Lookup Filter Examples

Record Types in Lookup Filters

If the value of a relationship field should only consist of records with a particular record type, specify the record type in a lookup filter. For example, if the Account Name field on opportunities should only have accounts with a Customer Account custom record type, define the following lookup filter to restrict users to only creating or editing opportunities associated with accounts that have a Customer Account record type, excluding accounts with Partner Account and Competitor Account record types:

Record Status in Lookup Filters

If the value of a relationship field should only consist of records with particular status, specify the status in a lookup filter. For example, consider a Job Application object with a relationship field that points to the Position object. If the relationship field should only have open positions, define the following lookup filter to restrict users to only creating or editing job applications for positions with the Status field set to Open:

Profiles in Lookup Filters

When a business rule does not apply to users with every profile, use the Current User Profile global variable fields to define lookup filters that only affect users with a particular profile.

For example, the following lookup filter on the Case object Account Name field restricts users with a “Domestic Sales” profile to only creating or editing opportunities associated with accounts that have a billing country of “USA” while allowing other users to associate opportunities with any account:

You can modify the above example to simultaneously restrict users with a “Global Sales” custom profile to only associating opportunities to accounts with a non-US billing country:

If you do not include line 5 in the filter criteria, users who are not in Global Sales or Domestic Sales cannot select or save any values on account records.

Roles in Lookup Filters

When a business rule does not apply to users in every role, use the Current User Role global variable fields to define lookup filters that only affect users with particular roles. For example, in a recruiting application that has a Position object with a lookup field to a Compensation Package object, you can restrict users from editing or creating positions that have an executive compensation plan unless they are executive administrators or vice presidents. To do this, define the following lookup filter on the Position object Compensation Package Name field:

Include the condition you are testing and the opposite condition. In this example, lines 1, 2, and 3 of the filter criteria ensure that users who are not VPs or Executive Administrators cannot select Executive compensation plans, while lines 4 and 5 ensure that VPs and Executive Administrators can select Executive compensation plans.

Blank Values in Lookup Filters

Your lookup filter criteria might reference a field that users often leave blank. You can design your lookup filter criteria to accept blank values by using the Add Filter Logic in the filter criteria to create an OR condition. For example, if you have a Partner Contact custom field on opportunities, restrict the field to only allow contacts that are associated to an account with a Partner Account record type, or private contacts not associated with any account.

User IDs in Lookup Filters

Using user IDs in optional lookup filters can significantly improve user efficiency by first showing lookup search dialog results that are most relevant to the user while still allowing users to see all results if necessary. For example, on a lookup field to accounts, you can create an optional lookup filter that restricts the search results to accounts that the user owns in the search lookup dialog results. If the user is looking for an account that someone else owns, the user can remove the filter.

Simple Dependent Lookups

If the value of a relationship field should depend on the value of another relationship field on the current record, specify the field to field comparison in the criteria. For example, if the case Contact Name field should only have contacts associated to the account specified in the case Account Name field, use the following lookup filter:

When comparing lookup fields in lookup filter criteria, Salesforce always uses the ID of the relationship field, not the name.

Complex Lookup Filters and Dependent Lookups

Achieving complex business rules with lookup filters often involves combing your rules with filter logic and fields of various types. For example, consider an app for booking conference rooms that has the following data model:

The following lookup filter on the meeting Conference Room field restricts the valid values to conference rooms that have a projector if the meeting requires one, as well as the necessary number of seats:

To refine the valid values even further, incorporate the office where the conference room is located: