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Comprehensive Guide to Salesforce Release Updates & its Critical Changes

Understand how often Salesforce release updates and critical changes in this guide. Learn about schedules, how to manage critical updates & check versions.

Comprehensive Guide to Salesforce Release Updates & its Critical Changes
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What Are Salesforce Release Updates?

Salesforce release updates are scheduled enhancements to the system made by Salesforce to introduce new features, improve functionality, enhance security, upgrade user experience, and fix bugs. These updates impact various Salesforce clouds, such as Sales, Service, Marketing, and others.

Salesforce is a CRM platform that continually evolves to meet the needs of today’s businesses. Three times a year, Salesforce releases major updates in Winter, Spring, and Summer, each packed with new features, performance improvements, and essential changes.

Each release is named after a season and year (e.g., Winter ’25, Spring ’25), indicating its timing. These updates include security patches, UI improvements, API changes, and new Salesforce automation tools to help Salesforce remain a leading CRM platform.

Releases ensure smooth operation and access to growth-driving tools, such as Einstein AI or improved reporting, for businesses who stay informed about them.

How Many Salesforce Releases Are There Per Year?

Salesforce rolls out three major releases each year:

  • Spring Release
  • Summer Release
  • Winter Release

These releases are carefully planned and rolled out globally on a fixed schedule, ensuring all users benefit from the latest innovations.

How to Check Your Salesforce Release Version?

Knowing your current Salesforce release version is essential for compatibility and planning.

Here’s how to check it:

  • Log in to your Salesforce org.
  • Click your profile picture or name in the top right.
  • Navigate to Setup > Find and click on ‘Company Information‘.
  • The “Instance” field on the Company Information page contains the name of your Salesforce instance.
  • Go to the Salesforce Trust site, search the instance, and find the release version.

This step is crucial before testing new features or applying critical updates, ensuring you are aware of the tools, features, and latest release available to your organization.

Understanding Critical Updates in Salesforce

Critical updates are mandatory changes that Salesforce enforces to improve security, performance, or compliance. These updates are essential for maintaining long-term performance and security, and failing to prepare for them can disrupt your org’s functionality.

  • Security enhancements
  • Deprecation of legacy functions
  • Changes to default behaviors

Admins receive notifications about updates in the Release Updates section in Setup.

Managing Critical Updates

  1. Navigate to Setup > Critical Updates in your Salesforce org.
  2. Review the list of upcoming updates, note their enforcement dates.
  3. Test each update in a sandbox environment to check for compatibility.
  4. Enable updates manually if they offer a “Test Run” option, or follow Salesforce’s testing guidelines.
  5. Deploy changes to production during off peak hours to minimize impact.

Testing in a sandbox at the final stage of your pipeline ensures that all environments are updated before going live.

The Latest Salesforce Release: Key Features and Changes

Each Salesforce release introduces advanced features. Some examples may include:

  • Enhanced Einstein AI functionality
  • Improvements in Flow automation
  • New Lightning components and layouts
  • Analytics dashboard updates
  • Agentforce Enhancements
  • Security Updates

These changes aim to increase efficiency and customer engagement, especially through AI-driven tools.

Best Practices for Managing Salesforce Releases

To ensure a smooth transition with each release:

  • Stay informed: Subscribe to release communications to keep updated on new releases.
  • Train your team: Prepare users for upcoming changes, share release notes, and conduct training sessions.
  • Document changes: Track what’s implemented or deferred.
  • Test in sandboxes: Use a sandbox to test new features and critical updates.
  • Schedule deployments: Deploy updates during off-peak hours to avoid disruptions, and have a backup plan ready.
  • Monitor updates: Regularly check Salesforce Trust and the Critical Updates page for enforcement dates.
  • Engage the Community: Join forums like the Trailblazer Community to learn from other admins and developers.

Conclusion

Staying up to date with Salesforce release updates is essential for maximizing your investment and maintaining strong customer relationship management (CRM) performance. With three major releases every year – Winter, Spring, and Summer, a proactive update management strategy will keep your organization secure, efficient, and prepared for the future. Need help preparing for upcoming Salesforce releases? Partner with Differenz Force to ensure you never miss a critical update.

FAQs

How often does Salesforce release updates?

Salesforce releases three major updates each year, approximately once every four months: Spring, Summer, and Winter releases. These updates are scheduled globally and include new features, innovations, performance improvements, security enhancements, and updates across all Salesforce Clouds.

What are the Benefits of Staying on Top of Salesforce Releases?

New tools and features can reduce manual work and automate processes.
Critical updates often include essential security fixes that keep your data and platform secure.
Using the latest tools and enhancements ensures you get the full value from your Salesforce subscription.
Updated CRM interfaces, improved accessibility, and performance upgrades can benefit users of the platform.

Where can I find the Salesforce release schedule?

You can find the release schedule at trust.salesforce.com or the official Salesforce Releases page.

How do I check my current release version?

Go to Setup > Company Information and find your Instance, then cross-reference it on Salesforce Trust.