Salesforce Docs Portal

Define a Simple URL External Data Source

If Chatter is enabled for your organization, Salesforce can access data hosted on another web domain for use in the Files tab and feed.

Required Editions

Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
User Permissions Needed
To define an external data source: Customize Application
  1. From Setup, enter External Data Sources in the Quick Find box, and then select External Data Sources.
  2. Click New External Data Source, and set the following options:
    Field Description
    Label A user-friendly name for the data source displayed in the Salesforce user interface.
    Name A unique identifier used to refer to this external data source definition through the API. The Name field can contain only underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must be unique, begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
    Type Choose Simple URL.
    URL The URL of the server hosting data outside of Salesforce, which must begin with http:// or https://.
    Default External Repository Used for SharePoint® Online®. If metadata is not accessible, use this field to create tables and default table fields.
    Large Icon

    Specify an icon to easily identify the data source in the Salesforce user interface.

    First define the icon as a static resource in Salesforce. For more information, see Defining Static Resources.
    Small Icon

    Specify an icon to easily identify the data source in the Salesforce user interface.

    First define the icon as a static resource in Salesforce. For more information, see Defining Static Resources.
    Identity Type

    The identity type used to authenticate to the external data source.

    Select Anonymous, which doesn’t require users to provide credentials when accessing the data source.
    Authentication Protocol

    The protocol required to access the data source.

    Select No Authentication.
Note
Note
  • Simple URL data sources can’t be included in global search, so the “Validate and Sync” option isn’t supported.
  • SOQL queries can’t be performed on the external objects created from Simple URL data sources.
  • Files from a Simple URL data source can’t be previewed in the file preview player.