer data.

Platform Edition

A Salesforce edition based on Enterprise, Unlimited, or Performance Edition that excludes standard Salesforce apps, such as Sales or Service & Support.

Point

A unit of measurement representing the popularity of an idea. Each vote for an idea is worth ten points. The total number of points for an idea is displayed to the left of the idea.

Popular Ideas

Ideas are sorted by an internal calculation reflecting the age of positive votes, with newer positive votes displayed higher than those with older positive votes.

Popular Questions

Questions whose popularity is based on the number of users who Like them within a certain timeframe.

Post

A top-level comment in a Chatter feed.

Post Sharing

It allows you to copy a public Chatter post to your profile or a group you belong to and share it with other Chatter users via email or instant message link.

Postback Request

A request made when user interaction requires a Visualforce page update, such as when clicking a Save button triggers a Save action.

Price Book

Here is a list of products your organization sells, available in Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions.

Primary Contact

Your organization’s main contact is listed in company information. It also indicates the primary contact associated with an account, contract, or opportunity.

Primary Key

A relational database concept where each table has a field uniquely identifying the record is called the primary key. Relationships are made by matching foreign key values in one table with primary key values in another.

Primary Partner

The partner account designated as playing a key role in closing an opportunity is specified in the Partners-related list of opportunities.

Primary Tab

A tab in a Salesforce Classic console displaying the main item to work on, such as an account.

Printable View

An option that displays a page in a print-ready format.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX)

A telephony switch used exclusively by a single call center to route calls in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Private Sharing

The process of sharing an uploaded package using a URL received from Salesforce. The URL isn’t listed in AppExchange, allowing package sharing without public listing.

Probability

The percentage estimate of confidence in closing a specific opportunity is linked to the opportunity stage.

Process Instance

Represents one instance of an approval process created each time a record is submitted.

Process Instance Node

This represents an instance of an approval step created each time a record enters a step in an approval process. It is not created if the record doesn’t meet step criteria or if the process instance completes without entering the step.

Process Visualizer

A tool displaying a graphical version of an approval process as a flowchart, helping visualize and understand defined steps, rule criteria, and actions.

Product

Any item or service your organization sells, defined in a price book and added to opportunities, available in Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions.

Product, Checkout

An item or service purchased from Checkout, such as a Professional Edition license, support package, or extra storage.

Product Family

A picklist field on products is used to categorize types of products.

Production Organization

A Salesforce organization with live users accessing data.

Professional Edition

A Salesforce edition designed for businesses needing full-featured CRM functionality.

Profile

Defines a user’s permission to perform different functions within Salesforce. For example, the Solution Manager profile grants access to create, edit, and delete solutions.

Profile, Chatter

A personal page for each Salesforce user, including contact information, following and followers lists, a Chatter feed, and a photo.

Project

Refer to Local Project.

Project Manifest

A control file (package.xml) determines which components are retrieved or deployed.

Promote

To agree with or like an idea, add 10 points. Users can’t promote the same idea more than once or promote an idea they’ve already demoted. Salesforce automatically adds promote votes to any idea posted.

Prototype

Classes, methods, and variables are available to other Apex codes.

Prototype Object

A single sObject in the Visualforce StandardSetController class, with field values applied to every record in the set controller’s collection during the save action.

Provider Organization

In the cross-org adapter for Salesforce Connect, the provider org stores the data accessed by the subscriber org.

Public Calendar

A calendar is a way for a group of people to track events of interest or schedule common activities, such as marketing events or team vacations.

Public Group

A set of users defined for sharing purposes, created by administrators.

Published Article

Articles are available on the Articles tab in the internal app and, if applicable, in the Customer Portal, partner portal, and public knowledge base. To remove an article, archive it or change the status to “draft” on the Article Management tab.

Published Translation

Articles are translated into multiple languages and available on the Articles tab in the internal app and, if applicable, in the Customer Portal, partner portal, and public knowledge base. To remove, archive, or change the status to “draft” on the Article Management tab.

