In Salesforce, fields store the data that powers your CRM—names, emails, revenue, dates, checkboxes, scores, and custom values your business needs. Whether you're customizing Salesforce for sales, service, marketing, or operations, learning how to insert or create fields is essential.

This guide covers everything: how to create a new field, how to insert data into that field, and how to make the field visible for users.

Custom fields help you:

• Capture business-specific data

• Improve reporting accuracy

• Streamline automation (flows, workflows, triggers)

• Personalize page layouts

• Standardize data entry

Without the right fields, Salesforce becomes incomplete and less valuable to your team.

Once created, fields can show up in:

• Page layouts

• Record detail pages

• Related lists

• Report types

• Flow screens

• Lightning App Builder

• CPQ configuration screens

• Experience Cloud pages

Where admins create fields for Standard and Custom Objects.

This is the actual setup area to create or modify fields.

Used to add fields to the visual UI of record pages.

Lets you add fields to dynamic forms on Lightning pages.

Navigate to:

Setup → Object Manager

Choose the object where you want to insert a field:

• Account

• Contact

• Opportunity

• Lead

• Case

• Any Custom Object

Click the object name (e.g., Account).

This is where all existing fields live.

Click Fields & Relationships.

To create a new field, click New.

Choose from:

• Text

• Number

• Currency

• Date

• Picklist

• Checkbox

• Formula

• Lookup Relationship

• Master-Detail Relationship

• Long Text Area

• URL

• Phone

• Email

Pick the correct field type based on your data.

Enter:

• Field Label

• Field Name

• Length / Decimal places

• Help Text (recommended)

• Default Value (optional)

Click Next.

Choose who can:

• See the field

• Edit the field

• Hide the field

Click Next.

Choose the layouts where the field should display.

Click Save.

Your field is now successfully created.

Once the field is created, you can insert (enter) values in multiple ways.

Open a record → click Edit → fill the field → click Save.

Best for small imports of Accounts, Contacts, Leads, or Custom Objects.

Steps:

1. Setup → Data Import Wizard

2. Select the object

3. Upload CSV

4. Map fields

5. Import

Best for large imports or mass updates.

You can:

• Insert

• Update

• Upsert

• Delete

Ideal for large datasets and automation teams.

From a list view:

• Make the field columns editable

• Click the value

• Edit it

• Salesforce autosaves the change

Great for fast updates.

• Text — names, codes, identifiers

• Picklist — controlled selections

• Checkbox — true/false

• Date / DateTime — events, deadlines

• Number/Currency — revenue, amounts

• Formula — calculated values

• Lookup — linking to another object

• Master-Detail — strict relationship with roll-ups

• Use clear names (e.g., Subscription End Date)

• Add help text to guide users

• Avoid creating duplicate fields

• Never build unnecessary fields—use picklists to reduce clutter

• Protect sensitive fields with field-level security

• Add fields to reports where required

• Keep API names stable (don’t rename after integrations)

Add it to:

• Page Layout

• Dynamic Form

• Lightning Record Page

Update FLS (Field-Level Security).

Check:

• Validation rules

• Required field settings

• Picklist restrictions

Ensure child-parent relationships are configured properly.

Creating and inserting fields in Salesforce is a fundamental skill for every admin and operations team. Whether you're capturing new types of data, preparing for automation, or enabling better reporting, fields are the building blocks of an efficient CRM.

Once you know how to create fields, set permissions, insert values, and update layouts, customizing Salesforce becomes fast, smooth, and powerful.

Yes—Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Cases, and more.

Only if the field is added to the layout and visible in FLS.

Salesforce Data Loader.

Sometimes yes—but not always. Some types cannot be changed.

Lookup is loosely connected; Master-Detail is tightly connected with roll-ups.