External ID is defined as a custom field that has an external ID attribute, which means it holds different record identifiers outside the salesforce. The external IDs can be used to avoid duplicate records.
What is the external ID in Salesforce?
In Salesforce, the external ID is basically a custom field that we mark as unique in order to identify the records uniquely while the data is coming from an external source.
This field mainly refers to an ID from another system. When it is checked as internal, it is automatically indexed. The field type for the external ID should be any one of the numbers, auto-number, email, or text. An object can only have seven external field IDs.
Custom fields marked as unique also count against an object limit of seven external ID fields.
We learned what Salesforce is, and we will understand why we use an external ID in Salesforce.
Why do we use an external ID in Salesforce?
The external ID in Salesforce frequently produces a unique ID, so it should be unique to every record.
When we import the custom object under the data import wizard, the external ID is used to prevent the import from creating duplicate records.
External ID is a custom field with an external ID attribute, which we marked as unique to identify the records uniquely when the data is coming from an external source.
The upset call method is used to match against the external ID fields while importing the external source.
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How to Update Records using an External ID in Salesforce
Here, we are updating records using an external ID in Salesforce.
Here are the following steps:
1. First, go to the setup, enter the Data Import wizard in the Quick Find box, and then select the Data Import Wizard option.
2. After selecting the Data import wizard, Click on the launch wizard option to import your data in easy steps.
3. After clicking on the launch wizard option, import your data into the salesforce page is open. Select the custom object. Here, we are clicking on the USA Students custom object.