Lightning Console Apps, Split View and Utility Bar

Why This Topic Matters
Lightning console apps, split view and the utility bar sit at the heart of how high-volume users such as support agents, sales development reps and operations teams work in Salesforce. The Advanced Administrator exam tests this topic inside the Advanced Objects and Applications section, and questions usually describe a business scenario (agents need to see many records at once, reps need a softphone available everywhere, a team wants to work through a list without losing their place) and ask you to pick the correct feature or configuration. If you can quickly map scenario keywords to the right tool and know the limitations of each, these questions become easy points.

Part 1: Lightning Console Apps

What a Console App Is
A Lightning app is a collection of items (objects, tabs, utilities, pages) that is branded and assigned to user profiles. When you create a Lightning app in the App Manager, you choose a navigation style: Standard navigation or Console navigation. A console app is simply a Lightning app that uses console navigation. Everything else, such as branding, navigation items, utility bar and profile assignment, works the same way.

Key Console Behaviors
• Workspace tabs and subtabs: Records open as tabs within the same browser window instead of replacing the page. Related records opened from a parent record open as subtabs beneath it, so an agent can have an Account workspace tab with Case and Contact subtabs all visible at once.
• Multiple records at once: Users can keep many records open and switch between them without losing unsaved work, which is why console is ideal for agents who juggle several interactions.
• Pinned regions and console page templates: Console-optimized record page templates in Lightning App Builder (for example, Console: Pinned Header and Left Sidebar) keep key information such as highlights or related records fixed while the main region scrolls.
• Navigation rules: In the app settings you can define how records open. A navigation rule states that when a record of object X is opened from a record of object Y, it opens as a subtab (or as a new workspace tab). For example, Cases opened from an Account open as subtabs of the Account.
• Productivity tools: Console apps support Macros, Quick Text, keyboard shortcuts, the History utility, Omni-Channel, Open CTI softphones and the Lightning Console JavaScript API for custom components.
• Bookmarks and favorites: Users can favorite workspace tabs and use the History utility to reopen recently worked records.

How to Create and Configure a Console App
1. Setup > App Manager > New Lightning App.
2. Enter name, branding and description.
3. Choose Console navigation under App Options. Remember: the navigation style cannot be changed after the app is saved. To switch styles you must create a new app.
4. Add utility items (the utility bar).
5. Add navigation items (objects and tabs) and define navigation rules.
6. Assign user profiles.
Salesforce also ships ready-made console apps: Service Console (with Service Cloud) and Sales Console. Users of console apps need the appropriate permission set license (for example, Service Cloud User or Sales Console User) in addition to profile access to the app.

Important Limitations
• Console apps are desktop only; they are not available in the Salesforce mobile app.
• Classic console apps cannot be converted to Lightning console apps; you recreate them in Lightning.
• Some features behave differently in console, so always check that components you plan to use are console-supported.
• A record page assigned as the app default or org default applies the same way in console and standard apps, but console page templates are only offered when building pages for console use.

Part 2: Split View

What Split View Is
Split view displays a list view in a collapsible panel on the left while the selected record is displayed on the right. Users click through a list of records one after another without navigating away from the list, which is perfect for working a queue of cases, leads or tasks.

How It Works
• In console apps: Split view is built into the console experience. Opening an object from the navigation bar shows the list in the left split view panel; clicking a record opens it as a workspace tab while the list stays docked. Users can collapse and expand the panel, switch list views, and filter or search within it. Records from the split view open according to navigation rules.
• In standard navigation apps: Users can switch a list view to split view by choosing Split View from the Display As dropdown on the list view. The record opens on the right, the list stays on the left. This works for most standard and custom objects on desktop.
• Benefits: Faster record-to-record movement, less clicking back to the list, keyboard navigation support, and the ability to keep context while updating multiple records in sequence.
• Limitations: Split view is a desktop feature. Inline editing of certain fields and mass actions may require switching back to the full table view. It is not something you configure with a permission; it is a user-facing display option (standard apps) or a native layout element (console apps).

Part 3: The Utility Bar

What the Utility Bar Is
The utility bar is a fixed footer at the bottom of the app that gives users one-click access to tools from any page in the app. Items open in a pop-up panel over the current page, so the user never leaves the record they are working on. The utility bar is available in both standard and console Lightning apps but is desktop only.

Common Utilities
• Notes for taking notes while on a call.
• History to reopen recently viewed records and tabs (very popular in console).
• Recent Items for quick navigation.
• Omni-Channel for routing work to agents and setting presence status.
• Open CTI Softphone for click-to-dial and inbound call pops.
• Macros and Quick Text for repetitive case actions and canned responses.
• Chatter, Report Chart, Rich Text (for announcements or instructions), Flow (launch a screen flow from anywhere), Visualforce page, Lightning component (custom Aura or LWC) and Einstein related utilities.

