Field-Level Help
Field-Level Help is the Salesforce feature that displays a hover tooltip next to a field on a record page, explaining what the field means or how to fill it in.
Definition
Field-Level Help is the Salesforce feature that displays a hover tooltip next to a field on a record page, explaining what the field means or how to fill it in. The text is configured per field in Setup and appears as a small information icon beside the field label; users hover the icon to see the help text. The feature is one of the simplest forms of in-product documentation, requiring no formatting, no permissions, and no separate help system.
The intent is to reduce the gap between Setup metadata and user understanding. A field named Net Revenue might mean different things to different users; the field-level help removes ambiguity by giving the official definition right where the user enters the data. The feature applies to custom fields and a subset of standard fields, with the help text stored as part of the field metadata and deployed through changesets like any other field property.
Where and how Field-Level Help shows
Where the help text appears
Field-Level Help displays as a small information icon (i in a circle) immediately following the field label. Hovering reveals a tooltip with the help text. The icon and tooltip appear on record detail pages, edit pages, and quick-action panels. They do not appear in list views, report builders, or other field-listing contexts; the tooltip is a record-page feature.
Configuring help on a custom field
For a custom field, Object Manager > Field > Edit > Help Text. The text area accepts up to 510 characters of plain text. There is no formatting, no Markdown, no links beyond raw URLs that the rendering engine may make clickable. Save and the help icon appears immediately on the record pages.
Standard fields and the support list
Most standard fields do not support custom help text; the platform displays Salesforce's built-in help for those fields. A subset of standard fields (mostly on Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity) allow custom Help Text, configured the same way as custom fields. The supported list changes between releases; check Object Manager for the specific field to confirm.
Writing useful help text
Effective help text is short, specific, and answers the question the field's name leaves open. Bad: "Enter the revenue here." Good: "Enter net revenue after returns and discounts but before tax; pull from the Q3 financial report." The 510-character cap forces concision. Avoid documenting business processes (where to get the data, who to ask) in the help text; use Knowledge articles or wiki pages linked from the help for that.
Translation and multi-language orgs
Field-Level Help can be translated through the Translation Workbench. Each translation is keyed to the field's API name and locale, so a Spanish user sees the Spanish help text and a French user sees the French version. For global rollouts, plan the translation work upfront; English-only help in a multi-language org is a frequent compliance complaint.
Help versus Description
Every field has a Description property (also up to 1000 characters) visible only to admins through Setup. Help Text is the end-user-facing version. Use Description for admin-only context (why the field was created, who owns it, deprecation status) and Help Text for end-user guidance. The two serve different audiences and should rarely have the same content.
Deployment and metadata
Field-Level Help is field metadata. It deploys through changesets, SFDX, and unmanaged packages alongside the field itself. Updates to help text propagate as metadata deployments, not separate help-system updates. This is good for change control (every help update is in source) and demands the same release rigor as any other metadata change.
Add Field-Level Help to a field
Configuring Field-Level Help is a one-field-at-a-time activity that scales through a content review cycle. The steps below cover both the technical setup and the writing approach.
- Identify ambiguous fields
Audit the org for fields where the name alone does not clarify intent. Survey end users on which fields they hesitate to fill in; those are the candidates.
- Draft help text
For each field, write a one-sentence explanation. Lead with the definition, then any constraint (units, allowed values, where the data comes from). Stay under 510 characters.
- Open the field for editing
Setup > Object Manager > Object > Fields and Relationships > Field > Edit. Scroll to the Help Text area.
- Enter the text and save
Paste the help text. Save. The help icon appears immediately on record pages.
- Test on a record page
Open a record using the field. Confirm the help icon appears next to the field label and the tooltip text is correct.
- Translate for global orgs
Translation Workbench > Translate > Custom Field Help. Add translations for every supported locale.
- Audit periodically
Schedule an annual help-text review. Field meaning drifts over time; outdated help text is worse than no help at all because it actively misleads users.
The user-facing tooltip content. Up to 510 characters. Plain text only.
Admin-only context, separate from Help Text. Up to 1000 characters.
Per-locale translation through the Translation Workbench. Required for multi-language orgs.
Help Text deploys with the field through changesets or SFDX. Treat changes as part of the release pipeline.
For complex flows, in-app walkthroughs or prompts provide richer guidance than a tooltip.
- 510-character cap is firm. Long explanations need to live in Knowledge articles, with a short pointer in the help text.
- Most standard fields do not allow custom help text. The platform-default text is the only option; do not promise overrides without verifying field support.
- Plain text only. No formatting, no clickable links beyond what the receiving renderer auto-detects. Plan content accordingly.
- Outdated help text is worse than none. Audit annually; deprecated fields with stale help text actively mislead users.
- Help text does not show in list views or report builders. Users entering data through a list-view inline edit do not see the tooltip; provide context elsewhere for those flows.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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Q1. What is Field-Level Help?
Q2. What's the character limit on Field-Level Help?
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