Get Started Free An Object in Salesforce is a database table that stores records of a particular type. In the Salesforce data model, Objects are comparable to database tables, Fields to columns, and Records to rows. Salesforce comes with Standard Objects (Account, Contact, Opportunity, Lead, Case, Campaign) that cannot be deleted, and admins can create Custom Objects (with __c suffix) for data unique to their organization. Beyond these two main types, the platform also has External, Big, Platform Event, and other specialized object types.
You’ll meet this term whenever you work with any data in Salesforce: every record (an Account, a Contact, a Custom Object record) lives on an Object, and every report, validation rule, automation, and permission is attached to an Object.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
A company runs sales operations on Salesforce. Their CRM data lives across several Objects: Accounts (companies they sell to), Contacts (people at those companies), Opportunities (deals in the pipeline), and Cases (support tickets). They also built a Custom Object called “Site Inspection” to track visits before installation, with fields for inspection date, inspector name, and pass/fail status. Site Inspection links to Account through a Lookup, so each account shows its inspections right on the record page.
Quick facts
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It’s a database table: an Object stores records of one type. In the Salesforce data model, Objects are tables, Fields are columns, and Records are rows.
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Two main categories: Standard Objects (Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, Case, Campaign — built into Salesforce, cannot be deleted) and Custom Objects (created by admins, have __c suffix in the API).
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Other object types beyond Standard and Custom: External Objects (__x) for connecting to external data via Salesforce Connect, Big Objects (__b) for billions of records, Platform Events (__e) for event-driven architecture, Custom Metadata Types (__mdt) for configuration data. See full list in the Salesforce Object Types reference.
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In Apex, Objects are accessed as SObjects: SObject is the generic Apex type, and specific objects are subtypes (Account, Custom_Object__c). SOQL queries return SObjects.
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Common capabilities for most object types: fields, relationships, validation rules, page layouts, reports, sharing, history tracking, search. Specific capabilities vary by type (e.g., Big Objects do not support standard reports or triggers).
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Object Manager is where admins manage Objects: Setup → Object Manager shows all Objects in the org (Standard + Custom + External + others), with their fields, relationships, validation rules, page layouts, and other configurations.
Note
The terms “Object” and “Record” are often confused. An Object is the table (the structure): for example, “Account” is an Object. A Record is one row within that table: “Acme Inc.” is a Record of the Account Object. In Apex, Records are accessed as SObjects.
FAQ
How many standard objects are in Salesforce?
Salesforce includes about 800+ standard objects across all clouds (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Industry Clouds, etc.), though most orgs only use a small subset. The core standard objects most admins work with are Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, Case, Campaign, Task, Event, User, and Product. The exact number depends on which Salesforce features and clouds are enabled in your org. To see all standard objects available in your org, go to Setup → Object Manager.
Is it possible to create a report for more than one object?
You can add up to 4 layers of object relationships (a primary object and up to 3 child objects) in the hierarchy of a custom report type, but you can select up to 56 other objects via lookup for a total of 60. It is important to mention that if the report has columns from more than 20 different objects, an error occurs.
How to check object permissions in Salesforce?
Object permissions are set on Profiles and Permission Sets. Go to Setup → Profiles (or Permission Sets), open the relevant Profile or Permission Set, and look at Object Settings. For each Object you'll see permissions for Read, Create, Edit, Delete, View All, and Modify All. To see what permissions a specific user has across all their Profiles and Permission Sets, use the "View User" page or the User Access tool.
How to check object relationships in Salesforce?
Three ways. (1) Object Manager: open the Object in Setup → Object Manager → Fields & Relationships to see all relationship fields and their target objects. (2) Schema Builder: Setup → Objects and Fields → Schema Builder shows visual map of all objects and their relationships in your org. (3) For developer reference: query the field metadata via the Tooling API or SOQL on the FieldDefinition and EntityDefinition objects.
How do I see who has access to a Salesforce object?
Go to Setup → Object Manager, select the object, and click Object Access. The page lists permission sets, permission set groups, and profiles with access to the object and their access levels. This is available only for objects that support object permissions.
Can I edit object permissions from the Object Access page?
Yes. Click Edit on the Custom Permission Sets or Custom Profiles tab to update object permissions. You need View Setup and Configuration permission to access this page.
