Simple Method for Processing Digital Media Using Pocket, Feedly and Evernote

Processing the flood of available digital media can be overwhelming.

Blogs, bookmarks, pins, articles, quotes, emails. Random inspiration and useful information is scattered all over the web.

Here's my method for keeping things organized:

Evernote... allows you to organize information (bookmarks, clips of web articles, audio snippets, images, handwritten notes, etc) in digital notebooks.

Find out how to get started with Evernote here.

I use the desktop version primarily and pay for the premium subscription - totally worth it!

I'll outline my favorite tips and tricks for using Evernote productively in a future post.

• Get the Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome here.

Pocket... is a useful resource for saving web content for future reading. Whether I'm using my desktop computer or my smart phone, it's easy to send a link to Pocket to come back to.

I'm currently using the free version.

• Get the Save to Pocket extension for Chrome here.

Feedly... is the software I chose to review blog posts after the demise of Google Reader. I've found that I actually peruse posts with Feedly a lot more often than I ever did with Reader thanks to a layout that allows for super speedy scrolling.

Feedly Pro allows you to save posts directly to Evernote, but right now I'm using the free version and saving to Pocket instead.

PS - I haven't been compensated by any of these software companies. I just happen to love these tools!

Logos found here: Evernote, Pocket, Feedly.

Tip: How to Fire an Updated Trigger on Existing Salesforce Records

Hey Salesforce Admins,

Here's a tip to help you if you've got a recently updated or newly created trigger (or workflow rule) that you want to fire on existing records.

Create a custom 'Admin Filter' text field on the object that you are running the trigger on. You don't need to add it to any page layouts or make it visible to users. (I chose this method because I didn't want to update any existing fields that are already in use in order to force the trigger to fire.)

Then, use the Data Loader (or Mass Update Anything) to update that field on all of your records.

Ta-da! The update will fire the trigger on all records that match whatever criteria you've specified.

Now, I'm off to do this in my own org.

Salesforce Admin Journal: Teaching a Man to Fish.... or at Least to Create a Report

I regularly receive requests from users to create a specific report. Often these are reports that no one else needs access to.

We are trying to cut down on the number of reports in the 'Unfiled Public Reports' folder. So, I'm encouraging users to save reports that they may need in the future to their 'My Personal Reports' folder.

I'm also working on teaching them how to create reports on their own. As I mentioned in this post from last year, I think it's important to educate people whenever possible rather than just doing something for them automatically because 'it will take me less time.'

This method doesn't just benefit me by reducing the number of request I will receive in the future. It also helps my users become more self sufficient and capable.

Today, a user chatted me a report request. In response, I recorded a one minute long tutorial that will help him learn the basic skills needed to prepare the report himself.

Here's the response I received:

That was totally worth the few extra minutes it took me to record the tutorial using Jing.

Use LexiLoader to Export a Subset of Salesforce Records Based on Id

I want to extract specific fields for a subset of records. I have the ids of the records that I want to extract, either from a previous export or from an exported report. But, there's really no way to extract specific fields based on just those ids.

With the Excel Connector (for Windows), this is easily done by running a query based on the ids. It's also super handy for updating those fields either individually or in groups.

But, as a Mac user, my options are limited. In fact, I don't know of another way to easily query a subset of records based on their id.

Now, this situation can probably be avoided most of the time. But, here's where I run into it: Sometimes, a user will send me an exported report or copied/pasted data and want updates to be done on the records. In that case, I might have to extract the ids from hyperlinked records first. (Here's how I do that.)

Another scenario I run into is extracting records with lookups, eg: opportunities. When I run the export with LexiLoader, any lookups (such as Account) pull in just the record ids. If I want to display the Name, I'm kind of stuck. (Although, as I'm typing this now, I realize that I can probably get around this by including the related field in my SOQL query. Doh. Oh well, I'll share my previous method just in case anyone else can benefit.)

Anyway, here's the method I used:


1. Grab your record ids that you'd like to query and update.

2. Use the record ids to build your SOQL query.

I demonstrated this technique - using a concatenated formula to build query criteria - in a short video here.

Drag the formula in your second row of data down. You'll get the combined concatenated criteria for your query.

The last row will have all the ids ready to be copied and pasted into your query.
Mine looked like this:
'0017000000b1bFCAAY' OR ID= '0017000000b2Ca8AAE' OR ID= '0017000000cEUwnAAG' OR ID= '0017000000colvrAAA' OR ID= '0017000000eiRbPAAU' OR ID= '0017000000iewgvAAA' OR ID= '0017000000iVUjZAAW' OR ID= '0017000000mJWy1AAG' OR ID= '0017000000nXFZRAA4' OR ID= '0017000000pG0BdAAK' OR ID= '0017000000RAUMiAAP' OR ID= '0017000000SGWm9AAH' OR ID= '0017000000T1GmbAAF' OR ID= '0017000000T1O36AAF' OR ID= '0017000000T3mPxAAJ' OR ID= '0017000000T3TM4AAN' OR ID= '0017000000TEq8dAAD' OR ID= '0017000000TFRUmAAP' OR ID= '0017000000TpUqCAAV' OR ID= '0017000000TpVQGAA3' OR ID= '0017000000TVkxkAAD' OR ID= '0017000000TYg9tAAD' OR ID= '0017000000UeKKZAA3' OR ID= '0017000000UfnOFAAZ' OR ID= '0017000000UfXxrAAF' OR ID= '0017000000uMigaAAC' OR ID= '0017000000uMWgbAAG' OR ID= '0017000000uMWhQAAW' OR ID= '0017000000uMWhUAAW' OR ID= '0017000000uMWiDAAW' OR ID= '0017000000UuVBmAAN'

3. In LexiLoader, navigate to the Export wizard.

4. Choose your object, then click on 'Browse' to create your export file.

I have a list of Account ids, so I chose 'Account,'

5. Give the export file a name. Click 'Save.'

I usually try to be fairly descriptive so that I can easily identify the purpose of my export.

6. Click 'Next.'

7. Choose the fields to include.

8. Update the query formatting as necessary.

I needed to add 'WHERE id = ' so that I can proceed with the next step.

9. Paste the concatenated query criteria that you copied from your last row of formulas in step 2.

10. Click 'Finish.'

11. Choose 'Yes.'

12. After your export is complete, open the file that you named in step 5.

You'll see all of the records that you specified in your query criteria.

13. Update or use your data.

When I've used this method in the past, there have been two reasons - to update a segment of records or to use them in a vlookup based on id in my original spreadsheet.

If you want to update...

There are a few different ways to do your update, depending on your circumstances.

1. In your original spreadsheet of just ids, create a new column for each field that you want to update. Pull each column that you need in with a vlookup. This is helpful if you've already done some editing on your original spreadsheet and don't want to lose it.
   
2. Use your export spreadsheet to update data as needed. This is the best option if you haven't already made changes on your original spreadsheet.

Upload your changes using LexiLoader.