New Release Test Drive — the Summer ’19 Sandbox Preview!
By: Chris Stegall
Tags: Salesforce Releases, Summer 19 Release, Sandbox, Salesforce Sandbox, Salesforce

The sun’s almost back to mid-year strength, swimsuits and shorts are coming out of hibernation, and our summer bodies are looking like, well, like they’re going to take another year — but that can only mean one thing: the Summer ’19 Release is right around the corner!

And if you’re ready to dip your toes in the water and explore the new features in your favorite sandbox, the preview will go live on May 3rd. In today’s post, we’ll cover everything you need to do to make sure your environment gets included in the roll out.

Let’s dive in!

Sandbox Service — Will Our Org Get the Update?

First thing’s first, if you want to take a preview spin of the Summer ’19 Release, you’ll need to have your Sandbox org set-up as a ‘Preview Instance’. Preview Instance Sandboxes will get the Summer ’19 Release rolled out on May 3rd and 4th, Non-Preview Instances will have to wait until closer to the production rollout and won’t see the new features until June 14th and 15th.

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 CS5, CS63, and/or CS105 — you’ve got preview instances and you’ll be able to test drive the Summer ’19 release beginning on May 3rd or 4th! And, if you see Sandboxes located in CS8, CS58, and/or CS151 — you’re running non-preview instances and won’t see the new features until June 14th/15th, 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 3rd? 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 at least a week before the release date, which would be April 26th — but if you can do it earlier, all the better!

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 coming weeks (once the release notes drop) we’ll take a look at the most exciting features headed our way 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 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, keep working hard, smart, and happy — and we’ll see you in the cloud!