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Enabling the Categories Field

Switch from the Category field to the multi-select Categories field which allows zone members to associate more than one category with an idea.

Required Editions

View supported editions
User Permissions Needed
To customize Ideas settings: Customize Application

The Category field only allows one category to be associated with an idea.

Warning
Warning Once you enable the Categories field, you cannot disable it. Also, enabling the Categories field automatically disables the old Category field in Salesforce and the API.

When you enable the Categories field, Salesforce automatically does the following:

  • Checks your organization's workflow rules, triggers, validation rules, custom fields, and Apex code and lists any area that references the Category field. You must manually fix or remove these references before Salesforce allows you to enable the Categories field.
  • Automatically moves all picklist values and search layouts from the old Category field to the new Categories field.
  • Ensures each idea is associated with the appropriate picklist value in the new Categories field.
  • Makes the new Categories field available in Salesforce and the API.

To enable the Categories field:

  1. From Setup, enter Ideas Settings in the Quick Find box, then select Ideas Settings.
  2. Click Enablelocated below the Categories message at the top of the page. This button is not displayed if your organization already has the Categories field enabled. Salesforce checks your organization's workflow rules, triggers, validation rules, custom fields, and Apex code for references to the Category field and lists any areas where this reference needs to be removed.
  3. If you need to remove references to the Category field, click Cancel. Once you have removed the references, try enabling the Categories field again.
    Note
    Note For validation and workflow rules you must delete the rule or fix the Category reference within the rule. It is not sufficient to deactivate the rule. If you need to delete a custom field that references the Category field, make sure to erase the field after it has been deleted. .
  4. Read the information in the pop-up window, and click Enable. It may take several minutes for Salesforce to enable the new field.
  5. Fix any custom reports that reference the old Category field.

See Also