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There may be times when you want to see data in its raw form and be able to query on specific criteria.  The Query Editor in the Developer Console allows you to write and execute a SOQL query on the data in your organization. The History pane displays your last 10 queries for quick reuse. Results are displayed in a Query Results grid, in which you can open, create, and update records.

To open the Developer Console from Salesforce Classic:

1. Click Your Name.
2. Select Developer Console.

To open the Developer Console from Lightning Experience:

1. Click the Gear Icon.
2. Select Developer Console.

1. Enter a SOQL query in the Editor box or navigate to File –> Open Resource. The Open Resource window displays.
2. Search for the object by typing in the Select an item to open box. Select the object and click the Open  For this example we will query on Account.

**BE SURE TO SELECT THE OBJECT WITH THE “.obj” EXTENTION

3. All of the object’s fields display. Select the fields you would like displayed in the result list.  Select multiple fields by holding down the Control
4. Click the Query button to create and add the SOQL query to the editor.
5. Click the Execute button to run the query and see the results.

6. Add a where clause, include more fields, etc. to the SOQL query at any time.
7. Click on the Create New (add new record for the type of object in the query), Open Detail Page (open record in read mode), or Edit Page (open record in edit mode) to perform quick actions.

8. To refresh the result list click the Refresh Grid
9. To execute the SOQL query after making changes, click the Execute

The Object Manager is the place to go to manage your standard and custom object such as custom fields, page layouts, and validation rules. If an object is included in a managed package or is for Salesforce systems, you may not be able to access those.

Standard objects such as Account or Contact come with all Salesforce organizations. A custom object is something you have created or added to manage additional items.

Here are some of the ways you can manage objects:

To open the Object Manager:

1. Click on the Gear Icon at the top of the page and choose Setup.
2. Click on the Object Manager The standard and custom objects are displayed in a list.

3. Select the object you want to manage. For this example we will use the Account object.  The options for what is manageable are on the left and details will display on the right.

To manage a field in the object:

1. Click on Fields & Relationships. All of the fields that store data for the object will be displayed.
2. Click the New button to create a new field.
3. Click on the Field Name to open its properties and make changes.
4. To remove the field, select Delete from the drop-down at the end of the line.

To manage how the fields are displayed on the screen:

1. Click on Page Layouts. All of the page layouts that have been configured are displayed.
2. Click on the layout you want to manage.
3. From here you can move fields around the screen, add/remove sections and related lists and much more.

To manage how your Search pages look and what functions to include:

1. Click on Search Layouts. All of the search screens used will be displayed.
2. Click on the drop down at the end of the row of the layout you want to manage and choose Edit.

3. From the Edit Search Layout page you can choose what fields will be displayed in the search result list.

There are times when you may need to delete records in mass.  Maybe an import was done or a mass update and you want to remove any records created.  This is also helpful during migrations.

The record types you can mass-delete include cases, solutions, accounts, contacts, leads, products, and activities.

Here are some ways that mass delete is handy.

• You’ve identified multiple reports that are no longer used and you want to unclutter the list of reports on the Reports tab.
• You imported your leads incorrectly and you want to start over.
• You want to clean up web-generated leads that were created incorrectly or delete accounts and contacts with which you no longer do business.

To Mass Delete Records:

Make sure you have a backup of your data or do a quick export before performing the mass delete.

Run a SOQL query in Developer Console or a Report to view the records you will be deleting and get a record count.

1. From Setup, enter Mass Delete Records in the Quick Find box, and then select Mass Delete Records.

2. Click on the link for the type of record to delete. For this example we will use Activities.
3. In Step 3 of the Mass Delete screen, add the criteria for the records to remove. For example:  Activities created today, Accounts in Texas, Open cases older than 2 years.  The below image shows we are deleting activities that were created by ‘bgear’ AND created Today AND is a Task.

4. To find records that match the filter, click the Search The result list will display at the bottom of the page.
5. Review the items to be sure you recognize them and that the filter is correct. If there are more than 250 records, you will be alerted that there are more records in the results.
6. Check the box next to the items you want to delete. To select all currently displayed items, check the box in the Column Header.
7. To permanently delete records, select Permanently delete the selected records.

** SELECTING THIS OPTION PREVENTS YOU FROM RECOVERING THE SELECTED RECORDS FROM THE RECYCLE BIN.

8. Click the Delete button. If you did not select Permanently delete the selected records, deleted items are moved to the Recycle Bin.
9. If you have deleted all of the records in the list, it will be blank. If you have more records to delete, repeat steps 7 – 10 until all records are removed.