Standard reports are reports that ship pre-built with Salesforce — sitting in the standard folders (“Account and Contact Reports”, “Opportunity Reports”, “Activity Reports”, etc.). Custom reports are reports you (or another admin) build yourself in your org. Both run on Report Types underneath.
Side-by-side
| Standard Reports | Custom Reports | |
|---|---|---|
| Created by | Salesforce | You / your admins |
| Location | Standard folders (read-only) | Your folders (any folder you have access to) |
| Editable? | Cannot edit in place — you must Save As to customise | Fully editable |
| Examples | ”Top Accounts”, “Opportunity Pipeline”, “Cases by Status” | Anything you build for your org’s needs |
| Underlying | Built on standard or custom report types | Built on standard or custom report types |
| Visible to | All users with report access | Whoever the folder is shared with |
| Purpose | Quick starting points | Tailored to your business |
Where standard reports come from
Standard reports are pre-built recipes Salesforce ships:
- Sales reports — Top Accounts This Quarter, Pipeline, Closed Won
- Service reports — Cases by Owner, Cases by Status, Aging Cases
- Marketing reports — Campaign ROI, Lead Conversion
- Activity reports — Tasks by Owner, Activities by Type
- Admin reports — User login history, Report Usage
They live in standard folders that everyone with access to reports can see. You can run them, clone them, and export their data — but you cannot edit them in place.
Standard ≠ Standard Report Type
Don’t confuse “Standard Reports” with “Standard Report Types”:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Standard Report | A pre-built report record shipped by Salesforce |
| Standard Report Type | A pre-built template (object combo + fields) shipped by Salesforce |
| Custom Report | A report record you built |
| Custom Report Type | A template you built |
A Custom Report can use a Standard Report Type, and vice versa. They’re independent dimensions.
Workflow: “this is close but I want to change it”
The common pattern with standard reports:
- Run a standard report — close to what you want
- Save As → creates a custom copy in your folder
- Modify the copy — add filters, columns, groupings
- The standard original stays untouched in its standard folder
When standard reports are enough
- One-off / ad-hoc analysis
- New admins learning the report builder
- Quick reference reports (recent activity, top customers)
When you’ll always build custom
- Custom objects (no standard report exists for them)
- Specific KPIs your business cares about
- Reports feeding dashboards — dashboards usually need precise filtering
- Reports with bucket fields, summary formulas, custom column orderings
Common follow-ups
- Standard reports vs Standard Report Types — same thing? — No. Reports are records; report types are templates.
- Can I delete a standard report? — No. They’re org-fixed.
- How do I customise one? — Save As to a folder you own, then edit the copy.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Reports Overview. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.