Screen Pop
A screen pop is the automatic display of a Salesforce record or page on a rep's screen the moment a call, chat, or message reaches them.
Definition
A screen pop is the automatic display of a Salesforce record or page on a rep's screen the moment a call, chat, or message reaches them. The phone or messaging system passes the caller's details to Salesforce. Salesforce matches them against records and opens the right one.
Two mechanisms produce screen pops today, and they head in opposite directions. Softphone layouts drive pops for Open CTI adapters, and Open CTI retires on February 28, 2028. The Add Screen Pop action in an Omni-Channel flow drives pops for Salesforce Voice and digital channels.
On a fresh implementation, build them in the flow.
In plain English
“Imagine a receptionist who recognises your voice and already has your file open on the desk. That is a screen pop. The phone tells the computer who is calling, and the person answering starts with your name instead of asking for it.”
Worked example
A home appliance retailer answers support calls through an Open CTI adapter wired to its partner phone system. A customer calls from +1-416-555-0142. The adapter passes that number as the ANI, and the softphone layout searches Contact and Case. One Contact matches, Priya Raman, so the Single-Matching Record rule fires Pop detail page. Her record opens in the console with Case 00104829, a dishwasher that will not drain. The rep opens with her name and the model number. A later call from +1-905-555-0177 matches nothing, and the No Matching Records rule pops a blank Contact with the number already in it.
How a pop gets decided, and which mechanism to build on now
What the phone system hands over
A pop fires when work is assigned to a rep, not when the phone rings upstream. For voice that is an inbound call landing in the softphone. For chat and messaging it is a work item routed by Omni-Channel. The adapter hands over whatever it collected. The usual key is the caller's number, called the ANI. Adapters can also pass the DNIS, the number the customer dialed, plus a queue name or an IVR segment value. A softphone layout can surface those beside the record. Nothing appears until Salesforce runs that data against real records. The pop is the outcome of a search.
What the match count actually decides
Salesforce does not choose what to pop. The count of matching records does. Call data runs against the objects on your layout and comes back with nothing, exactly one record, or several. Each count has its own rule, and the three are set independently. That makes the object list the real lever. Leave Account off the layout and a number sitting on an Account's main line stays invisible to the search. Only the single-match branch is safe to open on its own. The multiple-match branch does not even offer a detail-page option. Picking one record out of four is a guess, and greeting the wrong customer by name costs real trust.
Softphone layouts, and the 2028 clock on them
Softphone layouts live in Setup: type Softphone Layouts in the Quick Find box and select it. Each layout covers Inbound, Outbound and Internal call types, each with its own rules. Layout Assignment maps layouts to profiles, so sales can pop Leads while support pops Cases. Here is the part that should change your planning. Open CTI is in maintenance mode, scheduled for retirement on February 28, 2028, with no new features being added. It is already deprecated in newly created Agentforce Service orgs. Existing layouts work until then, so there is no emergency. Treat this as the surface you are moving off.
The Omni-Channel flow route
The current control point is the Add Screen Pop action in an Omni-Channel flow. When a call, chat or message routes to a rep, the flow opens a record or launches a screen flow. You supply the ID field of a record or a literal record ID, then pass the action's output into Route Work. Skip that and nothing pops. This beats a static layout because the flow can branch first. Look up the caller, check the queue, read a field on the work item, then decide. There is a ceiling. One flow opens up to three records or screen flows in total, in the order you defined them. Aggregate the instructions in a collection variable when the actions sit on separate branches.
The Open CTI methods underneath
Adapters drive pops through the Open CTI JavaScript library, and three methods carry the load. searchAndScreenPop() takes a search string plus a callType of INBOUND, OUTBOUND or INTERNAL. It searches the layout's objects and pops per the layout rules. Set its deferred argument to true and it returns match data without opening anything. screenPop() skips the search and opens a target you already know. Its type values are SOBJECT, URL, OBJECTHOME, LIST, SEARCH, NEW_RECORD_MODAL and FLOW. NEW_RECORD_MODAL accepts default field values. getSoftphoneLayout() returns the layout as JSON. All three arrived in API version 38.0.
What goes wrong in practice
Three things bite teams repeatedly. First, Screen pops open within offers a New browser window or tab value that Lightning Experience ignores. Pops land in the existing window, so plan the console tab strategy around that. Second, shared numbers wreck single-match logic. One switchboard number stored on forty Contacts turns every call from that office into a multiple match. Capture direct dials where you can. Third, over-popping trains reps to close tabs reflexively. If every call opens a Contact, a Case and a flow, none gets read. Pop the record the conversation is about.
Configure screen pops on an Open CTI softphone layout
This is the softphone layout route, still valid if you run an Open CTI adapter today. On a new build, use the Add Screen Pop action in an Omni-Channel flow instead.
- Open Softphone Layouts
In Setup, type Softphone Layouts in the Quick Find box and select it. Click New, or Edit an existing layout.
- Pick the call type
Choose Inbound, Outbound or Internal. Each type keeps its own screen pop rules, so configure them one at a time.
- Choose what gets searched
Add the objects Salesforce should match the call data against, such as Contact and Case. Pick the fields to show on a single match.
- Set the three match rules
Under Screen Pop Settings, click Edit beside each record-matching row. The three rows are independent, so a row you skip keeps its default.
- Assign it to profiles
Save, click Layout Assignment, and map each profile to a layout. Place a live test call before rolling it out.
Don't pop any screen, Pop detail page, Pop to Visualforce page, or Pop to flow. Pop detail page is the sane default.
Same list, but Pop to search page replaces the detail page. Let the rep pick.
Same list again, with Pop to new in place of the detail page, opening a blank record for an unknown caller.
Existing browser window, or New browser window or tab. Lightning Experience ignores the second one.
- A user with no assigned layout falls back to the Salesforce default, so Layout Assignment has to cover every profile that answers calls.
- The search only looks at the objects you added to this layout. A number stored anywhere else comes back as no match.
- Pop to Visualforce page and Pop to flow each point at one named target. Rename or deactivate it and the rule breaks.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Screen Pop in Salesforce, step by step
How organizations use Screen Pop
Pops the Contact and open Case once the account number matches, cutting the greeting from three verification questions to one.
Branches on queue in an Omni-Channel flow, popping a renewal screen flow for retention and the policy record for general service.
Sets the no-match rule to pop a new Contact pre-filled with the caller's number, so first-time callers get captured cleanly.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Design and Assign Softphone Layouts (opens in new tab)Salesforce
- Open CTI Support Policy (opens in new tab)Salesforce
- Get Started with Open CTI (opens in new tab)Salesforce
- screenPop() for Lightning Experience (opens in new tab)Salesforce
- Connect to an External Contact Center Using Salesforce Voice with Telephony Providers (opens in new tab)Salesforce
- Add Screen Pops to Give Reps More Context about Conversations (opens in new tab)Salesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Screen Pop.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Screen Pop.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He writes and edits salesforcedictionary.com, published by KineticBit Inc., to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
+5 pts / dayQ1. An inbound call's number matches four Contact records. Which Screen Pop Setting keeps the rep from greeting the wrong person?
Q2. Your org runs an Open CTI phone adapter with screen pops configured in a softphone layout. What should drive your roadmap?
Q3. Your adapter has already resolved the caller to a specific Contact ID. Which Open CTI method opens that record without searching again?
Discussion
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