Publisher

The Salesforce user or organization that published an AppExchange listing.

Publishing Cycle

The stages Salesforce Knowledge Articles move through from creation to deletion, including Draft, Online, and Archived statuses.

Purchase Rules

Criteria your organization must satisfy before a purchase is approved.

Push Notifications, Mobile

Alerts consist of text, icons, and sounds rendered on mobile device home screens when users aren’t using the app.

Push Notifications, Salesforce Console

Visual indicators in a Salesforce Console show when a record or field has changed during a user’s session.

Push Upgrade

A method of delivering updates by sending upgrades of an installed managed package to all organizations that have installed the package.

Q

Quantity Schedule

A plan outlining the dates, units, and number of installments for billing or shipping a product. Organizations can customize schedules according to their needs. Available in Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions.

Quantity Forecasting

Forecasting is based on the projected number of units sold, allowing sales teams to predict future sales volume.

Quantity Without Adjustments

In Collaborative Forecasts, this represents the sum of a person’s owned quantity opportunities and subordinates’ opportunities without any adjustments. Subordinates include all individuals reporting up to a person in the forecast hierarchy.

Quantity Without Manager Adjustment

In Collaborative Forecasts, this is the forecast quantity viewed by the forecast owner. It includes the owner’s and subordinates’ opportunities with adjustments made by the owner on the subordinates’ forecasts, excluding adjustments made by higher-level forecast managers.

Quantity Without Owner Adjustment

In Collaborative Forecasts, this is the forecast quantity seen by the forecast owner without any adjustments made by the owner. It includes the subordinate’s opportunities with adjustments made by their manager or the subordinate and the owner’s opportunities, excluding adjustments made by the forecast owner.

Query Locator

A parameter returned from the query() or queryMore() API call that specifies the index of the last result record returned used to retrieve additional records.

Query String Parameter

A name-value pair included in a URL, typically after a ‘?’ character, is used to pass data to a web server. For example,  

Question

An issue or inquiry is posted to an answers community. Community members can post replies to help resolve the question.

Question, Private

A question is posted to an answers community but marked as Private, allowing only support agents to view and respond.

Queue

A holding area for items before they are processed. Salesforce uses queues in various features and technologies to manage workflows and task assignments.

Queue, Salesforce CRM Call Center

A mechanism for storing inbound calls that cannot be immediately answered by a Salesforce CRM Call Center user. Some CTI systems use multiple queues to differentiate between types of calls.

Quick Text

Predefined messages, such as greetings, answers to common questions, and short notes that users can insert into communications with customers to save time and standardize responses.

Quota

The sales goal is assigned to a user or territory for a specified forecast period. A manager’s quota is the total amount expected to be generated by them and their team together.

Quote

A record showing proposed product and service prices created from opportunities can be emailed as PDFs to customers.

Quote, Checkout

This is a convenient, risk-free way to price products or services and terms before placing an order at Checkout. Quotes can be for new business, add-ons, upgrades, or renewals.

Quote Line Item

Any product or service offered to customers in a quote representing products from the selected price book.

R

Read Only

A standard profile in Salesforce allows users to view and report on information based on their role in the organization but cannot edit the data.

Recall Actions

Actions that occur when a submitted approval request is recalled typically unlock the record by default.

Recent Activity

This is a page summarizing all recent activities related to a user’s participation within a zone, including posted ideas, comments, and votes.

Recent Items

A sidebar list displaying links to the most recently accessed records in Salesforce, excluding some record types.

Record

A single instance of a Salesforce object, such as an individual contact or account.

Record Detail Page

A page displaying detailed information about a Salesforce record, including fields such as record owner, contact information, and company details.

Record ID

A unique identifier is assigned to each record in Salesforce.

Record-Level Security

A method of controlling access to data is restricting which records a user can view and edit, independent of object permissions.

Record Locking

A feature that prevents users from editing a record regardless of their permissions is often used during approval processes.

Record Name

A standard field on all Salesforce objects is a clickable link to the record’s detail view. It can be a text or auto number field.

