The rollup summary field in salesforce is a great field but has some very specific use cases.
This field type can only be used on the parent object in a master-detail relationship.
And it is typically used to summarize or show some type of data relating to all the child records of the master record.
This field has a few different ways you can show the data. These are going to be to count, summarize, min, and max the child records that are related to the parent record.
Youtube Video
One thing I want to mention before getting too far into this tutorial.
We have a youtube video on how to create a rollup summary field in salesforce on the Salesforce Emily youtube channel!
Sometimes it is easier to watch someone perform a task than to try and follow along with a blog post.
Step by Step
The first thing you will need to do is go to setup.
To get there click the gear in the top right corner of your screen and click setup.
Then click on the object manager.
This will bring you to a list of the objects in the current salesforce org.
Select whichever object you would like to create this rollup summary field for.
I selected the account object.
From there click on fields and relationships.
This will take you to a full list of the fields on the selected object.
Click new.
This will take you to the available field types. Select rollup summary and select next.
Note you will likely not be able to move on if you are on an object that does not have a master-detail relationship or is the child in the master-detail relationship.
Click next and this will take you to enter in the metadata for this new field. This will mostly consist of the naming conventions.
Click next and this will take you to set up the rollup type and summarizations of this field.
If you are in a sandbox and are learning how this field works feel free to play around with these settings.
Click next and you will need to set up the field level security of who can see this field.
Because this is more of a formula-type field no one will be able to edit it without first editing the foundational records for this field.
Click next and you will choose which page layouts will have this new field.
Click save and you have created your very own rollup summary field!
Conclusion
A big congrats to you for making it through this tutorial! We hope you found it useful!
Check out the salesforce Emily youtube channel here.
You can read more about us here
And check out our courses here