How to create a Custom Report Type in Salesforce

In this Salesforce tutorial, we will learn to Create Custom Report types in Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic.

Custom Report type in Salesforce

In Salesforce, with the help of Custom Report Type, we can create reports that we cannot create with the standard report types in Salesforce. When these Standard report types are not compatible enough to create a report according to our requirements then we create custom report types.

Custom Report Types enable us to define relationships between primary and secondary objects, which allows us to access fields from both objects in a single report and we can build custom report types with the relationship of two or more objects in a single report type for example Accounts with leads or Opportunities with Accounts and Contacts.

Create a custom Report Type in Salesforce Lightning

Step 1- On the Setup page of Salesforce Lightning, click on the Quick Find box and then search Report Types from the options, and under the section Report & Dashboards select report types.

Step 2- Now on the Custom Report Types page, there will be a description of the Custom report type. You can read the description to have an overview of the custom report type and then click the Continue button.

Step 3- In this step, click on the New Custom Report Type button to create a new report type.

Step 4- In this Step, We will define the custom report type by entering the required fields.

• In the field of Primary Object select the object which you want to keep as primary. For example, if you are creating a custom report type with two objects like Contacts with Leads then select Contacts as the primary object.
• In the Report Type Label, enter the name of the report type. I have labeled this report type as Contact Details and as we enter this field it will auto-fill the Report type Name field.
• In the Description field, write the description regarding the custom report type.
• In the field Sotre in Category select the category related to the custom report type. Since I’m creating a custom report type on Contacts so I have selected Accounts and Contacts as a category.
• In Deployment Status activate the checkbox In development. With Development status, this report type will be visible only to authorized administrators and their delegates. “Choose deployed when you are ready to let all users access this report type “.
• In last, click on the Next button.

Step 5- Now, we will define the report type. I have created this custom report type for Contacts only so contacts are the primary object and I will click on Save to proceed ahead.

If I would have created a report for Contacts with leads or Contacts with opportunities, then for that, I have to select another object by clicking on Click to relate to another object.

Step 6- In case, you have clicked on relate another object to select a secondary object then in this step, first click on Select Object, and in the list of objects select the object related to the report. For example, if you are creating a custom report for Contacts with Opportunities then select Opportunities from the objects.

Activate the check box in the A to B Relationship to select whether you want records of the primary object in the related object or not. After making these changes, click on the Save button.

As we click on the Save button the New Custom Report Type Contact Details will be created.

Now we have successfully created a Custom Report type in Salesforce Lightning with the help of the above steps.

Create a custom Report Type in Salesforce Classic

To create a custom report type in Classic first, we need to log in to the salesforce account and then follow the steps below.

Step 1- On the Home page of Salesforce Classic, click on the Setup tab.

Step 2- Now on the Setup page of Salesforce Classic, click on the Quick Find box and search for Reports types and then under the section Create select Report Types.

Step 3- In this window, we will see the description of Custom Report Types. You can go through it to understand the Custom Report Types and then click on the Continue button.

Step 4- In this step, we will begin the process of creating a new custom report type, and for that click on the button New Custom Report Type.

Step 5- In this step, we will fill up the required details to create a custom report type. We will fill up the details as follows.

• In the Primary Object field, select the primary object of the custom report type. I have selected Contacts as a primary object.
• Enter the name of the custom report type in the field Report Type Label. I have labeled it as Contacts with Opportunities. When labeling the report type in Salesforce, always keep the primary object first in the name.
• In the Description field, write the description according to the custom report type.
• Select the object category in the field Store in Category. I have selected the Accounts and Contacts category for this custom report type.
• In Deployment Status select the option Development status, with this option, the report type will be visible only to authorized administrators and their delegates. Later the status can be changed to deployed when you are ready to let all users access this report type.
• At last click on the Save button.

Step 6- In this report type we have set Contacts as the primary object and now we will select another object in relation to the primary object. To select another object click on the button Click to relate another object.

Step 7- Now we have to select an object from the list of objects. Since I am creating this custom report type for Contacts with Opportunities so I have selected Opportunities as the second object in relation to the primary object Contacts.

Step 8- In this step, activate the check box in the A to B Relationship to select whether you want a related record of the primary object in the related object or not. After selecting the relationship between objects, click on the Save button.

As we click on the Save button, a new custom report type will be created as shown in the below picture.

Now we have successfully created a new custom report type Contacts with Opportunities in Salesforce Classic.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned about creating a new custom report type in both the edition of Salesforce i.e. Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic. We also learned about what custom report types are and when it is required to create a custom report type.

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