The salesforce.com Summer ‘13 release is quickly approaching and soon you'll be able to take advantage of exciting new features and functionality! If you are a Force.com Sandbox customer, you have the opportunity to get early access to Summer ‘13 in your Sandbox and test new customization and features (the chance to get your feet wet) before your production organization is upgraded.What will Happen?
Salesforce provides you an option to “test” out the new features in one of your sandboxes, make sure you existing logic plays nice or if you want to upgrade them with the new features.
What are the new features of summer ‘13?
The new features of summer 13 include browser enhancements, new UI to setup, Data.com changes, Tooling API, Enhanced SOQL / SOSL limits, Chatter Communities, Enhancement to Chatter, Site.com etc..
You can keep track of the new features by visiting the Summer ‘13 release notes here, they’re updated often.
How will I opt-in / Opt-out my sandbox from Summer ‘13 Preview?
Steps Involved
- You need to Determine your sandbox instance by using the location column below.
Login to your Production ORG Goto Setup –> Data Management –> Sandbox
- Determine which sandboxes you need to have preview
- Refer to below chart to understand “How to Opt-in /out”
- If sandbox is full copy be mindful of the 29 day refresh policy
- All the Summer ‘13 Features will be rolled out on May 10th 2013 to the Opt-in Sandboxes
| If your Sandbox needs to have Summer ‘13 Preview | If your Sandbox Does NOT need to have Summer ‘13 Preview |
| CS3, CS4,CS5,CS7,CS9,CS11,CS12,CS13,CS14,CS15,CS17 will be be automatically in preview mode if you DON’T refresh AFTER May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST | CS3, CS4,CS5,CS7,CS9,CS11,CS12,CS13,CS14,CS15,CS17 refresh AFTER May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST |
| CS1,CS2,CS6,CS8,CS10,CS16 Refresh Before May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST | CS1,CS2,CS6,CS8,CS10,CS16 will be be automatically in NON-preview mode if you DON’T refresh BEFORE May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST |
| If you have a Large Sandbox ensure your refresh begins before 3rd May and completes before 10th May 2013 | Refresh your sandbox after 4th May and Before 10th may |
PROS & CONS of Sandbox Summer’13 Preview
PROS :
- You will get preview access to latest features & enhancements from Summer ‘13 release
- You’ll be able to determine which features to Turn off / On when your production turns Summer ‘13
- Identify if all your business cases run smoothly on Summer ‘13
- Able to maximize the “new features” once they’re released
- Modify VF / Apex Classes to take advantage of the new Platform Releases
- Plan internal / external product releases
- Once your Sandbox is in PREVIEW mode, you will not be able to deploy anything from this sandbox to a Spring ‘13 sandbox or Production until June 15th 2013
- AppExchange Packages can be installed to Only Summer ‘13 Preview Sandboxes until June 15th
And you cannot Deploy / Install anything that has metadata of version 28.0 to Version 27.0
Here’s an Infograph depicting that
If you have additional questions about your Sandbox options in conjunction with the Summer ‘13 release, please contact salesforce.com Customer Support or reach out to me . Please leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below
Additional Resources:
