Compact layouts for record highlights
Key Takeaway
You assign compact layouts by object and by record type, not to profiles or individual users, so record types are how you show different fields by use case or role.
A compact layout is the set of key fields Salesforce shows at the top of a record, so users can see the most important information at a glance. Compact layouts apply in Lightning Experience, the Salesforce mobile app, and the Outlook and Gmail integrations. Every object has a read-only system default, and an app builder can create custom compact layouts to replace it.
System default compact layouts
Each object has its own compact layouts, just as it has its own page layouts. You don't have to create a compact layout, because each object has system defaults out of the box. Salesforce still recommends using compact layouts to put important fields into object record headers.
By default, these three things come from an object's read-only system default compact layout:
- Record highlight fields
- Preview cards
- Action-related feed items
Page layouts and compact layouts are independent, so removing a field from a page layout doesn't remove it from the object's compact layout.