Data type change in Salesforce - Impact in Marketo | Community
Skip to main content
G
Gayathiry1
Level 2
February 20, 2026
Solved

Data type change in Salesforce - Impact in Marketo

  • February 20, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 30 views

Hello Everyone, 

Quick question -

Salesforce team is currently working on a Contact Object cleanup project, as part of which they are planning to change the data types of some fields (no changes on the field API’s).

The Data type change includes 

Picklist  → Multi picklist

Text field  → Text area

Whether there will be any impact to existing Marketo integrations?

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks in Advance!

Best answer by Darshil_Shah1

Are these fields currently mapped to any Marketo fields, or are they just synced (so they live as SFDC Custom fields) in Marketo? It's a bit simpler if it's latter, as you don't need to worry about changing the types of the corresponding fields in Marketo (you wouldn't need to do for picklist → multi-picklist as both are represented as strings in Marketo, but you'd need to change the synced Marketo field type to text area in case of text → text area change in Salesforce)

  1. Piclist to Multipicklist: When a piclist field is synced to Marketo, it maps to a String field, not a constrained picklist. Existing Smart Lists using “is” logic may stop behaving as expected, and you'd likely need to switch those to "contains” in the smart list/smart campaign.
  2. Text to Text Area: Marketo treats both as String fields. However, Text Area supports larger character limits. If Salesforce increases field length beyond Marketo’s limit (typically 255 for standard string fields), truncation would occur. Again, this applies if this field is currently mapped with a Marketo text (string) field.

If you choose to change the field type in Marketo (to match Salesforce's type, especially in case of text to text area), the field must be removed from use in Marketo (it cannot be in any smart lists, campaigns, etc), and then you will be able to change its type. Keep in mind that if you change a field type and there is data in the field that is incompatible with the new type, the existing data will be removed. 

1 reply

Darshil_Shah1
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
Darshil_Shah1Community Advisor and Adobe ChampionAccepted solution
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
February 20, 2026

Are these fields currently mapped to any Marketo fields, or are they just synced (so they live as SFDC Custom fields) in Marketo? It's a bit simpler if it's latter, as you don't need to worry about changing the types of the corresponding fields in Marketo (you wouldn't need to do for picklist → multi-picklist as both are represented as strings in Marketo, but you'd need to change the synced Marketo field type to text area in case of text → text area change in Salesforce)

  1. Piclist to Multipicklist: When a piclist field is synced to Marketo, it maps to a String field, not a constrained picklist. Existing Smart Lists using “is” logic may stop behaving as expected, and you'd likely need to switch those to "contains” in the smart list/smart campaign.
  2. Text to Text Area: Marketo treats both as String fields. However, Text Area supports larger character limits. If Salesforce increases field length beyond Marketo’s limit (typically 255 for standard string fields), truncation would occur. Again, this applies if this field is currently mapped with a Marketo text (string) field.

If you choose to change the field type in Marketo (to match Salesforce's type, especially in case of text to text area), the field must be removed from use in Marketo (it cannot be in any smart lists, campaigns, etc), and then you will be able to change its type. Keep in mind that if you change a field type and there is data in the field that is incompatible with the new type, the existing data will be removed. 

    G
    Gayathiry1Author
    Level 2
    February 24, 2026

    Thanks ​@Darshil_Shah1 

    Here is one more scenario, please can you help in this:

     

    Sales Enablement team has proposed replacing the “XXXXX” field with “YYYYY field in Salesforce.

    Background: The existing XXXX field will be removed from Salesforce. It will be replaced with a new field called YYYYY.  This new field will contain a defined set of values (same as XXXXX field) mapped to Role Type. The dependency mapping and allowed combinations are outlined in the attached reference sheet.

    Action: We need to analyze the impact of this change in current Salesforce-Marketo integrating and make necessary changes in the integration (field creation/deletion/mapping etc.)

    Please can you let me know what the actions are to be done from Marketo end.

    Darshil_Shah1
    Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
    Darshil_Shah1Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
    Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
    February 24, 2026

    ​@Gayathiry1, I don't see any attachments in your previous message, but I'll share some steps you should find useful while migrating from XXX→ YYY.

    1. Create and Sync the New Field:

      • Once YYYYY is created in Salesforce. Let it sync to Marketo.

      • Have the support map with the corresponding Marketo field (if you don’t want to map it with a Marketo field, you don’t need support, and you can leave it as-is as SFDC Custom Fields)

      • Confirm the field appears correctly in Marketo (values, etc.)

    2. Audit Usage of the Existing Field (XXX)

      • Before removing XXX, identify everywhere it’s used in Marketo. The easiest way is using checking the Used By section of this field in the Field Management section.

      • All references should be updated to YYY before XXX is removed in Salesforce.

    3. Data Migration: If XXX already contains data that needs to be preserved (and hence migrated to YYY):

      • Plan a one-time backfill from XXX to YYY (usually done in Salesforce)

      • Allow sync to update Marketo and verify values in Marketo

    4. Update Marketo Logic

      • Once YYY is synced and populated with legacy XXX data in Marketo, update all references (SLs, Smart Campaigns, Reports, etc. to reference YYY from XXX).

      • Test key operational campaigns

      • Validate filters (especially if picklist values have changed)

    5. Retire XXX 

     

    Hope you find this helpful. Pls let us know if you have any questions! :)

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

      Loading footer...