Field Level Security vs. Not Searchable

I have found that there can be a bit of confusion about what making a field Searchable=no means. Someone may say, “Set this field to not searchable and remove it from the form so no one can access it.” Sadly, this is not exactly the case.

Review the chart below for a bit more information:

	Remove from Form / non - Searchable	Field Level Security	FLS & Non-Searchable	Delete Field
Pros	·         All data is saved ·         Existing searches with field as criteria cannot be run	·         Access could be granted to specific groups if desired ·         All data is saved	·         Existing finds using field as criteria cannot be run ·         Column can be added but will not display data	·         Cannot be included in Views ·         Not Searchable
Cons	·         Data is still viewable in Finds ·         Non-searchable for everyone	·         Field can still be added to views even though data is not returned ·         Views with field as criteria can be run but return no data	·         Some users can be given access to view data in field but all users will be unable to search for it	·         All data is lost ·         Manual change in all environments
Form	·         Remove	·         Remove	·         Remove	·         Needs to be removed from form prior to delete
Existing Views	·         Criteria: on Find page "There was an error in showing this condition". When running "There are some clauses that have errors in them please remove and try again" ·         Column: Data is still Visible ·         Criteria & Column: Same as Criteria above	·         Criteria: no error on criteria, find returned is blank (I cannot see the data) ·         Column: Column is visible, no data is displayed ·         Criteria & Column: Same as Criteria above	·         Criteria: on Find page "There was an error in showing this condition". When running "There are some clauses that have errors in them please remove and try again" ·         Column: Column is visible, no data is displayed ·         Criteria & Column: Same as Criteria above	·         Error: "To Use this saved view, you must remove criteria and columns that refer to deleted or non-searchable items"
Future Views	·         Criteria: Cannot be added ·         Column: Can be added, data is still visible	·         Criteria: Can add but no data will be returned ·         Column: Can be added, no data is returned	·         Criteria: Cannot be added ·         Column: Can be added, no data is visible	·         Cannot be included

See making a field Searchable = no only does exactly what it says. It stops users from searching for the field. It does not prevent people from viewing and using the data already in the field. If the field is removed from the form, it will not be easily accessible but can be viewed in Advanced Find. Don’t forget users could already have Advanced Finds with the field in it, they would not notice a change.  But if it was criteria in an existing view, they would need to change it.

Now Field Level Security effectively hides the data everywhere. If a user does not have access they will not see any of the data contained in it. However, the field could be included in Find Criteria and Columns but it would act as if the field was always blank.

One other note, if you enable field security on a field it will automatically be hidden from everyone except users with the System Administrator role. Then you can add it to other FLS Security Profiles if you need to. (Side note, FLS is not role based. System Administrator is a special case. Users and Teams are added directly to FLS profiles.)

I hope this clears up some confusion!