Delete and Deactivate Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce

In this Salesforce tutorial, we are going to see the method of Deleting an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic. In addition to this, we will also see the Deactivation of Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in both editions of Salesforce.

Delete Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce

In Salesforce, deleting Opportunity Stage Picklist Value is removing the Opportunity Stage Values from the list of Stage Values when they are not required anymore in the Sales Processes. When we delete a stage value it will be removed from the Opportunity Stage Picklist Values and records in which this value is assigned.

While working as a Salesforce admin for an organization that uses Salesforce as its CRM tool, I was asked to delete some stage values from the Opportunity Stage Picklist Values that are no longer required in the Sales Processes of the Organization.

During an evaluation of the Sales Processes, they identified that the Opportunity Stage picklist values, “Client Presentation” and “Develop Proposal” are no longer relevant to their sales process. Leads that reach this stage rarely convert into customers, and it only adds complexity to the sales.

Delete an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Lightning

To Delete an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Lightning first, you need to log in to your Salesforce account and follow the steps below.

Step-1: On the Setup page of Salesforce Lightning, click on the Object Manager tab as shown in the picture below.

Step-2: In the Object Manager there will be a list of objects and from this list, select the object Opportunities. We can search this object from the Quick Find search bar or by scrolling down the screen.

Step-3: In the Opportunity object window, go to the left sidebar, and under the heading Details, click on Fields & Relationships.

Step-4: In the opportunity Fields and Relationships, a list of items is sorted by field label. In the list of items, select the Stage picklist.

Step-5: In the field Stage go to the section Opportunity Stages Picklist Values and select the stage picklist value you have to delete from the opportunity stage. In this case, I have selected the picklist value Client Presentation. On the left of the selected picklist value, click on the delete button “Del”.

Step-6: As we click on the delete button, a pop-up window will appear, asking for confirmation to delete the selected picklist value. Click on the OK button for the confirmation.

Step-7: On clicking the OK button a new window will appear and in this step, we will replace the deleted Stage Value with another existing Stage value so that it will apply to the records that contain the deleted value.

Now click on the dropdown “Replace value in records with” and select a stage value from the list. In this scenario, I have selected the stage value Assessment Needed. After selecting the stage value, click on the Save button.

As we click on the Save button the selected stage value Client Presentation will deleted from the Opportunity Stage Picklist Values.

In this way, we have deleted the Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Lightning.

Read How to Attach Files to the Records in Salesforce

Deactivate Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Lightning

In case you have to just remove the stage value from the Opportunity Stage Picklist Value then you can Deactivate it, and later you can activate this stage value whenever required.

I will explain to you the deactivation of Opportunity Stage Picklist Value with the help of an example below.

Step-1: To deactivate an Opportunity Stage Value go to the Opportunity Stage Picklist Values section and click on the Deactivate button of the stage value you have to delete. In this example, I have selected the stage value assessment needed to deactivate.

Step-2: As we click on the Deactivate button, a pop-up window will appear for the confirmation to deactivate the value. Click on the OK button for the confirmation.

As we click on the OK button, the selected Opportunity stage value Assessment Needed will deactivated, and we can see this deactivated stage value in the Inactive Value section, as shown in the picture below.

Now, we have also successfully deactivated the Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Lightning.

Delete an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Classic

To Delete an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Classic, login to the Salesforce account and follow the steps below.

Step-1: On the Home page of Salesforce Classic, click on the Setup tab in the screen’s upper right corner.

Step-2: In the Setup page, go to the Build section on the left sidebar and click on the Customize dropdown, and from the list in the dropdown, click on Opportunities. As we click on the Opportunities, it will again open a dropdown, and there click on the Fields.

Step-3: In the Opportunity field, click on the field name Stage at the bottom of the column Field Label.

Step-4: In the Opportunity filed Stage, go to the section Opportunity Stages Picklist Values and click the delete button “Del” in the Action column of the Opportunity stage value you have to delete. In this case, I have selected the picklist value Develop Proposal to delete it from Opportunity Stages Picklist Values.

Step-5: As we click on the delete button Del a pop-up window will appear, and in this window, click on OK for the confirmation of deleting this stage value.

Step-6: As we click on the OK button, a new window will appear where we have to replace the deleted stage value with an existing stage value so that it will apply to the records that contain the deleted value.

In this case this case I have selected the stage value Proposal/Price Quote to replace it with the deleted value “Develop Proposal”.

Step-7: After selecting the new stage value for the replacement, click on the Save button.

As we click on the Save button, the opportunity stage value Develop Proposal will be removed from the Opportunity Stages Picklist Values as shown in the picture below.

In this way, we have successfully deleted an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Classic.

Read Display Account Fields on an Opportunity Record Page in Salesforce

Deactivate Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Classic

We can also Deactivate the Opportunity Stage Picklist Value with the help of the Deactivate button that is near to delete button in the Action column. It is better to deactivate a stage value in most cases because the deactivated stage value can be activated and accessed whenever required.

With the help of an example below, I will explain the deactivation of an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value.

Step-1: On the Opportunity field Stage window, go to the section Opportunity Stages Picklist Values and click the Deactivate button in the Action column of the Opportunity stage value that you have to deactivate. In this case, I have selected the value Perception Analysis to deactivate.

Step-2: As we click on the Deactivate button, a pop-up window will appear asking for the confirmation of deactivating the selected value. Click on the OK button for the confirmation.

As we click on the OK button, the deactivated value will be added in the section Inactive Values as shown in the picture below.

Now we have successfully deactivated an Opportunity stage Picklist Value in Salesforce Classic.

Conclusion

In this Salesforce tutorial, we have e learned about deleting the Opportunity stage Picklist Values in Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic. With the help of the scenario explained above, we better understood when it is required to delete an opportunity stage picklist value in Salesforce along with this, we also discussed the method of deactivation of Opportunity stage Picklist Values.

You may like to read

• How to Add Values to Opportunity Stage Picklist in Salesforce
• How to Create an Opportunity in Salesforce
• How to add a new Opportunity to Accounts in Salesforce