Salesforce Style Guide for Documentation and User Interface Text

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Voice
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Glossary
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Voice

Use active voice whenever possible. Be careful not to change the meaning of a sentence when rewording from passive to active voice.

Passive voice can be appropriate in some cases—when using active voice creates an awkward construction, when the subject is unknown or not the focus of the sentence, when you want to avoid blaming the user, or when trying to convey an impersonal tone for a technical audience.

Here are some strategies for changing passive voice to active voice.
Strategy Example
Identify the real subject and switch from passive to active voice.

BEFORE: The data is entered by the user.

AFTER: The user enters the data.

BEFORE: When you create an action, its layout is populated with a default set of fields.

AFTER: When you create an action, Salesforce populates its layout with a default set of fields.
Replace the passive voice with the imperative.

BEFORE: If you want to place a frame script on a tween layer, it must be created on another layer and dragged to the tween layer as well.

AFTER: To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer.
Is a technology the subject of the sentence? Sometimes the active voice is awkward, and the passive voice is better. OK: The variable is passed in the URL. Convert a field’s type from one that’s supported for actions to one that isn’t supported.