Add Free Text to Salesforce Picklist Field | Salesforce Lightning

In this video I show you how to add free text or other text to a Salesforce picklist field. Salesforce picklist fields are a great way to standardize data from users. However, you may come across a scenario where you need to allow users to enter free text for a particular picklist option.
This tutorial is on the Salesforce Lightning Experience.
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LinkedIn: / farahcharania
Twitter: / signiforce

[@payang6113]

I came across your channel yesterday. OMG you are a life saver. I wish I knew you earlier. All your videos are so helpful. Thank you very much.

[@signiforce]

Thanks Pa for the feedback! I am so glad you found the tutorials helpful!
-Farah

[@zkdna]

Thank you! You're a life saver I hope you find the time to do more amazing tutorials

[@signiforce]

Thanks Arturo for the feedback. I am so glad you found the tutorial helpful! And yes, hoping to create more tutorials soon!
- Farah

[@IgiveyouNONE]

Really nice! Keep doing these videos! :) You're the best.

[@signiforce]

Thank you so much for your feedback! Glad you found the video helpful.

[@sumathinallamothula7065]

Really nice! Keep doing these videos, Clear and neat. Good Luck !!!

[@signiforce]

Thank you Sumathi for your feedback! I'm so glad you found the videos helpful!
-Farah

[@gehanmadhanayake]

This is superb, just what I was looking for. Thank you!

[@signiforce]

Thanks Gehan, I am so glad you found the tutorial helpful!

[@destevane]

You are amazing! So easy to learn with you! Thank YOU!

[@signiforce]

Thank you Dora! I am so glad you found the tutorials helpful!
- Farah

[@emmamortemore2884]

SO SO helpful. And the other Validation formula below in comments - would have taken me ages to work out on my own. Thank you so much!

[@signiforce]

Thanks Emma for the feedback! So glad you found the video helpful.
-Farah

[@muraliputtaparthi7683]

Thank you very much. You saved my job today.

[@signiforce]

Hi Murali, I'm so so glad you found this video helpful!

[@arabellapowell4196]

I needed to add a Pronoun field in our contacts and this gives us an option for write ins. Thank you so much.

[@signiforce]

Thanks Arabella. I’m so glad you found this video helpful!
-Farah

[@MarkGoco1]

Fantastic video. I'm now a subscriber. Keep them coming. Quick question. Other than dependency tasks, can we create a dynamic picklist that adjust depending on what they select and have the dynamic field not visible?

[@signiforce]

Thanks Mark, so glad you found the video helpful! You can create a dependent picklist which adjusts based on another picklist. However, you can't currently hide a field dynamically. You can do some customization of which fields show up using Dynamic Forms but even that doesn't' happen in real time and won't give you exactly what you are looking for. More info here: help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=dynamic_forms_overview.htm&type=5
Hope this helps!
-Farah

[@SpookyBerlin]

very cool video. thanks 🙏 for the help. looks very easy when you show it. also found a used case in our Org.

[@signiforce]

Great! So glad you found a way to utilize this feature!
-Farah

[@user-hh5bz1fh5y]

Thanks! Helped allot

[@signiforce]

Thank you for your feedback. I am so glad you found it helpful!
-Farah

[@joncrosby1]

This is very helpful and appreciate all of your extremely valuable videos, however I have a question. How does one report on this solution if the data is captured in another field? How do you aggregate your totals from a report perspective? Is there a way to force the value of the Other field back into the main field via API since you can technically set it up to allow any response when setting up the original picklist field? Thanks again

[@signiforce]

That's a good question! I wouldn't force the value in the Other field. For reporting, I would use a row-level formula on the report and then run analytics on that. The formula would basically say if the main field is anything other than Other then copy the value and if the main field is Other copy the Other field value. Hope that helps!
- Farah

[@otherwiseobservant]

fantastic - so how do you do this for a multi-select picklist!

[@signiforce]

Hi, thanks for the feedback! For multi-select picklists use the INCLUDES formula in place of the ISPICKVAL formula. Hope that helps!
-Farah

[@rishishukla6686]

Really nice video. Thank you :) Need to know how can we restrict user not to enter any value in text field when he selects Asia in the picklist. It will be very helpful if you post a video or in comments about the complete validation rule.

[@KCurryWV]

The new rule for this example would be: ISPICKVAL( Region_Focus__c , 'Asia') || ISPICKVAL( Region_Focus__c , 'Africa') || ISPICKVAL( Region_Focus__c , 'North America') || ISPICKVAL( Region_Focus__c , 'South America') && IF(Region_Focus_Other__c = null, true, false )
For however many options you have just copy ISPICKVAL and add each option followed by and OR tag ( || ) then follow with the && IF for field is blank.