Make contact firstname and lastname mandatory

Question

This is a generic question.

I was trying to make the first name and last name field of contact mandatory. Currently only the first name is mandatory.

I tried doing this from the page layout. Now I saw that, only the name field was visible there(not first name and last name). So I want to know is this usually the case? Or is is it possible to make the individual first name and last name mandatory from the page layout?

Answer 1

Because this is a standard field, I don't think there's a lot you can do with this with respect to making them required fields.

A workaround would be to create a validation rule that checks whether or not both FirstName and LastName are filled.

The condition might be something like the following:

ISBLANK(FirstName) || ISBLANK(LastName)

This would return true if FirstName or LastName is blank.

Answer 2

I suggest create a validation rule for first name.

Make first name required using validation rule

Answer 3

You need to create validation rule from

1. Setup | Customize | Contact | Validation Rules | New
2. Enter Rule Name and Description
3. Enter formula code ISBLANK( FirstName )
4. Enter the error message.
5. Select the Location where the error will be displayed.
6. Click Save.

Answer 4

I've not tested this but thought I'd suggest for you to try out (nor am I recommending it as a solution).

1. Change field level security of the first name and last name so they are hidden from all users.
2. Create 2 custom fields and add them to the page with the required status.
3. Create workflow rules to populate the standard fields with the custom field values.