Use Salesforce Faster: 15 Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Let's cut to the chase. Keyboard shortcuts are the yellow brick road to efficiency in Salesforce. They'll boost your productivity quicker than you can say "abracadabra." In other words, they help you work faster, save time, and reduce the number of mouse clicks. It's like having a secret key to the city of Salesforce. Scroll down to see the full list of keyboard shortcuts available in both Salesforce Lightning and Classic.

3 benefits of using keyboard shortcuts in Salesforce

Salesforce is powerful, but its numerous menus and options can sometimes slow you down. This is where keyboard shortcuts step into the limelight. They're the unsung heroes of your daily workflow in Salesforce. Imagine them as a kind of teleportation device—they get you from one point to another in an efficient and speedy manner.

• They’re faster: The magic of keyboard shortcuts lies in their simplicity. These quick commands, like tiny ninjas, pack a powerful punch. They replace a series of mouse-clicks, reducing your navigation time. This effectively speeds up your work rate, and who doesn't like finishing their work quickly and efficiently?
• They’re easier: Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of these shortcuts is their ability to reduce physical strain. Constantly switching between your keyboard and mouse can cause repetitive strain injury in the long term. By keeping your hands on the keyboard more often, you're mitigating this risk. So, in essence, shortcuts are not only beneficial for speed and efficiency but also for your health.
• They’re focused: Additionally, keyboard shortcuts tend to support better workflow concentration. Maneuvering a mouse across a screen can be a somewhat disjointed process that takes you out of your work's mental zone. Keyboard shortcuts, however, allow for a smoother process where you can maintain focus, leading to higher productivity levels.

"But wait," you may ask, "doesn't it take time to learn these funky little shortcuts?" Yes, investing a bit of time up front to learn them is required. But here's the thing: once you've got a handle on these nifty little command sequences, you'll notice a drastic improvement in your speed and efficiency. It's like learning to ride a bike—a bit shaky at first, but, once you’ve got the hang of it, you'll never forget.

Looking to greatly enhance your productivity in Salesforce? Try downloading the free Magical Chrome extension. This tool allows for automatic Salesforce CRM updates with lead details from other tabs, significantly speeding up your data entry process. And rest assured, it perfectly integrates with Salesforce! Sales teams love the Magical extension because it saves them an average of seven hours per week on repetitive tasks.

15 keyboard shortcuts for Salesforce Lightning

When it comes to lightning-fast efficiency, Salesforce Lightning is your best bet. Just imagine being able to search, edit, save, and close a record without even touching your mouse. Feeling the tingles of excitement? We thought so. Here are some of the keyboard shortcuts you can use with Lightning Experience.

Global commands

Salesforce's global commands are like the bread and butter of your keyboard shortcuts. These are the day-to-day shortcuts that make editing records, posting feeds, and swapping between macro and note utilities as easy as pie.

• Close or deselect (Esc): This shortcut allows you to close or deselect a window. But be aware, it doesn't work for every window or dialog.
• Edit (e): Edit a record with a simple keystroke. Exceptions include Lightning Knowledge articles, reports, dashboards, feed items, approval requests, and email messages.
• Insert quick text (Windows: Ctrl+. / macOS: Cmd+.): Display the quick text browser to find, preview, and insert quick text.
• Open or close Macros (m): Easily open or close the Macros utility with this key.
• Open or close Notes (n): This opens or closes the Notes utility. Remember to open the utility first to use this shortcut.
• Post to feed (Windows: Ctrl+Enter / macOS: Cmd+Enter): This submits a post or comment. It allows you to submit posts, comments, and questions with details but doesn't work on other publisher actions, like emails and polls.
• Save (Windows: Ctrl+s / macOS: Cmd+s): Save a record. You need to have the focus on a field to use this shortcut.
• Search (/): Put your cursor in the search box by hitting this key.
• Show shortcut menu (Windows: Ctrl+/ / macOS: Cmd+/): View the available shortcuts in a modal window with this quick key combo.

For navigation

When it comes to moving around Salesforce like a pro, these navigation shortcuts have got your back. Whether it's toggling between notifications, diving into the publisher, or shifting through different page regions, these shortcuts are your map and compass rolled into one. 

