Salesforce Read-Only Mode Overview

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the capabilities and limitations of read-only access?
When Salesforce is in read-only mode, you can view your data, however you will NOT be able to do the following:

a. Add, edit, or delete data
b. Download files
c. Reset passwords
d. Perform any actions in Salesforce that modify your data. For example

i. Receive activity reminders
ii. Update the Recent Items list
iii. Save, new, or edit reports 
iv. Refresh dashboards
v. Post on Chatter
vi. Complete API writes or edits (this will return an error message, however, read API calls will be successful)
vii. Use any other features which involve a write or update to the database
viii. Use Live Agent

If you’d like to see how your organization works in read-only mode, contact Salesforce to have the testing option enabled in your sandbox organization. For more information, see Test read only mode functionality in a sandbox.

Any Screen Flow or Login Flow that utilizes "Run in Lightning Runtime" will fail to execute and display the following error message  "Updates can’t be made during maintenance. Try again when maintenance is complete."

2. How will I know if I am in read-only mode?
When your organization is in read-only mode, Salesforce Classic desktop and mobile browser users will see a banner at the top of their browser window. Users attempting to edit records during read-only mode in Lightning Experience will not see a banner, but will receive a “Review below errors” message at the top of the record upon attempt to save any changes made.

3. Will read-only mode work for communities, portals or sites? 
Yes, visitors to communities, portals or sites that are in read-only mode will see a ‘Maintenance is in Progress’ message. To learn more about whether you can customize your maintenance page, see the article, How is my org impacted during Salesforce maintenance?

4. What happens to Email-to-X (e.g. Email-to-Case) or Web-to-X (e.g. Web-to-Case) during read-only mode?
Email-to-X and Web-to-X will be queued and then processed once the maintenance is complete. 

5. What happens with Salesforce to Salesforce integrations during read-only mode?
When the source org is in read-only mode, there are no changes being made and therefore no updates. When a receiving org is in read-only mode, the updates will not execute and will, therefore, be automatically retried later.

6. Will read-only work on mobile devices?
Yes, if you are accessing Salesforce via a mobile web browser, the read-only experience will be the same as viewing from your desktop. If you are accessing Salesforce via the Salesforce mobile app, upon logging in you will be brought to a page notifying you that you are in read-only mode; there will not be a banner at the top of the page.

7. What will happen if I try to make any updates to my data while in read-only mode?
You will receive an error message if you try to make any updates to your data while in read-only mode.

8. What error message will be returned for API writes or edits?
In the UI, the error message is, "Updates can’t be made during maintenance. Try again when maintenance is complete."
In the API, the API error code is INSERT_UPDATE_DELETE_NOT_ALLOWED_DURING_MAINTENANCE. In Apex, the exception will be of type InvalidReadOnlyUserDmlException.

9. Will login history still be recorded?
Login history is still recorded for compliance purposes, but it will not be reflected in your org until a few minutes after the org exits read-only mode.

10. Which maintenance windows will have read-only access available?
Scheduled maintenance windows posted to trust.salesforce.com indicate if an upcoming maintenance will have read-only access available.

For additional information on our scheduled maintenance windows, see the Preferred Salesforce Maintenance Schedule article.
For a schedule of upcoming maintenances, visit trust.salesforce.com.