Format Salesforce phone numbers in E.164

Why a validation rule or formula is not enough

A validation rule with REGEX can check characters and length, but it cannot know that a ten-digit US number and a ten-digit Italian mobile follow different rules, or which country code a local number needs. Correct formatting depends on per-country metadata: valid lengths, prefixes, and national dialing rules. libphonenumber maintains that metadata for every country, and NumberForge ships it in the package.

Local numbers need a country

A number that starts with + carries its own country. A local number such as 06 1234 5678 can only be converted when the country is known. NumberForge takes it from the org default (a fixed country or the organization locale), from a country field on the record, or from the field rule. When there is no country context, the result is Needs region instead of a wrong guess.

Three ways to normalize phone fields

NF.Phone phone = NF.parse(contact.Phone, 'US');
if (NF.isValid(phone)) {
    contact.Phone = NF.format(phone, NF.Format.E164); // +16502530000
}

Supported formats

Records you already have

Field rules apply as records are saved. To rewrite values already stored, run a batch Apex job with the NF API or a scheduled flow with NF Process Phone over the records you want to normalize.

Questions

What is the E.164 phone number format?

E.164 is the international numbering format defined by the ITU: a plus sign, the country calling code, and the national number, with no spaces or punctuation, up to 15 digits. For example, +16502530000 for a US number or +390612345678 for an Italian one.

Does NumberForge rewrite invalid phone numbers?

No. Formatting applies only to numbers that are valid for their country. Invalid values stay as entered, and a field rule can write a status or flag to another field, or block the save.

Does formatting call an external API?

No. Parsing and formatting run in Apex against libphonenumber metadata packaged as static resources, so phone numbers never leave your Salesforce org.