Utility Bar in Salesforce

In Salesforce, the Utility Bar is a customizable toolbar that appears at the bottom of the Lightning Experience interface. It provides quick access to common tools and functionalities across different Salesforce apps, improving productivity and user experience. The Utility Bar in Salesforce can significantly enhance productivity and streamline workflows in various business scenarios.

Here are some examples of how different industries and roles can benefit from using the Utility Bar:

1. Sales Teams

• Quick Access to Notes: Sales representatives can quickly jot down meeting notes or call details without leaving their current screen, ensuring they capture important information on the fly.
• Recent Items: Reps can easily access recently viewed opportunities, leads, or accounts, saving time spent on navigation.
• Call Logging: With the Open CTI Softphone integrated, sales reps can log calls and view call history directly from the Utility Bar, making it easier to manage and follow up on communications.

2. Customer Support

• Omni-Channel Support: Agents can manage incoming support cases and service requests through the Omni-Channel widget, ensuring efficient case routing and handling.
• Knowledge Base: Quick access to knowledge articles and FAQs helps support agents find solutions and assist customers more effectively.
• Case Notes: Agents can quickly add notes to cases they are working on, ensuring all relevant information is recorded and easily accessible.

3. Marketing Teams

• Campaign Tracking: Marketers can keep track of active campaigns and their performance metrics without navigating away from their current tasks.
• Social Media Monitoring: Integration with social media tools allows marketing teams to monitor brand mentions and engage with customers in real-time.
• Task Management: Marketers can quickly access and update their task lists, ensuring they stay on top of deadlines and priorities.

4. Project Management

• Task and Milestone Tracking: Project managers can quickly view and update project tasks and milestones, ensuring projects stay on track.
• Time Tracking: Easy access to time tracking tools helps team members log their hours and keep track of billable time.
• Document Management: Quick access to project documents and files ensures that all team members have the information they need at their fingertips.

5. Field Service

• Service Appointments: Field technicians can view and manage their service appointments, ensuring they have the most up-to-date information.
• Work Orders: Technicians can quickly access and update work orders, ensuring accurate and timely job completion.
• Maps and Navigation: Integration with mapping tools provides technicians with quick access to customer locations and optimized routes.

6. Finance and Accounting

• Invoice Management: Quick access to invoice lists and details helps finance teams manage billing efficiently.
• Expense Reporting: Easy access to expense reporting tools allows team members to submit and review expenses quickly.
• Financial Dashboards: Finance teams can monitor key financial metrics and dashboards, ensuring they have real-time visibility into the company's financial health.

7. Human Resources

• Employee Records: HR professionals can quickly access employee records and update information as needed.
• Recruitment Tracking: Easy access to recruitment pipelines and candidate information helps HR teams manage hiring processes efficiently.
• HR Policies and Documents: Quick access to HR policies, forms, and documents ensures HR professionals can provide accurate information to employees.

8. Healthcare

• Patient Records: Healthcare providers can quickly access patient records and update information, ensuring accurate and timely patient care.
• Appointment Management: Quick access to appointment schedules helps healthcare providers manage their time and patient flow effectively.
• Lab Results: Easy access to lab results and other critical patient data ensures healthcare providers have the information they need to make informed decisions. In each of these examples, the Utility Bar enhances the user experience by providing quick access to essential tools and information, reducing the need to navigate through multiple screens and improving overall efficiency.

Setting up Utility bar in Salesforce

Here's how to set up and use the Utility Bar in Salesforce:

Adding the Utility Bar to an App

• Navigate to Setup:
  
  
  • Click on the gear icon in the top right corner.
  • Select "Setup."
• Go to App Manager:
  
  
  • In the Quick Find box, type "App Manager."
  • Click on "App Manager."
    
    

    Figure 1: Find App Manager in Quick Find Box.

• Edit the App:
  
  
  • Find the app you want to add the Utility Bar to.
  • Click the dropdown arrow next to the app name and select "Edit."
    
    

    Figure 2: Select your app in app manager and click on edit.

• Add Utility Bar:
  
  
  • Scroll down to the "Utility Bar" section.
  • Click "Add Utility Item."
    
    

    Figure 3: Add utility item on Lighting App Builder page.

• Configure Utility Items:
  
  
  • Select the utility item you want to add (e.g., Notes, Recent Items, Open CTI Softphone).
  • Configure the properties for the utility item as needed.
  • Repeat to add more items as necessary.
    
    

    Figure 4: Configure your Utility Item as your requirements.

• Save and Finish:
  
  
  • Click "Save" to save your changes.
  • Navigate back to your app to see the Utility Bar in action.
    
    

    Figure 5: This is how utility Items look in a Salesforce instance.

Common Utility Bar Items

• Notes: Quickly create and view notes.
• Recent Items: Access recently viewed records and objects.
• Omni-Channel: Manage incoming work and service requests.
• History: View recently accessed pages.
• Open CTI Softphone: Integrate with telephony systems.
• Custom Console Components: Add custom components to the Utility Bar.

Customizing the Utility Bar

• Access Utility Bar Settings:
  
  
  • Go to the App Manager and edit the desired app as described above.
• Reorder Utility Items:
  
  
  • Drag and drop the utility items to change their order.
• Configure Each Item:
  
  
  • Click on each utility item to configure its properties, such as label, icon, and width.
• Remove Utility Items:
  
  
  • Click the delete icon next to the utility item to remove it from the Utility Bar.

Benefits of the Utility Bar

• Quick Access: Provides users with quick access to frequently used tools and features.
• Customization: Tailor the toolbar to fit specific business needs and workflows.
• Productivity: Enhances productivity by reducing the time needed to navigate through different parts of Salesforce.

Conclusion

By customizing the Utility Bar in Salesforce, you can streamline workflows, improve user efficiency, and ensure that essential tools are always within easy reach.

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