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Full Lookup Icon entry
How-to guide

Set a custom object's Lookup Icon

Set a custom object's Lookup Icon by choosing its Tab Style in Setup. The style you pick becomes the icon shown in search results, lookup dialogs, related lists, and the navigation bar across Lightning Experience and mobile.

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

Set a custom object's Lookup Icon by choosing its Tab Style in Setup. The style you pick becomes the icon shown in search results, lookup dialogs, related lists, and the navigation bar across Lightning Experience and mobile.

  1. Open the tab settings

    In Setup, type Tabs in Quick Find and open Tabs. Find your custom object's tab in the Custom Object Tabs list and click Edit, or click New if the object has no tab yet.

  2. Open the Tab Style picker

    Next to the Tab Style field, click the magnifying glass lookup. A grid of SLDS Custom icons appears, each with a default background color.

  3. Pick a meaningful icon

    Click the icon that best matches the object's purpose so users recognize it instantly. If nothing fits, choose Create your own style to upload a custom image stored in a shared Documents folder.

  4. Save and verify in context

    Save the tab. Open a record and run a global search for it, then confirm the new icon shows in the highlights panel, the search results, and a lookup dialog.

Tab Styleremember

The icon-and-color pairing that becomes the object's Lookup Icon everywhere in Lightning Experience.

SLDS Custom iconremember

A stock colored icon from the Lightning Design System custom set, the recommended choice for consistency.

Create your own styleremember

The option to upload a custom image as the icon for full brand control, at the cost of SLDS consistency.

Background colorremember

The colored square the icon is drawn on in search and the highlights panel, which should suit your org theme.

Gotchas
  • Standard object tabs may lock their Tab Style, so an icon you can edit on a custom object might be fixed on a standard one. Check before assuming.
  • Uploaded image icons must live in a Documents folder readable by all users, or some people will see a broken icon.
  • A custom image will not match the SLDS icons around it and ignores theme adjustments, so reserve it for a few important objects.
  • The Search Results layout controls which fields show next to the icon, not the icon itself. Update the Tab Style to change the icon.

See the full Lookup Icon entry

Lookup Icon includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.