Home Tab
The Home Tab is the landing page a Salesforce user sees when they first log in to Lightning Experience.
Definition
The Home Tab is the landing page a Salesforce user sees when they first log in to Lightning Experience. It is a configurable Lightning page built in Lightning App Builder from a grid of components such as Performance, the Assistant, Today's Events, Today's Tasks, Recent Records, and Top Deals, alongside any custom components an admin chooses to add.
Admins design one or more Home pages, then assign each one to the whole org, to a specific Lightning app, or to a combination of app and profile. At login, Salesforce picks the most specific page that applies to the user. A tailored Home Tab shows the work a person needs to handle today, while a default Home Tab shows the generic layout that ships with every org.
How the Home Tab is built and assigned
The Lightning Home page model
Every Salesforce org ships with a default Home page. Admins build their own by going to Setup, entering Home Pages in Quick Find, and clicking New. The wizard asks for a label, then offers a template such as the Standard Home Page that defines the region layout. Lightning App Builder opens with a canvas split into regions, and a palette of components on the left. Dragging a component into a region adds it to the page, and clicking it exposes its properties on the right. The same designer handles Home pages, App pages, and Record pages, so the experience is familiar across all three page types. Saving the page does not yet show it to anyone. A Lightning page must be activated before users can see it, which is a common source of confusion for first-time builders. Until activation, the page exists only as a draft definition in the org. Once activated and assigned, it replaces the default Home Tab for the users it targets. Admins can keep several Home pages side by side and switch assignments without rebuilding from scratch.
Standard components worth knowing
The built-in component library covers most daily needs, so many admins never write code for a Home page. The Assistant surfaces a prioritized list of items that need attention, such as overdue tasks and leads assigned today. Today's Events shows the user's next calendar entries, and Today's Tasks lists what is due now. The Performance chart plots a sales rep's closed and goal numbers for the current quarter, and Top Deals highlights the largest open opportunities. Recent Records brings back the records the user touched most recently. News pulls in account-related stories, and a Chatter feed can stream posts into the page. Reports and dashboards can be embedded as components too, which lets a manager see a team pipeline without leaving the Home Tab. The skill in design is picking four to six components that answer the questions a role asks first thing in the morning. Crowding the page with widgets dilutes focus and slows the page down. A short, sharp Home Tab beats a busy one, because users scan it for seconds before moving into their real work.
Activation and the three assignment options
Activation is where a saved page becomes a live Home Tab. Inside Lightning App Builder, clicking Activation opens a dialog with three choices. The first makes the page the org default, so everyone sees it unless a narrower rule applies. The second makes it the default for one or more Lightning apps, so the Home Tab changes depending on which app the user is in. The third assigns the page to specific combinations of app and profile, which is the most precise option. Salesforce resolves these rules from most specific to least specific. An app-and-profile assignment wins over an app default, and an app default wins over the org default. That precedence matters in planning, because a page set only as App Default still loses to a profile-specific rule for users on that profile. Admins can also manage every assignment from Setup by entering Home in Quick Find, which gives a single screen to review and adjust all Home page rules. Reviewing assignments there avoids the trap of two rules quietly competing for the same set of users.
Role-specific Home Tabs
Different roles open Salesforce with different questions, so one Home Tab rarely serves everyone well. A sales rep wants Today's Tasks, Top Deals, and the Performance chart to see the day and the quarter at a glance. A sales manager wants the same plus an embedded dashboard that rolls up team pipeline and forecast. A service agent cares less about deals and more about a queue of open cases and the day's events. Because Home pages assign by app and profile, an admin can build a separate page for each role and target it precisely. The Sales app with the Sales Rep profile gets one page, the Sales app with the Sales Manager profile gets another, and a Service app gets a third. This is the practical payoff of the assignment model. Rather than negotiating a single compromise layout, each group gets a Home Tab built around its own work. Starting from a small number of role pages, three or four, keeps the design maintainable. Spawning a unique page per individual profile is rarely worth the upkeep, so group profiles that share a daily rhythm onto the same page.
