Personal Information
In Salesforce user settings, a category of user profile data (like name, email, phone, address) that users may be able to edit themselves and that is subject to data protection and privacy configurations.
Definition
In Salesforce user settings, a category of user profile data (like name, email, phone, address) that users may be able to edit themselves and that is subject to data protection and privacy configurations.
In plain English
“Personal Information in Salesforce user settings is the user profile data like name, email, phone, and address that users may be able to edit themselves. It's subject to data protection and privacy configurations, and admins can control which fields users can self-edit.”
Worked example
When users at Tarrymoor Software click their avatar → My Settings, they can edit their Personal Information - name, email, phone, mailing address, language, time zone. Some fields the admin allows users to self-edit (email, phone, time zone); others are locked (employee ID, profile, role) because they're managed centrally. Privacy and data-protection settings determine which Personal Information fields appear in standard reports vs. which are restricted. Personal Information is the user-facing subset of the User record, with permissions that distinguish self-editable fields from admin-only fields.
Why Personal Information matters
In Salesforce user settings, Personal Information is a category of user profile data (like name, email, phone, address) that users may be able to edit themselves and that is subject to data protection and privacy configurations. Personal Information settings live in My Settings (Lightning) or Personal Settings (Classic), where users can update their own details without admin help.
Letting users manage their own personal information is a productivity win for both users (who don't have to wait for admins to make trivial changes) and admins (who don't have to handle routine update requests). Salesforce provides this self-service capability by default, with admins able to control which specific fields users can self-edit through profiles. Mature orgs encourage user self-service for personal information while maintaining controls on fields that have business implications (like role assignments or licenses).
How organizations use Personal Information
Trains users to update their own personal information through My Settings, reducing admin requests for trivial changes.
Configures which personal fields users can self-edit, allowing self-service for routine information while controlling sensitive fields.
Treats user self-service for personal information as part of admin productivity.
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 Personal Information?
Q2. Where do users update personal information?
Q3. Why allow self-service?
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