Record Type

A field that allows different business processes, picklist values, and page layouts to be applied to certain records.

Record Update

A post in a Chatter feed resulting from a change in a field on a followed record.

Recurring Event

An event that is part of a series, such as weekly meetings or monthly status reports.

Recycle Bin

A feature allowing users to view and restore deleted records, accessible via the sidebar in Salesforce Classic or the App Launcher in Lightning Experience.

Regression Testing

Testing that ensures previously functioning software continues to work after changes. It’s advisable to use a configuration-only sandbox for this purpose.

Related List

A section on a record’s detail page listing items related to that record, such as opportunities linked to an account.

Related List Hover Links

Links that display information about related lists when hovered over, allowing quick access without scrolling.

Related List Item

Any entry within a related list, such as a note or contact.

Related Object

Objects are chosen by an administrator to display in the mini view of the Agent console when certain records are viewed in the detail view.

Relationship

A connection between two objects creates related lists and reports detail levels by matching values in specified fields.

Relationship Group

Custom object records are used to store collections of accounts.

Relationship Group Member

Accounts added to relationship groups.

Relationship Query

In SOQL, a query that traverses relationships between objects to return results, with different syntax for parent-to-child and child-to-parent queries.

Release Management

See Application Lifecycle Management (ALM).

Release Train

A scheduling method for delivering application upgrades on a regular cycle.

Remote Access Application

An external application that uses OAuth to verify Salesforce users and itself as a connected app.

Renewal

A quote type for customers whose contract is expiring.

Reply

A response to a question in an answers community. The original asker can mark one reply as the best answer.

Report

A set of records that meets certain criteria is displayed in organized rows and columns. Reports can be filtered, grouped, and displayed as charts and are stored in folders with access controls.

Report Builder

A visual editor for creating and editing reports.

Report Type

Defines the set of records and fields available in a report based on relationships between a primary object and its related objects.

Requested Meeting

A meeting is requested with a contact, lead, or person account. Salesforce creates a unique webpage for invitees to select times and send responses, which the organizer can confirm.

Resource Calendar

A calendar for coordinating shared resources, like conference rooms or printers.

REST (Representational State Transfer)

A software architecture allows clients and servers to communicate resources via HTTP.

REST API

A web services API using REST to provide access to Salesforce organization information.

Revenue Forecasting

Forecasting based on projected revenue amounts.

Revenue Schedule

A schedule outlining dates, revenue amounts, and installments for billing or recognizing revenue from a product, available in specific Salesforce editions.

Role

Assigned responsibility for a user, partner account, or contact about specific accounts and opportunities. Roles are defined by administrators and affect data access levels.

Role Hierarchy

A security setting defining user levels, where higher-level users can view and edit information owned or shared with lower-level users, regardless of organization-wide sharing settings.

Roll-Up Summary Field

A field that aggregates values from child records in a master-detail relationship.

Routing Point

A mechanism determining the Salesforce CRM Call Center queue that controls an incoming call.

Running User

The user whose security settings determine the data displayed in a dashboard. For dynamic dashboards, the running user can be the logged-in user, showing data according to their access level.

S

S-Control

Note: S-controls have been replaced by Visualforce pages. Existing s-controls remain functional but cannot be created in new organizations.

SaaS

See Software as a Service (SaaS).

Salesforce

The name of both the company and its primary application.

Salesforce API Version

See Version.

Salesforce Certificate and Key Pair

This is used for signatures to verify requests from your organization, typically for authenticated SSL communications or as an Identity Provider.

Salesforce CRM Call Center

A feature that integrates Salesforce with third-party CTI (computer-telephony integration) systems.

Salesforce CRM Content

An on-demand content management system for organizing, sharing, and managing various types of content within Salesforce.

Salesforce for Outlook

An integration application that syncs contacts, events, and tasks between Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce.

Salesforce Connect

Provides access to external data, representing it in Salesforce as external objects. Accessed via web service callouts.

