What is a main characteristic of external objects?

A main characteristic of external objects is that they reflect the current state of external data. External objects are part of Salesforce's functionality that allows users to access data that resides outside the Salesforce environment without the need for data duplication. This is particularly useful for organizations that want to leverage existing external systems, such as databases or ERP solutions, while maintaining real-time access to that data within Salesforce.

By implementing external objects, users can query and interact with this data as if it were stored within Salesforce, utilizing tools like Salesforce Connect. This approach ensures that users are always seeing the up-to-date information without needing to import or synchronize the data frequently, making it efficient for real-time applications or scenarios where the external data is constantly changing.

This characteristic of providing real-time access to external data marks a significant distinction from internal Salesforce objects, which are local to the Salesforce instance.