You are here:
Set the Criteria for Your Workflow Rule
Get started with creating a workflow rule by selecting the object the rule relates to and configuring its criteria.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic |
| Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To create or change workflow rules and actions: | Customize Application |
After December 31, 2025, existing workflow rules continue to run, and you can activate, deactivate, and edit them; however we recommend using Flow Builder. To migrate existing workflow rules, plan your switch to Flow Builder and use the Migrate to Flow tool. For new automations, create flows in Flow Builder.
- If you have a workflow action that updates a field on a related object, that target object isn't the one that's associated with the workflow rule.
- To create workflow rules based on new case comments or incoming email messages that automatically update fields on their associated cases, choose Case Comment or Email Message. See Workflow Considerations for more information.
- To create a site usage rule, choose one
of the following:
- Organization (for monthly page views allowed and monthly page views used fields)
- Site (for site detail, daily bandwidth and request time, monthly page views allowed, and other fields)
- User License (for the monthly logins allowed and monthly logins used fields)
The Organization and Site objects are only available if Salesforce Sites is enabled for your organization. The User License object isn't dependent on sites, and is only available if you have Customer Portals or partner portals enabled for your organization.
- This release contains a beta version of the workflow on the User object that is production quality but has known limitations.
- From Setup, enter Workflow Rules in the Quick Find box, then select Workflow Rules.
- Click New Rule.
- Choose the object to which you want this workflow rule to apply.
- Click Next.
- Give the rule a name and description.
-
Set the evaluation criteria. For example:
Evaluate the rule when a record is created Evaluate the rule criteria each time a record is created. If the rule criteria is met, run the rule. Ignore all updates to existing records. With this option, the rule never runs more than one time per record.
Evaluate the rule when a record is created, and every time it’s edited Evaluate the rule criteria each time a record is created or updated. If the rule criteria is met, run the rule. With this option, the rule repeatedly runs every time a record is edited as long as the record meets the rule criteria.
If you select this option, you can't add time-dependent actions to the rule.
Evaluate the rule criteria each time a record is created, and any time it’s edited to subsequently meet criteria (Default) Evaluate the rule criteria each time a record is created or updated. For a new record, run the rule if the rule criteria is met. For an updated record, run the rule only if the record is changed from not meeting the rule criteria to meeting the rule criteria.
With this option, the rule can run multiple times per record, but it doesn’t run when the record edits are unrelated to the rule criteria.
For example, suppose that for an opportunity record to meet the rule criteria, the opportunity probability must be greater than 50%. If you create an opportunity with a probability of 75%, the workflow rule runs. If you edit that opportunity by changing the probability to 25%, the edit doesn't cause the rule to run. If you then edit that opportunity by changing the probability from 25% to 75%, the edit causes the rule to run. With this last edit, the rule runs, because the record is changed from not meeting the rule criteria to meeting the rule criteria.
-
Enter your rule criteria. For example:
-
Choose criteria are met and select the filter criteria that a record must meet to trigger the rule. For example, set the filter to “Opportunity: Amount greater than 5000” if you want opportunity records with an amount greater than $5,000 to trigger the rule. If your organization uses multiple languages, enter filter values in your individual language. You can add up to 25 filter criteria, of up to 255 characters each.
-
-
Enter your rule criteria. For example:
-
Choose criteria are met and select the filter criteria that a record must meet to trigger the rule. For example, set the filter to “Opportunity: Amount greater than 5000” if you want opportunity records with an amount greater than $5,000 to trigger the rule. If your organization uses multiple languages, enter filter values in your individual language. You can add up to 25 filter criteria, of up to 255 characters each.
- Choose formula evaluates to true and enter a formula that returns a value of “True” or “False.” Salesforce triggers the rule if the formula returns “True.”
-
- Click Save & Next.
- If the number of filled positions equals the number of total positions on a job, update the Job Status field to “Filled.”
- If mileage expenses associated with visiting a customer site are 35 cents per mile and exceed a $1,000 limit, automatically update the Approval Required field to “Required.”
- If a monthly subscription-based opportunity amount is greater than $10,000, create a task for an opportunity owner to follow up 60 days after the opportunity is closed.
The $Label variable isn’t supported in workflow
rule formulas. Also, some functions aren't available in workflow rule formulas.
