New Release Test Drive — the Spring ’19 Sandbox Preview is on the Way!

The New Year is fast approaching — the ball’s being hoisted above Times Square, the firework fuses are being triple-checked in San Diego, and all over the world people are getting mentally prepared to write the date wrong for a few weeks. The changing of the calendar also means there’s some awesome Salesforce stuff on the horizon — the Spring ’19 Release is on the way!

The release notes are already rolling out (we’ll dive into them in a future series) and we’re rapidly approaching the update for Sandbox environments that’ll give you a chance to test drive the newest features, right in your favorite ‘demo’ org! Today, we’ll walkthrough the steps you need to to take to make sure you’re ready for the Spring ’19 Sandbox Release on January 4th.

Let’s jump in!

Sandbox Service — Will Our Org Get the Update?

First thing’s first, if you want to take a preview spin in the Spring ’19 Release, you’ll need to have your Sandbox org set-up as a ‘Preview Instance’. Preview Instance Sandboxes will get the Spring ’19 Release rolled out on January 4th and 5th, Non-Preview Instances will have to wait until closer to the production rollout and won’t see the new features until February 8th and 9th.

To check which category your Sandbox instance falls into, all you have to do is navigate to the “Sandbox List” page in your production org.

To do that, navigate to the Setup page by clicking the cog in the top right of your org.

And then click “Setup” in the dropdown menu.

That’ll take you to the Setup Homepage.

Now, type “Sandbox” into the Quick Find bar on the lefthand side of your screen.

And click on “Sandboxes” (under Environments). That’ll get you to a list of all the Sandbox instances attached to your production org.

Now all you have to do is compare what your Sandboxes list in the “Location” column with Salesforce’s list of sandbox instances to determine if you’re on a preview or non-preview instance. You should see something like this:

Compare that (or those) locations to the timeline below to determine when you’re scheduled to see the new release functionality.

So, for example, if you see Sandboxes located in CS4, CS67, and/or CS107 — you’ve got preview instances and you’ll be able to test drive the Spring ’19 release beginning on January 4th or 5th! And, if you see Sandboxes located in CS6, CS52, and/or CS132 — you’re running non-preview instances and won’t see the new features until February 8th/9th, closer to the production rollout.

But what do you do if you’re running a non-preview instance and want to get swapped over before the 4th? The answer is act (fast)!

Changing your Sandbox Location to get into a Preview Instance

The good news is that it’s fairly simple to change your Sandbox instance, the bad news is that it involves a ‘refresh’ and those can take a bit of time on Salesforce’s end. Due to the popularity of previewing all the newest and coolest features, there’s usually a bit of a backlog for Sandbox creation and refresh requests in the lead-up to a new release.

If you’re looking to get your non-preview instance swapped over in time, Salesforce recommends making the change a week before the release date — which would be today!

To get your Sandbox instance swapped, simply click the “refresh” link next to the instance you’d like to change!

Follow the prompts and you’ll be all set. Congrats!

Now (as long as the creation/refresh queue isn’t too long), you’ll be set up to test drive the new release! You’ll get an activation email when your Sandbox is ready to go and all you’ll have to do is follow the link to fire it up!

In the next few weeks we’ll run through the coolest things included in the upcoming release and how you and your org will be able to leverage them into improved user-experiences, streamlined processes, and capturing even more Salesforce ROI!

And if you’d like a more personal (well, business-focused, but personalized) look at how you and your team could benefit from the new functionality — drop us a line! We’ll be happy to discuss your use-case and which Salesforce features will have the biggest impact on your business.

Until then, happy working and we’ll see you in the cloud!