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How-to guide

Set up tags and the tag cloud in Salesforce Classic

Tag clouds only appear once an admin enables tagging and exposes the tag section and a Tags sidebar entry in Salesforce Classic. Here is the setup path. This applies to orgs still using Salesforce Classic.

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

Tag clouds only appear once an admin enables tagging and exposes the tag section and a Tags sidebar entry in Salesforce Classic. Here is the setup path. This applies to orgs still using Salesforce Classic.

  1. Open Tag Settings

    From Setup in Salesforce Classic, enter Tag Settings in the Quick Find box and select Tag Settings.

  2. Enable the tag types you want

    Select Enable Personal Tags, Enable Public Tags, or both. Public Tags may first need to be activated for the org by Salesforce before the option is meaningful.

  3. Choose objects and page layouts

    Specify which objects and page layouts display a tag section at the top of record detail pages. Skip feed-based layouts, which cannot show tags.

  4. Surface the cloud in the sidebar

    Optionally add the Tags component to the Classic sidebar so users get a quick link into the Tags page and the weighted cloud from anywhere.

Key options
Enable Personal Tagsremember

Lets each user create private tags only they can see, up to 500 unique tags and 5,000 total applications per user.

Enable Public Tagsremember

Lets users apply org-visible tags; requires prior activation and pairs with the Tag Manager permission for cleanup.

Tag Manager permissionremember

A profile permission that allows renaming and deleting public tags; appears only after Public Tags is activated.

Objects and layoutsremember

Controls exactly where the tag section, and therefore the path to the cloud, shows up across record detail pages.

Gotchas
  • Enabling Topics for an object disables public tags on that object; personal tags keep working.
  • The Tags page and search ignore custom objects that have no associated tab, even if tagging is enabled for them.
  • Customer Portal users cannot see the tag section even when a page layout includes it.
  • The tag cloud and Tag Manager UI are Classic only and do not move to Lightning Experience.

See the full Tag Cloud entry

Tag Cloud includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.