What is an Encrypted field in salesforce and its features

Encrypted Field in Salesforce

Encrypted Custom Fields allows users to store sensitive data in encrypted form and apply a mask when the data is displayed.

Ex: Password(********)

Who can see the data in the Encrypted field

• Users who have the “View Encrypted Data” permission enabled on the profile will be able to view the field normally.
• Users who do not have the “View Encrypted Data” permission on the profile will see the mask on data.
• Users who have the “Modify All Data” permission on the profile will not be able to see the value of encrypted data fields.

Features of Encrypted Field

• The field length is 175 characters in size.
• We cannot be typecast as a Unique or External ID.
• We can access the data of encrypted field in apex, i.e value is always unmasked.
• We can not use the fields in SOQL where and order clauses.
• We can not use the field in formula fields, workflow rules, workflow field updates, approval process entry criteria, and approval step criteria.
•  we can not configure the field with a default value.