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How-to guide

How to set the Ideas Half-Life in Setup

The Half-Life value is set on the Ideas Settings page in Setup. You need Ideas enabled first and the Customize Application permission. Here is the path and what each related control does.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated Jun 16, 2026

The Half-Life value is set on the Ideas Settings page in Setup. You need Ideas enabled first and the Customize Application permission. Here is the path and what each related control does.

  1. Open Ideas Settings

    From Setup, type Ideas Settings in the Quick Find box and select it. If Ideas is not enabled yet, enable it and save once so the full set of fields, including Half-Life, appears.

  2. Click Edit

    Select Edit on the Ideas Settings page. Confirm the Enable Ideas box is checked, since the Half-Life field is only relevant when Ideas is active for the org.

  3. Set the Half-Life (in days) value

    Enter the number of days that should govern how fast older ideas lose ranking on the Popular Ideas subtab. A smaller number ages ideas faster; a larger number lets popular ideas hold longer.

  4. Save and observe

    Save the page. Watch the Popular Ideas subtab over the next week or two, then return to this field and adjust up or down based on whether ideas are turning over too fast or too slow.

Half-Life (in days)remember

The number of days controlling how quickly old ideas drop in ranking on the Popular Ideas subtab. Lower values favor recency; higher values favor accumulated support.

Enable Ideasremember

Activates Ideas for the org and shows the Ideas tab. The Half-Life field only matters while this is on.

Enable Reputationremember

Lets members earn points and ratings for zone activity. It works alongside ranking but is separate from half-life decay.

Categories fieldremember

Turns on multi-select categories for organizing ideas. Note this is a one-way switch and cannot be disabled once enabled.

Gotchas
  • The Half-Life field does not appear until Ideas is enabled and the settings page is saved at least once.
  • Half-Life is org-wide. Every zone shares the same value; you cannot set different decay rates per zone from this field.
  • Changing the value affects ranking only. It never alters an idea's stored score or removes any idea from search and list views.
  • Editing Ideas Settings requires the Customize Application permission, which a delegated admin profile may lack.

See the full Half-life entry

Half-life includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.