Note
A Note in Salesforce is the legacy standard object (API name Note) that stores a short, plain-text annotation attached to a parent record.
Definition
A Note in Salesforce is the legacy standard object (API name Note) that stores a short, plain-text annotation attached to a parent record. Each Note carries a Title, a Body field that holds up to 32,000 characters of plain text, a polymorphic ParentId that can point to almost any standard or custom record, an OwnerId, and an IsPrivate flag that hides the note from everyone except its owner.
Notes were the original way users jotted ad-hoc context on Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, and Cases, surfaced through the Notes and Attachments related list. Salesforce now recommends the newer ContentNote object, also called enhanced Notes or Lightning Notes, for anything you create today. The classic Note object stays in every org for backward compatibility, but it has no rich-text formatting, no images, and no way to relate one note to several records.
How the classic Note object works, and where it falls short
Anatomy of the Note object
The Note object is one of the simplest standard objects in the platform. Its useful fields are Title, Body, ParentId, OwnerId, and IsPrivate, plus the usual system audit fields like CreatedDate and LastModifiedDate. Title is a short text label that shows in related lists. Body is a long text area that stores plain text only, with a maximum of 32,000 characters and no formatting, markup, or embedded media. ParentId is the field that makes a Note useful. It is a polymorphic lookup, which means a single field can point to many different object types. One Note record might hang off an Account, the next off a custom object, with no separate junction needed. OwnerId records who created the note, and the parent record's sharing settings decide who else can read it. Because the schema is so thin, the Note object is fast to query and easy to reason about. That same thinness is its ceiling. There is no version history, no concurrent-edit handling, and no field you can extend, since the object is not customizable the way a custom object is.
ContentNote, the modern replacement
Salesforce introduced enhanced Notes in the Winter '16 release, backed by a new object called ContentNote in API version 32.0 and later. ContentNote sits on top of the Files framework rather than the old Notes and Attachments plumbing. Its Content field stores rich text, so a note can have bold headings, bulleted lists, inline images, and links, none of which the classic Note Body allows. The headline feature is multi-record sharing. A single enhanced Note can relate to several records at once, such as an Opportunity, the Account behind it, and a key Contact. Classic Notes are locked to exactly one parent through ParentId. Enhanced Notes also version automatically, so editing a note keeps a history you can review. In Lightning Experience, the two systems live side by side. Enhanced Notes appear in the Notes related list, while older classic notes stay in the Notes and Attachments related list. Your admin has to switch on enhanced Notes for the Notes feature and related list to appear, though most modern orgs already have it on.
The IsPrivate flag and visibility
Read access to a classic Note normally follows the parent record. If a user can see the Account, they can see the notes attached to it, subject to the org's wider sharing model. There is no separate sharing table for Notes, so you cannot grant one user access to a single note without changing access to the parent. The IsPrivate field changes that picture. When IsPrivate is true, the note is visible only to its owner. Even an administrator looking at the parent record will not see a private note in the related list, which surprises people during audits and data cleanups. Private notes also cannot be reassigned in a way that preserves the privacy for the new owner cleanly, so plan ownership carefully. If you need a note-like field that is restricted but still readable by admins or a specific role, a custom long text area field with field-level security is usually a better fit. It gives you reporting, history tracking, and predictable access, none of which the IsPrivate Note flag offers.
Notes and Attachments versus the Notes related list
The Notes and Attachments related list is the classic container. It shows both legacy Note records and legacy Attachment records together on a parent record. For years this was the only place users found their annotations and uploaded files in Salesforce Classic. When Salesforce shipped enhanced Notes and Salesforce Files, it added two newer related lists: a Notes related list for ContentNote records and a Files related list for ContentDocument records. The naming trips people up, because Notes and Notes and Attachments look almost identical at a glance but read from different objects. A note created in one will not appear in the other. This split matters during Lightning migrations. Existing classic notes keep rendering in Notes and Attachments, while anything users create through the Lightning note editor lands in the Notes related list as ContentNote. Admins often add both related lists to a page layout during a transition so nothing looks missing, then retire Notes and Attachments once classic data is no longer actively used.
Reporting and API access
Reporting on classic Notes is awkward. There is no standard report type that spans both Note and ContentNote, so cross-record annotation reporting usually means a custom report type or an Apex-powered dashboard component. The plain-text Body also resists any kind of structured analysis, since it is free-form text with no fields to group by. From an integration angle, the Note object is fully addressable through the SOAP and REST APIs and through SOQL. You can create, query, update, and delete Note records like any standard object. Querying the polymorphic ParentId in SOQL requires the TYPEOF or relationship syntax if you want fields from the parent, because the parent can be many object types. Bulk loading is common with Data Loader. Classic notes import against the Note object, while enhanced notes import against ContentNote and need the content base64-encoded. The two paths are not interchangeable, so a migration script that targets the wrong object silently creates the wrong kind of note. Decide up front which object your records should land in.
When a classic Note is still the right call
For brand new work, ContentNote is almost always the better target. It formats cleanly, attaches to multiple records, versions itself, and survives Lightning Experience without quirks. New automation, Apex, and integrations should create ContentNote records unless you have a specific reason not to. There are still narrow cases where the Note object shows up. Older managed packages and long-running integrations sometimes read or write Note records directly, and you cannot retire those overnight. Some orgs have years of historical Note data that must stay queryable for compliance, since Salesforce does not auto-convert classic Notes into ContentNotes. In those situations you keep the Note object around, read it, and report on it, even while steering new content toward ContentNote. The practical rule is simple. Treat the Note object as a read-and-preserve store for legacy data, and treat ContentNote as the place where all new notes belong. Trying to keep both alive as active create targets just fragments where your users look for information.
How to create a classic Note on a record
You will rarely create a classic Note on purpose in a modern org, but it helps to know the path, since older layouts and integrations still use it. Here is how a classic Note gets created through the Notes and Attachments related list. For new notes, prefer the Notes related list and enhanced Notes instead.
- Open the parent record
Navigate to the Account, Contact, Opportunity, or custom record that the note belongs to. The note will attach to this record through its ParentId.
- Find the Notes and Attachments related list
Scroll to the Notes and Attachments related list on the page layout. If you only see a Notes related list, your org uses enhanced Notes, which create ContentNote records instead.
- Click New Note and fill it in
Choose New Note, enter a Title, and type the body as plain text. Remember the 32,000 character cap and that no formatting or images are kept.
- Set privacy and save
Optionally select the private option to set IsPrivate, which hides the note from everyone but you. Save to attach the note to the parent record.
Short label shown in the related list. Keep it descriptive so the note is easy to scan later.
Plain-text content of the note, up to 32,000 characters. No rich text, links, or images are stored.
The record the note attaches to. Set automatically when you create the note from a record's related list.
- A classic Note relates to exactly one parent. If you need a note on several records, use an enhanced Note (ContentNote) instead.
- Setting the note to private (IsPrivate) hides it even from administrators viewing the parent record, which can break audits.
- The Body field strips formatting. Pasting rich text from a document keeps only the plain characters, so long structured content belongs in ContentNote or a file.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Note.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Note.
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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