Salesforce Console

A user interface designed for quick access and management of records, displaying records and related items as tabs on one screen.

Salesforce Console Integration Toolkit

An API that allows developers to access and customize the Salesforce Classic console programmatically.

Salesforce Office Toolkit

A plug-in for accessing SOAP API directly from Microsoft Office products.

Salesforce Record ID

A unique alphanumeric identifier for each Salesforce record.

Salesforce Service-Oriented Architecture

Allows calls to external web services from within Apex.

Sales Price

The price of a product on an opportunity can differ from the standard or list price.

Sandbox

A copy of a Salesforce production organization used for development, testing, and training.

Sandbox Templates

Allow control over which objects are copied to a sandbox.

Save As

The option to save a report without altering the original is to create a custom report with saved changes.

Save & New

Option to save current changes and immediately create a new entry.

Schedule

See Quantity Schedule and Revenue Schedule.

Screen Pop

A page that displays an inbound call in the Salesforce CRM Call Center.

Search

Feature for finding information using specified keywords, with sidebar or global search options.

Search Layout

Organization of fields included in search results, lookup dialogs, and key lists on tab home pages.

Search Phrase

Queries entered by users when searching on websites like Google.

Self-Service

A web portal feature allows customers to search for public solutions and submit new cases.

Semi-Join

A subquery in SOQL uses an IN clause to create advanced queries by referencing another object.

Service

Professional assistance offerings, such as customer support or configuration help, are often listed on AppExchange.

Service Cloud Portal

A Customer Portal designed for large user bases, allowing many users to log in without affecting performance.

Service Contract

Agreements for customer support, such as warranties or service level agreements.

Session ID

An authentication token is issued upon successful login to Salesforce, maintaining session continuity without repeated logins.

Session Timeout

Configurable duration of inactivity before automatic logout. The default is 120 minutes.

Setter Methods

Methods that assign values to variables. See also Getter Methods.

Settings

Personal settings are available from the Settings menu under the user’s avatar in Lightning Experience.

Setup

A menu for administrators to customize organization settings and apps, accessible via the header or dropdown list.

Share Group

A set of users who can access records owned by high-volume portal users.

Shared Activities

A feature allows up to 10 contacts related to a non-recurring task or event.

Sharing

Sharing models, role hierarchies, and manual sharing are mechanisms for allowing other users to view or edit your information.

Sharing, Chatter

See Post Sharing.

Sharing Group

See Public Group.

Sharing Model

Defines default data access by users, managed by administrators.

Sharing Rule

Administrative rules allow specified groups or roles to access information created by other groups or roles.

Show/Hide Details

Report option to toggle the visibility of individual column values.

Sidebar

A column on the left side of pages provides links to recent items and other resources.

Sites

It allows the creation of public websites and applications integrated with Salesforce without requiring user logins.

Skeleton Template

A Visualforce template defines a structure that subsequent pages must implement.

Snippet

A type of s-control designed for inclusion in other s-controls.

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)

A protocol for passing XML-encoded data uniformly.

SOAP API

A SOAP-based API providing access to Salesforce information.

sObject

The parent object for all objects stored in the Lightning Platform.

Social Accounts and Contacts

Feature for viewing social network profiles and information of accounts, contacts, and leads within Salesforce.

Social Handle

The unique identifier for a person or company on a social network is formatted as a complete URL.

Social Key

Works with Social Accounts and Contacts and Data.com Clean to facilitate following contacts and leads on social networks.

Social Profile or Social Network Profile

The content is viewable when connecting to a person or company via their social handle on a social network.

Softphone

The phone interface for Salesforce CRM Call Center users.

Softphone Connector

A component that converts Softphone XML into HTML for display in the browser.

Softphone CTI Adapter

Software is an intermediary between a CTI system, Salesforce, and a CRM Call Center user.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

A model where software is hosted as a service and provided via the Internet, with the vendor managing maintenance and support.

Solution

A detailed description of the resolution to a customer issue.

Solution Manager

Individuals were responsible for reviewing, editing, publishing, and deleting solutions within an organization.

SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language)

A query language for constructing query strings to select data from the Lightning Platform database.

SOSL (Salesforce Object Search Language)

A query language for performing text-based searches using the Lightning Platform API.

Source Report

A custom report will load data into a target object for a reporting snapshot.

Special Terms

Contract terms are agreed upon and tracked within Salesforce.

Stage Duration

In opportunity reports, the number of days an opportunity was in a specified stage.

Stage History

A related list on an opportunity detail page listing changes in status and stage.

Standard Object

A built-in object is included with the Lightning Platform. Custom objects can be built to store unique information.

Standard Price

Price for a product included in the Standard Price Book.

Standard Price Book

An automatically generated price book containing all products and their standard prices.

Statement

A generated document summarizing payments, invoices, and credit memos.

Status

An idea’s status indicates progress, such as “Under Review” or “Now Available”.

Stemming

The process of reducing a word to its root form for matching expanded search terms.

Subflow

A flow element referencing another flow is called runtime.

Subscriber

A Salesforce user with an installed package in their organization.

Subscriber Organization

Uses the cross-org adapter for Salesforce Connect to access data stored in another organization.

Summary Field

A numerical report column with summaries is used to define charts and report snapshots.

Summary Report

Reports that group rows of data, view subtotals, and create charts are useful for hierarchical lists and showing subtotals.

Sync

The process of transferring and merging data within Salesforce or between Salesforce and external applications.

Syndication Feeds

Allows users to subscribe to changes within Salesforce Sites and receive updates in external news readers.

System Administrator

See Administrator (System Administrator).

System Log

Part of the Developer Console for debugging code snippets and displaying system resource information.

System Testing

A phase of testing for detecting problems caused by multiple integrations or the system as a whole.

T

Tab

Tabs are interface components in Salesforce that allow navigation around an app. They serve as the starting point for viewing, editing, and entering information for a particular object, such as an account, contact, or custom object. Tabs can be associated with objects, web pages, or Visualforce pages.

Tabular Report

The simplest type of Salesforce report is similar to a spreadsheet. It lists records in rows and columns and is useful for creating lists or a single grand total. However, it cannot be used for grouping data or creating charts.

Tag

A tag is a word or short phrase that users can associate with records in Salesforce to organize and describe data in a personalized way. Tags can be enabled for various objects, such as accounts, activities, assets, campaigns, and custom objects.

Tag Cloud

In Salesforce CRM Content, a visual representation showing the popularity of tags assigned to files or web links. Tags that are used more frequently appear larger in the tag cloud.

Task Bar Links

Links on tabbed pages provide quick access to common operations for that page, such as creating a new account.

Tenant Secret

An organization-specific secret is used with a master secret to generate a data encryption key. When a key is rotated, a new tenant secret is generated.

Territory

A collection of accounts and users that generates a forecast in Salesforce is used for sales planning and performance tracking.

Test Case Coverage

Documents that specify the expected real-world scenarios in which your code will be used. High test case coverage ensures that most scenarios are implemented as unit tests.

Test Drive

A fully functional Salesforce organization containing an app and sample records added by the publisher allows users to experience the app as read-only users.

Test Method

An Apex class method that verifies whether code is functioning correctly. Test methods do not take arguments, do not commit data to the database, and can be executed via the runTests() system method.

Test Organization

See Sandbox.

Text

A data type for custom fields allowing entry of letters, numbers, or symbols up to 255 characters.

Text Area

A custom field data type allows entry of up to 255 characters on separate lines.

Text Area (Long)

A custom field data type allows entry of up to 32,000 characters on separate lines.

Time-Dependent Workflow Action

A workflow action that executes when a workflow rule’s conditions and an associated time trigger are met.

Timeout

See Session Timeout.

Time Trigger

An event that triggers based on a specified time threshold, such as sending an email reminder seven days before an opportunity close date.

Top All-Time Ideas

A subtab in Salesforce Ideas displays ideas sorted from the most to the fewest points, showcasing the most popular ideas in the Ideas zone’s history.

