You create a Text Area as a custom field on any object through Setup. The flow mirrors creating any custom field, with the data type choice being the key step. Use it when content is short, plain, and may need line breaks.
- Open the object's Fields and Relationships
In Setup, use the Object Manager, open the object you want, then go to Fields and Relationships and click New to start the new custom field wizard.
- Choose Text Area as the data type
Pick Text Area, not Text Area (Long) or Text Area (Rich). Text Area gives you a multi-line plain-text box capped at 255 characters. Click Next.
- Enter the label, name, and details
Type a Field Label, confirm the auto-filled API name, and add help text if useful. The length is fixed at 255 for this type, so there is no limit to set.
- Set security and add to layouts
Choose which profiles can see and edit the field with field-level security, then select the page layouts where the field should appear, and click Save.
Select Text Area for a multi-line plain-text box limited to 255 characters.
The human-readable name shown on layouts and reports, for example Delivery Notes.
The unique developer name used by Apex, SOQL, and integrations, auto-filled from the label.
- The 255-character cap is fixed. You cannot raise it the way you can for a Long Text Area field.
- Text Area holds plain text only. If users need bold text, lists, or images, you need Rich Text Area instead.
- You can convert Text Area to Long Text Area to gain room, but you cannot convert it directly to Rich Text Area.