Definition
Custom Help in Salesforce refers to administrator-defined help text that can be added to custom fields, custom objects, and Visualforce pages to provide context-specific guidance to users. For custom fields, it appears as a tooltip next to the field label. Administrators can also override the default help pages for objects with custom content that is specific to their organization's processes.
Real-World Example
When a Salesforce administrator at Coastal Health needs to streamline operations, they turn to Custom Help to maintain data quality and enforce organizational policies across the platform. By properly setting up Custom Help, they prevent common data entry errors and ensure that users follow established business processes, which saves the support team hours of cleanup work each week.
Why Custom Help Matters
Custom Help in Salesforce is administrator-defined help text that provides context-specific guidance to users. For custom fields, it appears as a tooltip next to the field label when users hover over the help icon, giving them in-context explanation of what the field is for and how to fill it out. For custom objects, admins can override the default Salesforce help page with custom content specific to the organization's processes. Custom Help is a simple but effective way to improve data quality and user self-sufficiency.
Good Custom Help text answers questions that users would otherwise ask admins or support: 'What goes in this field?', 'What format is expected?', 'When should I use this?'. Well-written help text reduces support tickets, improves data consistency, and speeds up new user onboarding. It's one of the lowest-effort improvements admins can make to a Salesforce org, and it should be part of the standard checklist when creating new custom fields.
How Organizations Use Custom Help
- •Coastal Health — Added Custom Help to every custom field on the Patient object explaining data entry requirements, format expectations, and when each field is required. The help text eliminated most of the 'how do I fill out this form?' tickets their support team used to get.
- •NovaScale — Uses Custom Help to document complex fields with business rules. A 'Discount Tier' field's help text explains which tiers are valid for which account types, so reps don't pick wrong values.
- •BrightEdge Solutions — Made Custom Help a required step in their custom field creation process. No new custom field goes into production without help text, which improved data quality across the org.