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Full Recent Items entry
How-to guide

Surface Recent Items on a custom Lightning Home page

Add a tuned Recent Items component to a custom Home page so reps see their most-viewed Opportunities and Accounts as soon as they log in, without scrolling through every object.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 26, 2026

Add a tuned Recent Items component to a custom Home page so reps see their most-viewed Opportunities and Accounts as soon as they log in, without scrolling through every object.

  1. Open the Lightning App Builder

    Setup, Lightning App Builder. Pick the Home page you want to edit, or click New to create a new Home page.

  2. Drag a Recent Items component onto the page

    The component lives in the standard library on the left. Drop it into the right column or wherever fits the layout.

  3. Configure included objects

    In the component property pane, select the objects to include (Opportunity, Account, Case, etc.) and the maximum records per object.

  4. Set component title

    Set a clear title (My Recent Sales Records) so users understand what the list contains.

  5. Activate and assign

    Activate the Home page and assign it to the relevant App, Profile, or App page. Save.

  6. Verify as a test user

    Log in as a sales rep. Confirm the Recent Items component shows the rep's recent records, ordered by view time.

Key options
Objects to includeremember

Multi-select of which objects appear in the component (Opportunity, Account, Case, custom objects).

Max records per objectremember

Cap on how many entries per object appear in the list.

Sort orderremember

Most Recently Viewed (default) or alphabetical.

Component titleremember

Customizable label shown above the list.

Gotchas
  • Recent Items respect sharing. A user who lost access to a record will not see it in Recent Items even if they viewed it minutes ago.
  • The RecentlyViewed object is per-user. Admins cannot query another user's recent items via SOQL; the only path is through the impersonation flow.
  • Lookup dropdowns use Most Recently Used, not the visible Recent Items list. Records visible in a lookup suggestion may not appear in the user's main Recent Items view.
  • Recent Items caps at 10 to 50 records per object depending on context. Older views age out automatically; there is no way to expand the cache size.

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Recent Items includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.