Custom components and the HomePage target
When the standard library does not fit, admins reach for custom components. A custom Lightning Web Component or Aura component becomes available on the Home Tab once its configuration file declares the lightning__HomePage target. A frequent pattern is a pipeline summary component that queries the rep's open opportunities, groups them by forecast category, and renders a compact panel that no standard component produces. Once deployed, the component appears in the App Builder palette next to the standard ones and drops into a region the same way. Developers can expose design properties so admins configure the component in App Builder without touching code, such as a record limit or a title. The configuration file is also where form factor support is declared, which controls whether the component is offered for desktop, phone, or both. Treating a custom component as a building block, not a one-off, pays back over time. A well-built pipeline panel or a team scorecard can be reused across several role pages. Keep the queries inside these components lean, because each one runs every time the Home Tab loads for a targeted user.
Mobile, page types, and where the Home Tab fits
The Home Tab is one of three Lightning page types, alongside App pages and Record pages. A Home page renders at the Home tab, an App page renders as a standalone tab opened from the App Launcher, and a Record page renders on an individual record. They share the App Builder designer, but the components offered and the assignment scope differ for each. Home pages assign by app and profile, while App pages assign through navigation and Record pages assign by object. Form factor is the other distinction that trips people up. App pages and Record pages can target both desktop and phone, so the same page can serve the browser and the Salesforce mobile app. The desktop Home page does not automatically carry over to the phone experience in the same way, so admins should confirm how their Home content behaves on mobile and set up the mobile experience deliberately. Components must declare phone form factor support to appear on smaller screens. Checking the Home Tab on a real device, not just the desktop preview, is the only reliable way to know what mobile users actually see.
Performance and keeping the Home Tab fast
Every component on the Home Tab runs on each page load, so the design directly shapes how fast Salesforce feels at login. A page stacked with heavy components, custom code running broad SOQL, large Chatter feeds, and several embedded dashboards, can take noticeable seconds to paint. That first impression sticks, because login is the moment users decide whether the tool helps or gets in the way. The fix is restraint in the layout and discipline in the components. Limit the page to a handful of components, and prefer ones that load quickly or fetch data lazily rather than blocking the initial render. For custom components, scope queries tightly with selective filters and sensible row limits instead of pulling everything the user might ever want. Salesforce Optimizer can review an org and flag Home pages that carry too many components, which gives admins a concrete list to trim. Reviewing the Home Tab on a slower connection, the kind a field user might have, exposes problems that a fast office network hides. A lean Home Tab loads fast, reads clearly, and earns the daily attention that a slow, cluttered one loses.
Build and assign a custom Home Tab
Build a custom Home Tab in Lightning App Builder, then activate and assign it so the right users see it. This walkthrough creates one role page and targets it by app and profile.
- Create the page
In Setup, enter Home Pages in Quick Find and click New. Give the page a clear label, pick a template such as Standard Home Page, and click Done to open Lightning App Builder.
- Add and arrange components
Drag components from the left palette into the regions on the canvas. Add the few that answer the role's first questions, for example Today's Tasks, Top Deals, and Performance. Click each component to set its properties.
- Save and activate
Click Save, then click Activation. Choose org default, app default, or one or more app and profile combinations. Pick the most specific scope the page is meant for and confirm.
- Review assignments in Setup
Enter Home in Quick Find and open the Home assignments screen. Check that no broader rule overlaps the one you just set, and adjust precedence if two rules target the same users.
Makes the page the Home Tab for everyone, used unless a narrower app or profile rule applies.
Makes the page the Home Tab for one or more Lightning apps, so the page changes with the active app.
Assigns the page to specific app and profile combinations, the most precise option and the one that wins precedence.
- A saved page is not live until you activate it, so users keep seeing the default until you click Activation.
- More specific assignments win, so an App Default page loses to a profile-specific rule for users on that profile.
- Desktop Home content does not automatically appear on mobile, so confirm the mobile experience separately.
- Heavy components run on every load, so a crowded Home Tab feels slow at the exact moment users form an impression.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Home Tab in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Home Tab.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Home Tab.
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.
Test your knowledge
Q1. In Lightning Experience, how does an admin build a custom Home Tab layout?
Q2. Which component on a Home Tab shows a sales rep their quota attainment for the current quarter?
Q3. Why should an admin keep the number of components on a Home Tab modest?
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