Topics

Keywords or phrases are used in Chatter posts or comments to categorize content, making it easier for users to find related posts and discover people and groups with similar interests.

Topics, Chatter Answers

A sidebar listing data categories from which customers can browse questions and replies.

Transaction, Apex

A set of operations executed as a single unit in Apex. All DML operations in a transaction are completed successfully or rolled back if an error occurs.

Transaction, Checkout

A financial adjustment to your account is reflected in invoices or credit memos.

Translation Workbench

A tool in Salesforce that allows you to specify languages for translation, assign translators, create translations for customizations, and override labels and translations from managed packages.

Trending Topics

This is a section on the Chatter tab showing topics currently being discussed in Chatter. Trending topics reflect frequently discussed topics over a short period, excluding topics from private groups or record feeds.

Trigger

A piece of Apex code that executes before or after records of a specific type are inserted, updated, or deleted from the database. Triggers run in bulk mode and include context variables providing access to the records that caused the trigger to fire.

Trigger Context Variable

Default variables in a trigger provide access to information about the trigger and the records that caused it to fire.

Truncate

A process in Salesforce that allows you to remove all records from a custom object while keeping the object and its metadata intact.

U

Unfollow

You can stop following a user or record in Salesforce and thereby stop seeing related posts in your Chatter feed.

Unique Name Used by API

A distinct identifier used by the API and managed packages in Salesforce.

Unit Test

A unit test is a method that tests the smallest testable part of an application to ensure it functions correctly. See also Test Method.

Unlimited Edition

Salesforce’s comprehensive solution is designed to maximize success and extend it across the entire enterprise through the Lightning Platform.

Unmanaged Package

A package in Salesforce that cannot be upgraded or controlled by its developer after installation.

Update

A single activity is displayed in a Chatter feed, such as a post or a field change.

Upgrade, Checkout

A quote type for Salesforce customers who wish to upgrade their Salesforce Edition.

Upgrading

The process of installing a newer version of a package. Salesforce supports upgrades for managed packages that are not in beta.

Uploading

The act of providing an installation URL for a package in Salesforce, allowing others to install it. Uploading also makes the package available for publishing on AppExchange.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

The global address of a website, document, or other resource on the Internet, such as https://salesforce.com.

URL S-Control

A type of s-control containing an external URL that hosts the HTML rendered on a page. These have been superseded by Visualforce pages and are referred to as web controls. Existing s-controls remain unaffected but cannot be created anew after March 2010.

Usage-based Entitlement

A limited resource that your organization can use periodically, such as the number of allowed monthly logins to a Partner Community or the record limit for Data.com list users.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

A process to confirm that functionality meets the planned requirements is typically one of the final stages before deployment to production.

User Interface

Layouts that specify how a data model is displayed in Salesforce.

User License

A license determines the baseline features a user can access in Salesforce. Every user must have exactly one user license.

User Permission

Settings that allow a user to perform specific functions within Salesforce. See also Permission.

User Provisioning for Connected Apps

A feature that allows administrators to create, update, and manage user accounts for services associated with a connected app. This includes linking Salesforce user accounts to third-party services for account updates or deletion and configuring the App Launcher for instant access to the target service.

V

Validation Rule

A rule that ensures data integrity by preventing a record from being saved if it doesn’t meet specified criteria.

Version

A numerical value indicates the release of an item, such as API objects, fields, calls, Apex classes, triggers, Visualforce pages, and components.

View

In the Model-View-Controller (MVC) model, this represents the user interface, typically defined by Visualforce.

View State

A mechanism that saves information is needed to maintain the database’s state between requests.

Visualforce

A markup language in Salesforce that allows developers to define custom user interfaces for apps on the platform using a simple, tag-based syntax.

Visualforce Controller

See Controller, Visualforce.

Visualforce Lifecycle

A Visualforce page goes through a series of stages during its execution, from creation to destruction during a user session.