How to Configure It
1. Setup > App Manager > Edit the app > Utility Items (Desktop Only).
2. Click Add Utility Item and select the component.
3. Configure the label, icon, panel width and height, and whether the utility should start automatically (load in the background when the app opens). Starting automatically is useful for Omni-Channel and softphones so they are ready to receive work immediately.
4. Reorder items; order determines their position in the bar.
5. Save. Changes apply to everyone using the app.

Advanced Behaviors
• Background utility items are custom components that run invisibly in the utility bar (for example, to listen for events and pop records) and do not show a button.
• The Utility Bar API lets custom components open, close, minimize and highlight utilities.
• The utility bar is per app; the same utility can be added to multiple apps, and different apps can have different utility bars.
• The utility bar and the Lightning console both work with Omni-Channel so that incoming work opens as a new workspace tab.

Part 4: How These Three Features Work Together
Picture a support agent using the Service Console. The split view on the left shows the My Open Cases list. The agent clicks a case, which opens as a workspace tab; the related Contact opens as a subtab because of a navigation rule. While working, a customer calls through the Open CTI softphone in the utility bar, which pops the caller's Account as a new workspace tab. The agent takes notes in the Notes utility, applies a macro from the Macros utility, and uses the History utility to jump back to the earlier case. No page refreshes, no lost work, no tab hunting across the browser. This combined workflow is exactly what the exam expects you to recognize as a console use case.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Lightning Console Apps, Split View and Utility Bar

Tip 1: Match the keywords to the feature.
• Words like multiple records simultaneously, tabs and subtabs, agents, high volume, related records open under the parent point to a console app.
• Words like available from any page, footer, softphone, Omni-Channel, take notes without leaving the record, launch a flow from anywhere point to the utility bar.
• Words like work through a list, see the list and the record at the same time, click through records without returning to the list point to split view.

Tip 2: Remember what cannot be changed. If a question says an app was built with standard navigation and users now need console features, the answer is to create a new app with console navigation, not to edit the existing one. Likewise, Classic console apps are recreated, not converted.

Tip 3: Know the mobile rule. Console apps and the utility bar are desktop only. Any answer that promises console tabs or utility items in the Salesforce mobile app is wrong. If users need mobile access, a standard navigation app is required.

Tip 4: Subtab behavior equals navigation rules. When a question asks how to make a record open as a subtab of another record (or as its own workspace tab), the answer lives in the console app's navigation rules, not in page layouts, record types or Lightning pages.

Tip 5: Distinguish configuration from user preference. The utility bar is configured by the admin in the App Manager and applies to all users of the app. Split view in a standard app is a user display choice on the list view; in a console app it is built in. Console-only tools such as Macros and Quick Text also need the relevant objects and permissions enabled.

Tip 6: Think about licenses and access. Access to a console app requires the app to be assigned to the user's profile and, for Sales or Service console, the appropriate permission set license. If a user can see a standard app but not the console app, check profile assignment and the permission set license before anything else.

Tip 7: Start automatically is a trap and a clue. If the scenario says agents miss calls or chats when they first log in, the fix is to set the Omni-Channel or softphone utility to load in the background when the app opens (start automatically), not to build a new app or change the page layout.

Tip 8: Eliminate over-engineered answers. The exam often offers a custom Lightning component or Visualforce page as a distractor when a standard utility (Notes, History, Flow, Report Chart) already solves the requirement. Choose the declarative, out-of-the-box option unless the question explicitly requires custom logic.

Tip 9: Page templates matter for console. If the question mentions keeping a record header or sidebar visible while scrolling in the console, the answer is a console record page template with a pinned region, configured in Lightning App Builder.

Tip 10: Read for scope. Utility bars are defined per app. A requirement that different teams see different utilities is solved by creating separate apps (or separate console apps) with their own utility bars and assigning them to the right profiles.

Quick Review Checklist
• Console navigation is chosen at app creation and cannot be changed.
• Records open as workspace tabs; related records open as subtabs based on navigation rules.
• Split view shows a list on the left and the record on the right; native in console, selectable via Display As in standard apps.
• Utility bar is a desktop-only footer configured in App Manager under Utility Items, available in standard and console apps.
• Common utilities: Notes, History, Recent Items, Omni-Channel, Softphone, Macros, Quick Text, Chatter, Flow, Report Chart, Rich Text, custom Lightning components.
• Utilities can start automatically and run in the background.
• Console apps and utility bar are not supported in the Salesforce mobile app.
• Sales Console and Service Console require the appropriate permission set license plus profile access.

Master these points, practice translating scenarios into feature choices, and the Lightning console, split view and utility bar questions on the Advanced Administrator exam will be some of the most predictable questions you face.