• Focus notifications (c): This shortcut helps you focus on the notification panel. Press the shortcut again to focus on the next notification.
• Focus notifications in reverse order (Shift+c): This is just like the above shortcut but in reverse order. When you press the shortcut again, it focuses on the previous notification.
• Go to composer window (g, then d): This shortcut brings you straight to the docked composer window.
• Go to publisher (g, then p): Takes you directly to the publisher. If your publisher has multiple actions, you can use the Tab and arrow keys to navigate within it.
• Go to other region (Windows: Ctrl+F6 / macOS: Cmd+F6): This comes in handy on certain pages to move among different regions of the page. This could be between a prompt, such as a walkthrough, and a feature; between a kanban card and the side panel; or among panes in a builder, such as the Lightning App Builder.
• Go to utility bar (g, then u): This simple shortcut takes you to the utility bar.

Important notes to keep in mind

Yes, we know, the mention of "important notes" just made you roll your eyes. But hear us out. There's a few key things you need to remember. First off, you can't customize these shortcuts. They're like your grandma's brownie recipe, perfect as is. Secondly, don’t worry about case-sensitive commands or the key sequence for shortcuts involving 'Ctrl', 'Alt', or 'Shift'. These shortcuts are chill. They just work.

Keyboard shortcuts for Salesforce classic

Even though we’re living in the world of Lightning, some of us still prefer the Classic experience. You might prefer the taste of cola classic over the new stuff, and that’s just fine. We’ve got you covered too. 

• Open Recent Items record (Windows: Alt+number / macOS: Ctrl+Option+number): press any number from 0 to 9 to open a record from the Recent Items list. So, Alt+1 will open the first item, Alt+2 the second, and so on. For the 10th item, press Alt+0. Note that if you’re using Mozilla® Firefox®, press Shift+Alt+number to open the record while Microsoft® Internet Explorer® users can press Alt+number to highlight a record, then Enter to open it.
• Show or hide sidebar (Windows: Alt+S / macOS: Option+S): This shortcut shows or hides the collapsible sidebar, but remember, this option must be enabled in your org to use it.

And well, that’s it! Sorry to say, but there aren’t many keyboard shortcuts on the Salesforce Classic experience. But hopefully these ones help you get around a bit zippier then before.

FAQ

"Do Salesforce keyboard shortcuts support all keyboards?"

Not all, unfortunately. Salesforce keyboard shortcuts are supported on U.S. and U.K. keyboards, providing a wide umbrella of keyboard types. While some of us may have more unique keyboards, Salesforce has, unfortunately, not yet rolled out support for other language keyboards. 

 "Can I use these Salesforce keyboard shortcuts in other applications?"

Not quite. Salesforce keyboard shortcuts are exclusive to Salesforce. What this means is you can't use these shortcuts on Salesforce Classic apps viewed in Lightning Experience, Visualforce, or Iframed components. They're designed to be a secret weapon within your Salesforce experience, but they don’t venture out of their home turf. 

 "Do I need to remember the sequence for shortcuts involving 'Ctrl', 'Alt', or 'Shift'?"

Cheer up, because the answer is no! Salesforce keyboard shortcuts aren’t picky about the order you press the keys. Whether you press 'Ctrl' before 'Alt', or 'Alt' before 'Ctrl', they’ll function just the same. It's about making your user experience smoother, not giving you a memory test.

 "Can’t I just customize these shortcuts?"

We understand that customization provides comfort. However, Salesforce keyboard shortcuts aren't able to be customized. They're baked into the platform as they are, ensuring a standardized experience for all users. Rather like a fixed set menu at a restaurant—you trust the chef to deliver a great combination of flavors designed to work perfectly together.

 "Will these shortcuts work in apps created in Salesforce Classic?"

Here’s a gut punch. Sadly, these specific keyboard shortcuts won’t work in apps created in Salesforce Classic. We're aware this might be a tad disappointing for some of you, but it’s always worth knowing where the line is drawn. 

 "Are the shortcuts case-sensitive?"

No, they’re not. Salesforce keyboard shortcuts are like your easy-going friend, they don't care if you shout (use upper case) or whisper (use lower case). So press away comfortably, knowing that 'Shift+B' is loved just the same as 'Shift+b'. 

Start using Salesforce faster with Magical

And there you have it—these shortcuts might take a smidgen of time to get used to, but once you master ‘em, your productivity levels will soar faster than a peregrine falcon with a tailwind.

‍Want to spend even less time on admin tasks in Salesforce? Give the free Magical Chrome extension a spin. This handy tool provides automatic updates to your Salesforce CRM with lead details sourced from other tabs, dramatically reducing your data entry workload. Plus, it meshes flawlessly with Salesforce! With the Magical extension, sales teams report saving an impressive seven hours each week on repetitive tasks.