---
schema_version: "1"
id: b81bae90aaadf15ad2d1a611f0ba0580425644d8cd0f0b29ebbef1ad562b523e
title: How Divisions Work
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/xcloud/264-0-0/admin_division_overview.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.admin_division_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: f9390ccdba36a124c83e3c8a44f02195eae99d1947e2e7c3ab3b1c9c83ba15f0
description: Divisions can be assigned to users and other kinds of records. For example, you can create a report to show the opportunities for just the North American division to get accurate sales numbers for the North American sales team.
products:
  - Salesforce Platform
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# How Divisions Work

Divisions can be assigned to users and other kinds of records. For example, you can create a report to show the opportunities for just the North American division to get accurate sales numbers for the North American sales team.

### Required Editions

![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-xcloud-setup-264-0-0-production-enus/6f21df35-9ea0-4f53-ac94-45c3b5dfd5bc/images/icon_important.png)

Important Where possible, we changed noninclusive terms to align with our company value of Equality. We maintained certain terms to avoid any effect on customer implementations.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: Salesforce Classic</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Professional</strong>, <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Developer</strong> Editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

- Record-level division—Division is a field on individual records that marks the record as belonging to a particular division. A record can belong to a division created by the administrator or the standard “global” division. The standard global division is created automatically when your organization enables divisions. A record can belong to only one division at a time.
- Default division—Users are assigned a default division that applies to their newly created accounts, leads, and custom objects that are enabled for divisions.
- Working division—If you have the “Affected by Divisions” permission, you can set the division using a drop-down list in the sidebar. Then, searches show only the data for the current working division. You can change your working division at any time. If you don’t have the “Affected by Divisions” permission, you always see records in all divisions.

The following table shows how using divisions affects different areas.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
      <colgroup>
        <col>
        <col>
      </colgroup>
      <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
        <tr class="">
          <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d150634e89">Area</th>
          <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d150634e92">Description</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Search</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>If you have the “Affected by Divisions” permission: </p>
            <ul>
              <li>In sidebar search, you can select a single division, or all
                divisions.</li>
              <li>In advanced search, you can select a single division or all
                divisions.</li>
              <li>In global search, you can search a single division or all
                divisions.</li>
              <li>For searches in lookup dialogs, the results include records in
                the division you select from the drop-down list in the lookup
                dialog window.</li>
            </ul>
            <p><span id="admin_division_overview__GlobalDivisionNote"><a name="admin_division_overview__GlobalDivisionNote"><!-- --></a>All searches within a specific
                division also include the global division. For example, if you
                search within a division called Western Division, your results
                include records found in both the Western Division and the
                global division.</span></p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">If you do not have the
              “Affected by Divisions” permission, your search
              results always include records in all divisions.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">List views</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>If you have the “Affected by Divisions” permission, list views include only the records in the
              division you specify when creating or editing the list view. List views that don’t include all records
              (such as My Open Cases) include records in all divisions. </p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">If you do not have the “Affected by
              Divisions” permission, your list views always include records in all divisions.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Chatter</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">Chatter doesn’t support divisions. For example, you
            can’t use separate Chatter feeds for different divisions.</td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Reports</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>If you have the “Affected by Divisions” permission, you can set your report options to include
              records in just one division or all divisions. Reports that use standard filters (such as My Cases or My
              team’s accounts) show records in all divisions, and can’t further limited to a specific division.
            </p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">If you do not have the “Affected by Divisions” permission, your reports always include
              records in all divisions.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Viewing records and related lists</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">When viewing the detail page of a record, the related lists show all associated records that you have access
            to, regardless of division.</td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Creating records</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>When you create accounts, leads, or custom objects that are enabled
              for divisions, the division is automatically set to your default
              division, unless you override this setting. </p>
            <p>When you create records
              related to an account or other record that already has a division,
              the new record is assigned to the existing record’s division.
              For example, if you create a custom object record that is on the
              detail side of a master-detail relationship with a custom object
              that has divisions enabled, it is assigned the master
              record’s division.</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">When you create records that are not
              related to other records, such as private opportunities or contacts
              not related to an account, the division is automatically set to the
              global division.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Editing records</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>When editing accounts, leads, or custom objects that are enabled for
              divisions, you can change the division. All records that are associated
              through a master-detail relationship are automatically transferred to
              the new division as well. For example, contacts and opportunities are
              transferred to the new division of their associated account. Detail
              custom objects are transferred to their master record’s new
              division.</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">When editing other types of records, you can’t
              change the division setting.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Custom objects</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>When you enable divisions for a custom object, Salesforce initially
              assigns each record for that custom object to the global
              division.</p>
            <p>When you create a custom object record:</p>
            <ul>
              <li>If the custom object is enabled for divisions, the record adopts
                your default division.</li>
              <li>If the custom object is on the detail side of a master-detail
                relationship with a divisions-enabled custom object, the record
                adopts the division of the master record.</li>
            </ul>
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Area" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e89 ">Relationships</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d150634e92 ">
            <p>If you convert a lookup relationship to a master-detail relationship,
              detail records lose their current division and inherit the division of
              their master record.</p>
            <p>If you convert a master-detail relationship to a
              lookup relationship, the previous master record determines the
              division for any detail records.</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">If you delete a master-detail
              relationship, the previous master record determines the division for
              any detail records.</p>
          </td>

        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>

#### See Also

- [Set Up Divisions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.getting_started_with_divisions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When setting up divisions, you must create divisions and assign records to divisions to make sure that your data is categorized effectively.")
- [Create and Edit Divisions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.creating_and_editing_divisions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Creating logical divisions for your organization helps you segment your records to make searching and reporting easier.")
- [Transferring Multiple Records Between Divisions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.admin_divisionchange.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Select groups of records to move into or between divisions.")
- [Change the Default Division for Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.user_defaultdivision_users.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If you can manage user settings, you can change a user’s default division.")
- [Reporting With Divisions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.reports_division.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If your organization uses divisions to segment data, you can customize your reports to show records within specific divisions.")