HandsOn Connect DocumentationTraining for All Users (staff and administrators)Reports and DashboardsAdvanced: Creating a New Report TypeControlling the Fields that are Available for Report Types - "Why are fields not available for my report?"

Controlling the Fields that are Available for Report Types - "Why are fields not available for my report?"

When a New Custom Report Type is created, The fields of the various objects available to the report are made accessible when you create reports of that type.  However, custom fields that you add to objects AFTER the custom report type was defined, will not automatically be present.  That's because you can control what fields are available in a report.  You can remove fields that make a report too difficult to work with, or add fields that are missing.

You can also add fields that are related to objects by lookups, instead of adding yet another object to the field!

Edit the fields available to a report by going to Setup / App Setup / Create /

Edit the fields available to a report by going to Setup / App Setup / Create /

Click on the name of a custom report that you wish to edit.

Note:  You won't be able to edit reports that are part of managed applications.   To work around this, click on the managed report type and CLONE it, creating a report type that you CAN edit and use to meet your needs.

Fields Available for Reports are defined in the second section of the object record

Fields Available for Reports are defined in the second section of the object record

Click on Edit Layout.

Field Layout Properties screen

Field Layout Properties screen

Here you can see a summary of the available fields for each object type, and if you like, remove fields (by dragging them into the tray of available fields), or create new sections to organize the fields in a way that is easier for your users to navigate.

1. Tray of available fields (use the picklist to choose from the different objects in the report).  Click on Next Page to see more Fields

2. If you do like the organization of the fields by object name, you can organize the fields any way you like by creating a new section and reorganizing the way the fields are grouped.

3. You can add fields that are not in an object but are in another object, IF there is a field that performs a Lookup to a related object.    To do this click on the "Add fields related via lookup" link.

Add fields via lookup

Add fields via lookup

This window pops up to show you fields you can add to the layout through their relationship via lookup.  You can next deeply into other objects through their related lookups to other objects.  For example, we can find fields in the Recurrence object, even though its not one of the objects contained in this report type.  To do so, click on Recurrence

We now can see the fields in the Recurrence Object - because it has a relationship to the Occurrence Object

We now can see the fields in the Recurrence Object - because it has a relationship to the Occurrence Object

So I could use this relationship to find out who the default opportunity coordinator is in an occurrences related recurrence object.  And drill down further to get info about THAT Opportunity Coordinator by clicking on "view related fields"

This way I can drill down to the field "Full Name"  of the Opportunity Coordinator listed in the Recurrence Record -- WITHOUT adding the Recurrence record as an object in the custom report type!  

This is a great way to get to one or two fields in a related object without complicating the Report Type.

Click on OK, and the field is added as a 'lookup field"

The field has now been added, and the magnifying glass tells us its not actually a field in the Occurrence Record, but related to it via lookup.  

The view of "Occurrence Fields (via lookup) allows me to see which fields I've related via lookup

Save the additions (or reorganization of) the report type by clicking Save.  

Next time you create a custom report using this report type - your new field will be included.  

Note:   To edit or change a custom report type after it has been deployed and used, you must change its deployment status back to 'In Development".

For more info on best practices on Custom Report Types - see Setting Up Custom Report Types in Salesforce Help.

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