Search Layout Guidelines

Before customizing your layouts, keep in mind the fields that are included in a search layout.

Search Layouts determine:

• Fields that appear as the secondary field in instant results.
• Fields shown in a record preview show in instant results. You can determine what record previews show for all objects except:
  • Chatter
  • Dashboards
  • Events
  • Knowledge Articles
  • Reports
  • Tasks

• Fields users can sort results by.
• Fields shown in a recommended result. You can select the fields that a recommended result shows for these objects:
  • Accounts
  • Contacts
  • Cases
  • Groups
  • Leads
  • Opportunities
  • Person Accounts, if enabled
  • Users
• Fields shown as columns on the search results page.
• Fields users can filter to narrow what’s shown on the search results page.

Before you edit search layouts, keep in mind what requirements are needed to edit a search layout.

• Each object has a default layout.
• You can add up to 10 fields to each search layout. For the Salesforce mobile app, on iOS and Android, you see only the first six fields in the layout.
• The default layout applies to Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic search results pages. For example, an admin edits the default layout and the Marketing User layout. If a marketing user logs in, that user sees the layout defined for the Marketing User. If the marketing user switches to Salesforce Classic, that user sees the default layout.
• For custom objects, if the Name field is defined as a text type, it’s mandatory and is always displayed as the first column on the search results page. You can’t remove this field from the layout unless you define the Name field as an autonumber type. If the field is an autonumber, it’s not mandatory and you can remove it from the layout, but when you import the search layout with Metadata API, it will always add the Name field back.

Note If your record has an auto-numbered Name field and the auto-numbered Name field was removed from the layout, you can’t select your record in the search results page.

• Standard and custom buttons don’t appear on search layouts in Lightning Experience.
• Consider how users interact with each object and ask them which fields they need. Users can’t customize search layouts themselves.