The Power of CRM Customization: Custom Page Layouts

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is an extremely powerful tool for any business. Out of the box, the tool gives your team access to more data than ever before. However, your CRM can become even more powerful once customized, unlocking deeper insights for company-specific use cases.

With so much data and so many records, organization is key. Page layouts refer to how fields, sections, and related information are arranged on a specific page within the CRM. These layouts are designed to provide users with a tailored and intuitive interface that aligns with their roles, workflows, and business processes. The primary goal of page layouts is to enhance user experience, streamline data entry, and optimize the visibility of crucial information. 

In Insightly, Page Layouts allow you to: 

• Add or remove fields
• Reorganize fields
• Make fields required
• Limit layout access to specific user profiles (requires Advanced Permissions)
• Setup which tab will open by default when a record is opened
• Hide custom Related tab grid lists when there are no records to display

Leveraging Custom Page Layouts in Insightly

Admins on any Insightly plan can edit default page layouts. Professional and Enterprise plan members can create additional page layouts.

Creating and Editing Page Layouts

1. Go to System Settings > Objects and Fields. Select the object for which you want to create a layout.
2. Under Object Management, select Page Layouts.
3. On accounts using Advanced Permissions, click New Layout or choose an existing layout.
   If your account is set to Simple Permissions, you can only select and change the default layout from the list (you can skip to step 7).
4. When creating a new layout, enter a unique name — a layout cannot share a name with an existing layout. You can choose to clone an existing layout to start with.
5. Click Create Page Layout.
6. Drag fields from the Available Fields list onto the Highlights Bar. Hover over each field on the Highlights Bar to move the fields, or click the trashcan icon to remove them.
7. Click the gear icon to the far right of the tabs (Details tab, Related tab, etc). From the dropdown that appears, select which tab should appear by default when the record is first opened.
8. Click the gear icon in the Details section. Click the checkbox to hide fields that have no value from appearing on the record’s Details tab.
9. Drag and drop fields from the Available Fields list into your layout. Use the Search box at the top of the Available Fields list to quickly find a specific field. If the field is grayed out, it has already been added to the page.
10. To edit a field’s settings — like making it a required field for this layout — hover over the field and click the gear icon to the right. Insightly’s required fields, such as Contact Name, cannot be edited or deleted.
11. If you need to create a new section, drag the New Section field from the Available Fields list onto the page layout.
12. Click Save Layout.

Simple Permissions will apply to all users when you use your updated default layout. With Advanced Permissions, you can create multiple layouts and assign layouts to user profiles.

Custom Page Layouts

Custom page layouts in Insightly are object-specific, allowing for granular customization based on modules such as leads, contacts, and opportunities. When creating a new layout, admins can choose the target module and begin defining the arrangement of fields, sections, and related lists based on the unique needs of users working with that module.

Insightly users can further enhance the usability of custom page layouts by leveraging conditional formatting. This feature allows dynamic changes to the appearance of fields or sections based on the values within them. For example, you can highlight urgent tasks or overdue activities, providing visual cues that aid quick decision-making.

Why Custom Page Layouts Matter in CRM

Tailoring the User Experience: Custom page layouts empower businesses to shape the CRM interface to align seamlessly with their unique workflows. Insightly’s customization of page layouts extends to user roles, ensuring that different teams or departments within an organization can optimize layouts for their specific requirements. Whether you’re a sales representative, a support agent, or a manager, you can have a custom page layout that caters to your role, presenting information most relevant to your responsibilities.

Industry-Specific Adaptations: Every industry has distinct processes, terminology, and priorities. Insightly’s custom page layouts allow businesses to adapt their CRM to suit industry-specific needs. Whether you’re in healthcare, manufacturing, or professional services, customizing your CRM ensures that it becomes a powerful tool that reflects the nuances of your business, ultimately enhancing your team’s productivity and efficiency.

Streamlining Workflows: A well-designed custom page layout can significantly streamline workflows by placing essential information at the forefront. Users can arrange fields, sections, and related data to minimize clicks and optimize data entry efficiency. This saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors, contributing to overall workflow efficiency.

Enhanced Decision-Making: Custom page layouts enable businesses to present critical information visually intuitively, aiding in more informed decision-making. Users can create layouts that directly showcase key metrics, analytics, and performance indicators on the CRM interface. This real-time access to data ensures that decisions are based on up-to-date information, contributing to the organization’s overall success.

Ready to implement custom page layouts for your CRM? Watch a demo on demand, or get a personalized Insightly demo with a team member today.