Visualforce Page

A custom web page created using Visualforce that presents modifies, or captures data can be rendered in various formats, such as PDF documents or email attachments, and can include custom logic written in Apex.

Voice Response Unit (VRU)

See Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

Vote, Idea

In an ideal community, a vote indicates support or opposition to an idea. Votes are tracked and displayed to show community engagement.

Vote, Reply

In an answers community, a vote indicates whether a reply to a question is liked or disliked.

W

Web Direct Leads

A lead source indicating that the lead was generated when a user directly accessed your website by typing its URL or using a bookmark and then filling out the Web-to-Lead form.

Web Control

See URL S-Control.

Web Links

See Custom Links.

Web Referral Leads

A lead source indicating that the lead was generated when a user navigated to your website via a referral link from another site and then filled out the Web-to-Lead form. The lead source details include the referring URL.

Web Service

A method for two applications to exchange data over the Internet, regardless of platform, language, or location.

WebService Method

An Apex method or variable that external systems can use. These methods must be defined in a global class.

Web Services API

A term describing Salesforce’s original web services API that provides access to your organization’s data. This includes SOAP, REST, and Bulk APIs.

Web Tab

A custom tab that allows users to access external websites from within Salesforce.

Web-to-Case

A feature that lets you capture customer support issues from your company’s website and generate cases in Salesforce using that data.

Web-to-Lead

Web to Lead lets you capture lead information from your company’s website and generate leads in Salesforce using that data.

Wildcard

A character used in search terms to represent one or more other characters, typically the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) in Salesforce searches.

Wizard

A user interface that guides users through a complex task in multiple steps.

Workflow Action

Processes, workflow rules, approval processes, or milestones trigger automated actions such as email alerts, tasks, field updates, and outbound messages.

Workflow Email Alert

A workflow action that sends an email when a workflow rule is triggered. Workflow alerts can be sent to any user or contact with a valid email address.

Workflow Field Update

A workflow action that changes the value of a specific field on a record when a workflow rule is triggered.

Workflow Outbound Message

Outbound messages are workflow actions that send data to an external web service. They are primarily used with client applications.

Workflow Queue

A list of workflow actions that are scheduled to execute based on workflow rules with time-dependent actions.

Workflow Rule

A rule that sets workflow actions into motion when designated conditions are met. Actions can be executed immediately or on a specific day.

Workflow Task

A workflow action that assigns a task to an application user when a workflow rule is triggered.

Wrapper Class

A class that abstracts common functions such as logging in, managing sessions, and querying records. Wrapper classes simplify integration development and maintenance, allowing for easy reuse across components.

WSC (Web Service Connector)

An XML-based web service framework consisting of a Java implementation of a SOAP server enables developers to create Java client applications using classes generated from Salesforce WSDL.

WSDL (Web Services Description Language) File

An XML file that describes the format of messages sent and received from a web service. Salesforce’s Enterprise WSDL or Partner WSDL is used for SOAP API communication with Salesforce.

X

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

XML is a flexible text format used to structure, store, and transport data. XML definitions represent all components retrieved or deployed through the Metadata API on the Lightning Platform.

Y

No Glossary items for this entry.

Z

Zip File

A compressed archive can contain multiple files and folders. In Salesforce, it often refers to a collection of files retrieved or deployed by the Metadata API, allowing for efficient packaging and transfer of multiple components.

Zone

A feature in Salesforce that organizes ideas and questions into logical groups. Each zone has a specific focus, facilitating the management of unique ideas and questions relevant to that area. Zones help categorize and improve the accessibility of community-contributed content.

Conclusion

This glossary provides a comprehensive overview of key terms and concepts related to Salesforce, organized alphabetically from A to Z. Understanding these terms is crucial for effectively navigating and utilizing Salesforce’s vast array of features and functionalities. 

Whether a new user or an experienced administrator, familiarizing yourself with this glossary will enhance your ability to manage and optimize your Salesforce environment, leading to more efficient workflows, better data management, and improved overall productivity. Keep this glossary handy to ensure you maximize what Salesforce offers.

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