Salesforce Hacks # 4 : Reorder Record Types when creating a new Record

This was a really tricky thing to do and it's NOT the best solution for the problem, but still this is my humble experience with it.

THE PROBLEM

Imagine we have Record Types like these ( with some different labels, duhhh ):

I don't like the order of these and I would like to reorder them like for an example the picklist values, but oh-oh, no way to do that. Apparently, there is an idea for this for quite some time, but it's still not delivered:

https://ideas.salesforce.com/s/idea/a0B8W00000Gdj8iUAB/allow-order-of-record-types-to-be-controlled

So, we should find a workaround for this problem. I was not able to find a better solution for this, than:

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

I found a suggestion, to recreate the Record Types in the order you want them to be visible on the window above, BUT I haven't tested this, because when I was given the task to reorder mine, I already had a lot of stuff dependent on my old Record Types, so this wasn't really cool in my situation. I am sharing this, because, if you want and you think that this could solve your problem, test it out, give it a shot.

MY SOLUTION

So, my solution is not that beautiful as I would like it to be, but here's what I could think of:

Rename all the Record Types ( ONLY THE LABELS )

add an incrementing number and a dot in front of each label

in the order you want the Record Types to be presented

Now, let's check the result when we click the "New" button on the object tab

You get your Record Types in the order you wanted them :)

"Uhhh, Tsenko, wait, how come 4 is before 1? It seems to be working fine for the other types, 1 - 2 -3, right? What's going on?"

Thank you, Ire, for the brainstorming sessions! If I ever achieve something big in my Salesforce career, you are one of the main reasons! :)

This was actually the part where my boss / architect / friend really helped me out, because I was wondering, what am I doing wrong.

Go to

Setup

Profiles

System Administrator ( or whoever needs to see it correct )

Find the Record Types Settings Section

Do you see the problem? ;)

Edit the default Record Type for Opportunities ( or for whatever object you are doing this )

Let's see the result

BAAAAAM! We have order of the Record Types

NOTE: I am leaving this for future me and everyone else, who is too distracted some times!!! When writing this article, after I have implemented this for my work org, I followed the steps to be sure, that I am not missing something and I was editing the default Record Type for Account object instead for the Opportunity ( I have same Record Types in the Account ), without noticing it ... 30 mins wondering what the heck broke...

THE DRAWBACK of my solution

C'mon I told you that my solution is not that pretty after all

If you are displaying the Record Type on the Page Layout, you will see the number in front of the label ... sorry, not a perfect world after all. If you figure this out, I would love to hear your solution in the comments.

Happy blazing! :) UPDATE!!!!

Now, I really have to thank my friend Alexander Schirmer for this even hackier solution ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-schirmer-09712313b/ ), so thank you very much, Alex!!!

Here it goes, SOLUTION #2:

It was funny because Alex had the same issue and trying to find a solution online, he ended up on my blog :D He tested it and confirmed it solves the issue, but the same as me, the number in front of the name was really bugging him, so he started thinking in that direction. I am not sure how many of you are aware of this ( I was but of course it didn't came to my mind ), but there is a special symbol that can be used almost in any text, called ... drums here "No Width Non Break".

How nice, I can have a special character that affects only the LENGTH of the label, without doing any other harm? Don't trust me, try it out in Excel:

The rest is easy, add that symbol before the label's name as many times as you want the order to be in the list, but keep in mind that the default record type ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ... did I said always? will be the first one ( on top ). Again, I love hacks and whoever can do this even hackier, be my guest, so far Alex holds the lead :D