This field, as its name implies, allows you to reference existing records from other Apps. It means that you will be able to select either a single record or multiple ones from those that already exist within the selected App.
The Reference field is a great way to enable your team to, for example, select the main point of contact for an opportunity from those that exist in your Contacts App.
It also includes a Multi Select version that will allow you to select multiple records from the selected App. This can be used to identify all contacts that belong to the same team within an organization, ie. Support team, or Management.
Configuring a Reference Field
Give your field a name and add a field hint if desired. You can then select the section in which the field will be created or keep the default option.
The field type must be set to 'Reference'.
Then you will need to specify the App you will be referencing under Reference Object. This field will include all your existing Apps.
Reference Qualifiers
You can specify a Reference Qualifier to limit the options available in the dropdown.
*The options available will vary depending on the app you a referencing to and will show only fields of type Choice List, Choice List Multi Select, Reference, and Reference Multi Select.
If you want to add a reference to the records that belong to a team member, for example, the 'Reference Qualifier' will be the record's owner and the 'Qualifier Value' will be the name of the team member.
Role Reference Qualifier
This qualifier will limit the list of Team members displayed on the field to show Team Members assigned to a specific Role only. Within the Qualifier options, you will have all the existing Roles for your Team members or simply select 'Current Role' as the qualifier value.
This will update the list of team members available in the dropdown to those that share the same role as the team member that is creating or editing the record
In the fields list, you will be able to identify the value of the reference under the 'Reference Info' column.
When you create or edit a record, you will notice that the available options in the dropdown will be limited, only those records where TJ is the owner will be displayed in the dropdown. You can find other examples of Qualifiers in the following tutorial:
Reference Qualifiers
If desired, you can set a default value for all new records. Team members will have the option to override the default value if needed.
Enable the 'Required' checkbox if the information for this field is mandatory. It means that if you enable this option, every time a team member creates a new record, they will need to input the information for this field in order to save it.
If you enable the 'Lock After Create' as its name implies, the field will be locked once the new record is saved and the value of the field will not be editable afterward.
Once you are done setting your field, click the save button.
Note: All new fields are added at the bottom of the form.
Configuring a Reference - Multi Select Field
Follow the same steps described in the section above, the only difference should be the type, that must be set to 'Reference - Multi Select'.