Notes are short text annotations attached to records. The platform has two flavors: legacy Notes (the Note object, basic) and Enhanced Notes (the ContentNote object, rich text). New orgs ship with Enhanced Notes on by default; legacy Notes remain for backward compatibility.
- Confirm Enhanced Notes is enabled
Setup → Notes Settings → tick Enable Notes. New orgs default to enabled.
- Open a record's Notes related list (or the Notes tab)
Most often created in context of a parent record.
- Click New Note
Top-right of the related list.
- Enter the Title
What the note is about.
- Compose the body
Enhanced Notes support rich text (bold, lists, links). Legacy Notes are plain text.
- Save
Note is created and linked to the parent record. Enhanced Notes can be shared across multiple records and with other users; legacy Notes cannot.
Required for Enhanced Notes. Optional but recommended for legacy.
At least some content. Empty notes save but are useless.
- Enhanced Notes (ContentNote) and legacy Notes (Note) are different objects. Reports built on one don't see the other. After enabling Enhanced Notes, audit your reports to migrate.
- Legacy Notes are plain text only. Lots of legacy migrations import notes as ContentNote with HTML formatting — but the original was plain, so the formatting is fake.
- Enabling Enhanced Notes is one-way for new notes — you can't disable it back. Existing legacy Notes stay as-is; new ones go to Enhanced.