What is a List View?

A List View is a bit like having the ability to save a set of Advanced Search criteria.  You can use filters to narrow down your view of the records you have in a particular object, and select which fields from the records you want to see. In this way you can drill down into your data to see a particular subset of information.  List Views are extremely useful and enable you to manage workflows, obtain insights into particular areas of your business and even to keep your data clean.  If you are not currently making use of List Views on a regular basis you are missing a trick! Read on to find out more or log a support ticket if you would like some help with a specific use case you are struggling with.


How List Views Work


List Views are accessed by clicking on an Object in the top-level navigation. This takes you to the default list view (usually Recently Viewed - a list of the records in that object that you have looked at most recently).


To change a list view, click on the arrow to the right of the List View name and select an alternate List View e.g. on the Accounts object you could select "All Accounts".


Creating List Views

To create a new list view, you can either click on the Cog icon on the top right of the screen (List View Controls) and then select 'New' OR from an existing List View (not Recently Viewed) click on the Cog icon and click Clone.  

You will then be prompted to create a name for your List View (change it from the 'Copy of...' name that it will default to) and a list API name - just put your cursor in the field cl;ick Save to save your new List View.


To 'Pin' a List View so it becomes the default List View when you click on the Object from the top-level navigation, ensure you are on the List View you want to default to and then click the 'pin' icon.




To determine what records are shown in your List View click the Filter icon.  



Use the filter pane to add or change filter criteria.  It helps if you familiarise yourself with the field names for the data you want to be able filter on.   When you Add Filter or click on an existing filter a new pane will open where you can select or change the field name you want to filter on, choose an Operator (such as Contains, Equals, Is Greater Than) and then the value that applies (in the case of picklist fields, the options you can select from will appear when your click into the value field, clicking the relevant value will select it). Once you are happy with your filter criteria click Done to apply the filter.


Example filters for a Deal Record:

Status = Under Review (to see all deal records which are at the Under Review Status

Status = Sold, AND Language = German AND Contract Date = This Year (to see all deal records which have been sold to Germany, this year)

If you use Dates in your filters, you don't have to use specific date filters, you can use Relative Dates like "Today", "This month" or "Last Year" . See Relative Date Filters for more information about your options here.

A Top Tip is to add a "Record Type" filter to your list. Doing this enables some of the fields on your List View to be edited in the list.  More info on this is here A Step by Step Guide to Editing Data from a List View.

 

When adding multiple filters, the default logic is AND.  So a record has to meet all the criteria in order to be displayed.  If you want to add any 'OR' logic (e.g. Status = Sold or Status = Sold STC) You can add Filter Logic by clicking on the Add Filter Logic link. Information about how to apply filter logic is here: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.filter_logic.htm&type=5

Click the SAVE button to update your filter settings and run your list view.

Select fields to display

To specify which columns are displayed in your List View click on the Cog Icon and then Select fields to display.



A new pane will appear which shows the current visible fields on the right hand side and the available fields on the left hand side. Select the required field in either list and use the arrows in between the lists to move a field from available to visible or vice versa. Once you are happy with your list of visible fields you can change the order they appear in by selecting a field and then clicking on the up or down arrow to the right of the list to adjust.  Click save when you are happy with your selection.  Note that you can only have a maximum of 15 fields visible on a list view.



Useful Information for List Views

  • You can change the sort order of a list view by clicking on the arrow in the relevent header of the column you wish to sort.
  • You can adjust column widths by clicking on the line between column headers and dragging to the required width.
  • Only 50 records will be displayed at one time.  If there are more records you need to scroll down in order for the next 50 records to display. Keep scrolling until you reach the end of the list if you want the full list to load (once it stops showing a '+' you will know you have reached the end).  The number of records loaded will show in the top left corner.
  • You can select different views for List Views - the default is the 'table view' but it is also possible to show a 'Kanban view' and a split view - useful for seeing both the list and some of the record detail. You can experiment with what works for you by clicking on the List Display icon.
  • You can add a graph by clicking on pie chart icon 
  • Clicking on Printable View will give you a PDF type view of the list which you can save or print.