What are Links, Buttons and Actions?
 

            Before we can learn how to implement these tools, it’s important to understand what they do for a user in a Salesforce org. A Link is an item users can click that will take them to a website on the internet or to another site on a company’s intranet.

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Buttons are very similar to links; however, their purpose is to launch other applications that can function outside a browser. Buttons direct users to other applications like Formstack, instead of being limited to information on the internet or intranet.

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           Actions are tools for simplifying the process of creating records and fields by allowing users to edit records from a popup window within another Salesforce object. Actions keep users from navigating away from their work, saving them time. In addition, actions ensure necessary information is entered into your Salesforce org.

 

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Automating Links

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           To demonstrate how Admins can create links, let’s imagine you’re redeveloping a Salesforce org for a Real Estate company who wants the ability to access data quickly and efficiently. The Salesforce org already has a custom object, Property, where realtors enter crucial data about listed properties.

The realtors lose time because they have to constantly leave Salesforce to look up the market value of homes. Admins can solve this by setting up a custom link that will bring them to a website that lists property values.

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           We’ll begin the process of creating a link by going to Set Up, then entering the object manager, selecting the Properties object, and selecting Buttons, Links, and Actions. It’s good practice for Admins to familiarize themselves with this tab because it’s where we’ll find many automation tools.

To create the link, click on New Button or Link in the upper right corner. Give the link a label such as Property Value, and select Detail Page Link. The option for Behavior will control what happens when a user clicks the link, in this case Display in New Window makes the most sense. Also make sure that Content Source is set to URL.

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           Next, paste the link to your company’s tool for property values into the large text box. This could be an external website, or a link from the Real Estate agency’s intranet. If you’re comfortable with formulas, you can use the address in the record to automatically navigate to the relevant property, for instance to find a specific address on Zillow use this formula:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/{!Property__c.Address__c}_rb/{!Property__c.Zip_Code__c}

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In which {!Property__c.Address__c} and {!Property__c.Zip_Code__c} are the fields for the property’s address and zip code, respectively.

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After you add this link to the realtor layout, they will see it on the detail tab of all property records, and will be able to look at a property’s value in one click.

 

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Creating Buttons

 

           Another challenge the realtors face is that their org does not list documents along-side the relevant records. When the relators need to show clients a standard company document, they need to leave Salesforce to pull them up. Admins can eliminate this inefficiency by designing a custom button.

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           To set up a button, return to the object manager, enter the Buttons, Links, and Actions tab, and click New Button or Link. We’ll give the button an appropriate label, for instance, Company Form. Now Admins need to decide if they want the button to appear as a detail or a related list. The best location for the button depends on how the Admin has organized the Property object, but let’s say our Admin wants the button to appear as a related list.

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           Select the option for List Button, and set the Behavior and Content Source fields to Display in New Window and URL respectively. Then, use the text box to designate the location of the document, which is easiest if the document has been uploaded to Salesforce. Once you’ve uploaded the document, generate a public link and copy it.

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           Paste this link into the text box and remove the domain along with everything that precedes it. After you save the button and add it to the page layout, the button will appear as a related list, which will open the document you specified, so that realtors never have to leave Salesforce when talking to a client.

          

      

Quick Actions

 

           One final issue the relators face is that every time a realtor enters a new lead, they also have to create a new property record. Leaving Leads slows them down because they have to unnecessarily switch between objects. Fortunately, Admins can create a quick action that will allow realtors to create a new Property record directly from the Leads object.     

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           Salesforce comes with several quick actions that create a record in one object from a different object. If you look in the top right corner of most standard records, you will see several actions such as New Contact, New Case, or New Opportunity. All of these actions will create a new record in another object related to the record of interest. We want to add another action to Leads that will make a new record in Properties.

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           First navigate to the Buttons, Links, and Actions tab of the object manager for Leads. Select new action, and set the action type to Create a Record. Set the target object to Property, and the Standard Label Type to New [Record]. Give the action a descriptive name like New_Property, note the underscore is necessary because this is the action’s name, not its label.

 

           Click save and you will be brought to a layout page where you can select which fields in Property you want to appear in this action. If the realtors only need to enter enough information to create a new property record, it may be best to remove less important fields from this action.

Save this field layout, and once you add the action to the Leads layout, users can create a new record in Properties without ever leaving Leads.

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More Automation

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           As useful as these elements are, they only scratch the surface of what is possible in Salesforce. More complicated tools like Apex triggers, Lightning components, and Visualforce pages allow you to increase efficiency by pre-populating records based on fields in other objects, and execute your own code. There’s much more to learn about the Salesforce ecosystem, hopefully this gets you started on that path!