Use this link to share with your colleagues:
All About Field History Tracking: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1676628
Have you ever wanted to see the history of a field in PatronManager to see when a field was changed or how? Field History Tracking is here to make your dreams come true!
In this article, we'll go over:
- What Field History Tracking is
- How to enable Field History Tracking
- A note about Chatter Feed Tracking
At the end, we'll have some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
What is Field History Tracking?
Field History Tracking allows you to select certain fields to track and display the history of in a History related list.
For example, in our organization, we want to see whenever someone changes the Name of an Account. We can turn on Field History Tracking for the Account Name field on our Account object to track every time the Name is changed!
Think of Field History Tracking as a log book, showing you when, how, and by whom a field was edited.
How can I turn on Field History Tracking?
Turning on Field History Tracking can be done from the Object Manager in Setup! Turning this on should take about 5-10 minutes, depending on how many fields you want to turn Field History Tracking on for and how many different Objects have fields you want to turn Field History Tracking on for.
You can set Field History Tracking for up to 20 fields on an Object.
In this example, we'll turn on Field History Tracking for the Account Name on Accounts.
1. Go to Setup
2. Click Object Manager
3. Find and select Account
If the field you want to track is on a different Object, like Contacts or Donations, find and select that Object instead!
4. Click Fields & Relationships
5. Click Set History Tracking
6. Check Enable Account History
This checkbox will say "Enable [Object] History," and in our case this is "Enable Account History."
7. Check the fields you wish to track
In this case, we're checking "Account Name," but you can check any of the fields that you wish to track.
8. Save!
9. Add the History Related List to your Page Layouts
To view the actual Field History Tracking records, you'll need to add the History Related List to your Page Layouts. You'll need to do this for all of the Page Layouts for the Object you selected in step 2.
For steps on how to add a Related List to your Page Layouts, check out our step-by-step guide here.
The Related List you'll add to your Page Layouts will be titled "[Object] History." In our example, the Related List we need to add is named "Account History."
Now, every time we change the Account Name, we'll see a log of the change
Chatter Feed Tracking
In addition to Field History Tracking, you can also turn on Feed Tracking, which tracks changes made right in Chatter for you!
You can set Feed Tracking for up to 20 fields on an Object.
In this example, we'll turn on Feed Tracking for Video File Name and Video File Size on our Event Instances, to help us track what video files are uploaded and when for our Video on Demand Virtual Events.
1. Go to Setup
2. Find and select Feed Tracking
3. Find and click Event Instance from the Object list
If the field you want to track is on a different Object, like Accounts or Contacts, find and select that Object instead!
4. Check Enable Feed Tracking
5. Check the fields you wish to track
In this case, we're checking "Video File Size" and "Video File Name," but you can check any of the fields that you wish to track.
6. Save!
Now, every time we upload a new video file on our Event Instances, we'll see a log of the change in Chatter
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We sure do! We covered Field History Tracking (along with other great ways to track histories in PatronManager) in our History Tracking Webinar.
At the end of the webinar recording linked above, we also have other helpful resources linked out to learn more about Field History Tracking.
Nope! Field History Tracking Data won't count against your data storage limits. If you do decide to delete any field history data, you can do so manually at any time, but since it won't count against your data storage limits, there really isn't a need to.
You sure can! You can build reports that show Field History Tracking entries to see how a field has been changed over time.
To build a report that shows Field History Tracking entries, create a new report using the Object's History Report Type. So, for example, to create a report on the Field History Tracking on Accounts, select Account History from the Report Types.
Don't see the History Report Types? Make sure that you're in the All Category!
Salesforce doesn't allow Field History Tracking for:
- Formula, roll-up summary, and auto-number fields
- Created By and Last Modified By fields
Additionally, Feed Tracking is not available in Salesforce for formula, roll-up summary, and auto-number fields.