Idea
An Idea in Salesforce is a standard object that captures a suggestion, feature request, product enhancement, or piece of feedback contributed by a community member.
Definition
An Idea in Salesforce is a standard object that captures a suggestion, feature request, product enhancement, or piece of feedback contributed by a community member. Ideas are the core record type in Salesforce Ideas, the feature-feedback module that lets internal employees or external customers submit suggestions, vote on others, and watch ideas accumulate community support over time. Each idea has a title, a detailed body, a status, a category, and a running vote tally that drives the Most Popular ranking.
Ideas live on the Idea standard object alongside IdeaComment for replies, Vote for up-votes and down-votes, and Community for the container community that scopes the ideas. The product was the foundation of Salesforce''s own IdeaExchange (where customers submit Salesforce platform requests that influence the product roadmap), and many enterprise communities use Ideas to gather customer or employee feedback. Salesforce has signaled IdeaExchange Reimagined as the modern direction, but the standard Idea object and the legacy Ideas feature still ship with the platform.
How the Idea object structures community feedback
The Idea standard object
Idea is a standard object with fields for Title, Body (rich text), Status (admin-defined picklist), Category (admin-defined picklist), CommunityId (which Idea community the idea belongs to), NumComments, VoteScore, and Total Votes. Each idea is owned by the contributing user. Statuses typically progress from New through Under Consideration, Coming Soon, Delivered, and Declined.
Voting mechanics
Each community member can up-vote or down-vote any idea once. Votes are stored on the Vote standard object linked to the user and the idea. The VoteScore on the Idea object is the net (up-votes minus down-votes). Most Popular ranking combines VoteScore with the Half-Life decay setting, so newer high-vote ideas outrank older ones.
Comments and conversation
IdeaComment is the child object that holds replies. Each comment belongs to one idea and one user. Comments do not affect the vote score but signal engagement and provide context. Salesforce uses CommentCount as a secondary ranking factor on some sort orders.
Communities and scoping
Ideas are scoped to a Community (the Ideas-specific Community object, not the broader Experience Cloud community). One org can have multiple Idea communities: a Customer Feedback community, an Employee Suggestions community, a Product Roadmap community. Each has its own statuses, categories, and member set. Cross-community visibility is configurable.
Statuses and admin moderation
Admins manage Idea Statuses under Setup, Ideas, Idea Statuses. The default New, Under Consideration, Coming Soon, Delivered, Declined progression is fully customizable. Each status can be marked as Open or Closed. Closed statuses still show in search but stop accumulating votes. Status changes are typically applied by a product manager or community manager based on internal review of the idea.
Reporting and dashboards
Build report types on Idea joined to Vote and IdeaComment to expose participation, voter-to-contributor ratio, idea throughput by category, and conversion rates from Under Consideration to Delivered. The standard Idea report type is the starting point; custom report types extend it. Most active communities surface a dashboard to the product or community management team.
The IdeaExchange Reimagined direction
Salesforce announced IdeaExchange Reimagined in 2022 as a major refresh of the customer feedback platform. The new version moved away from the legacy Idea object toward a feature-request model with structured prioritization. Existing Ideas communities still work, but Salesforce is investing primarily in the new platform. Customers building new feedback experiences should evaluate the modern approach.
Stand up an Ideas community
Setup is a few hours for the basic community; the ongoing work is moderation and engagement.
- Enable Ideas
Setup, Ideas Settings, check Enable Ideas. The toggle activates the Idea, IdeaComment, and Vote standard objects.
- Create a Community
Setup, Communities (the Ideas-specific Communities, not Experience Cloud), New. Name the community, pick the categories list, set visibility scope.
- Configure Idea Statuses and Categories
Setup, Ideas, Idea Statuses, customize the workflow steps. Categories are the topic taxonomy; pick five to ten to start.
- Build the Ideas tab and page layout
Add the Ideas tab to relevant apps. Configure the Idea page layout, list views, and any reports the community team will use.
- Set Half-Life and other ranking parameters
Setup, Ideas Settings, adjust Half-Life to balance new-idea visibility against established-idea retention.
- Train community managers
The community manager updates statuses, moderates comments, and responds to high-vote ideas. Without active management, communities stagnate quickly.
- Ideas votes are stored on the Vote object, not on the Idea itself. Reporting on net vote requires either querying the VoteScore field or joining to Vote.
- Salesforce IdeaExchange Reimagined is the strategic direction. Heavy investment in legacy Ideas may not pay off long-term.
- Without active moderation and status updates, Ideas communities go dormant within months. Plan a community-management role into the rollout.
- Cross-community visibility is not on by default. Users in Community A do not see Community B''s ideas unless explicitly configured.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Ideas OverviewSalesforce Help
- Ideas SettingsSalesforce Help
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Idea.
- Idea Standard ObjectSalesforce Developers
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. What is an Idea in Salesforce?
Q2. Is the Ideas feature still actively developed?
Q3. What's a modern alternative for ideation programs?
Discussion
Loading discussion…