Types of objects and fields in Salesforce

Standard objects are provided by Salesforce as a basic CRM structure. These include account, contact, opportunity, lead, campaign and so on. These are the tables that contain the records in any standard tabs, such as Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Campaigns, and so on.

In addition to standard objects, Salesforce allows you to create  custom objects to store data specific to your organization, which is not doable through standard objects. For example, creating a custom object to store employee checking, saving account details to process biweekly salary, and keeping employee account details private so that only the system administrator and employee (who created the record) can access it. You can create reports and dashboards based on the record data in your custom object. Custom objects are usually identified by a __c suffix.

Let's have a look at the differences between the standard and custom objects in the following table:

External objects are similar to custom objects. They allow us to map the data that's stored outside your Salesforce organization. The following screenshot represents how you can connect external system with Salesforce using the Salesforce Connect.

Each external object trusts on an external data source definition such as Salesforce Connect or OData to connect with the external system's data. Each external object maps to a data table on the external system. Each of the external object's fields maps to a table column on the external system. External objects are usually identified by a __x suffix.

Standard fields are predefined fields that are included as standard within the Salesforce application. Standard fields cannot be deleted, but non-required standard fields can be removed from page layouts whenever needed. Both standard and custom objects contain a few common standard fields, for example, Name, CreateDate, LastModifiedDate, and Owner fields.

Custom fields are unique to your business needs and not only can they be added and amended, but also deleted. Creating custom fields allows you to store the information that is necessary for your organization. Both standard and custom fields can be customized to include custom help text, which helps users understand how to use the fields. Custom fields are usually identified by a __c suffix.