Console Layout
A Console Layout in Salesforce defines the arrangement and configuration of components displayed in the footer panel of a Salesforce Console (Service Console or Sales Console in Classic).
Definition
A Console Layout in Salesforce defines the arrangement and configuration of components displayed in the footer panel of a Salesforce Console (Service Console or Sales Console in Classic). It determines which interactive components (such as chat, softphone, history, or Knowledge sidebar) are available as mini-views in the console footer, giving agents quick access to tools without leaving their current record.
In plain English
“A Console Layout controls what shows up in the footer panel of the Salesforce Console, like the chat widget, the softphone, or a Knowledge sidebar. It's how admins decide which quick-access tools agents have at the bottom of their screen.”
Worked example
The Service Console at Hawkridge Insurance has a customized Console Layout giving its claims agents the right utility-bar mix in the footer panel: the Softphone (for inbound calls), the Macros panel (for repeat actions like sending a claim status email), the Knowledge sidebar, and a custom Interaction Log component. Sales agents in the Sales Console have a different Console Layout - no Softphone, no Knowledge sidebar, but with a custom Pipeline Snapshot widget. The Console Layout is the per-app, per-profile configuration of which utilities appear; admins tune each one to the specific team's workflow.
Why Console Layout matters
Console Layout is a Salesforce Classic configuration that defines which interactive components appear in the footer panel of a Console (Service Console or Sales Console). The footer panel is the strip at the bottom of the console where compact 'mini-views' of tools live: chat windows, softphone widgets, history components, Knowledge sidebars, and other utilities. Admins configure Console Layouts in Setup and assign them to specific user profiles, so different agent populations can see different sets of tools.
Console Layouts are largely a Classic-era concept. In Lightning Experience, the equivalent functionality is delivered through the Utility Bar, which is configured per Lightning App and serves the same purpose: giving agents quick-access tools that stay available regardless of which record they're working on. Orgs migrating from Classic to Lightning typically rebuild their Console Layout configuration as Utility Bar configuration during the migration. The underlying need (quick access to common tools) is the same; the implementation has just been modernized.
How to set up Console Layout
Console Layout defines what appears in the footer panel of a Classic Salesforce Console — chat widgets, softphone, history, knowledge sidebar. In Lightning, the equivalent is the Utility Bar in App Manager; Console Layout is a Classic-era concept that still matters for orgs running the Salesforce Classic Service Console.
- Open Setup → Console Layouts (Classic-era setting)
Setup gear → Quick Find: Console Layouts → Console Layouts. May not appear in newer orgs that have moved entirely to Lightning.
- Click New Console Layout (or Edit existing)
One layout per Lightning App / Console scope.
- Set Layout Name
Convention: per-team or per-app ("Service Tier 1 Console").
- Add Footer Components
Drag from the Available list — Live Agent / Chat, Softphone, History, Macros, Knowledge sidebar. Each appears as a mini-tab in the console footer.
- Set Visibility per component
Visible by default / Pop out by default / Custom width and height.
- Save → assign to Profiles
Console Layouts are profile-assigned. Profiles without an assignment use the Master layout.
- For Lightning Console: use App Manager → Utility Items instead
Lightning Console doesn't use Console Layouts — use App Manager → Edit App → Utility Items to configure footer-bar tools.
Live Agent / Chat / Softphone / History / Macros / Knowledge / custom Visualforce.
Always visible / Pop out / hidden by default.
Per-profile layout.
- Console Layout is Classic-only. Lightning Service Console uses Utility Items in App Manager — different config path. Most modern orgs have migrated to Lightning, making Console Layout legacy.
- Switching between Classic and Lightning consoles requires different config in different places. Don't expect Console Layout settings to translate to Lightning Utility Bar — they're separate metadata.
- Profile assignment is the gate. Forgetting to assign leaves users on the Master layout — usually not what you want for specialized teams.
How organizations use Console Layout
Maintained Console Layouts for their legacy Service Console with chat, softphone, and Knowledge sidebar components. When they migrated to Lightning, they rebuilt the same setup as a Utility Bar in their Lightning Service Console app.
Used Console Layouts to give different agent profiles different footer tools. Tier 1 agents had chat and Knowledge in the footer; tier 2 agents had a custom troubleshooting widget instead.
Documented their Console Layout configuration during a Lightning migration so the new Utility Bar setup matched the old footer experience exactly.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does a Console Layout control?
Q2. What is the Lightning equivalent of Console Layout?
Q3. Why assign different Console Layouts to different profiles?
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