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Enable Lightning Connect External Objects and External Data Sources

Publish Date: Apr 22, 2026
Description

Lightning Connect allows real-time access to external system data without synchronization. This requires license provisioning through your Account Executive because External Objects and External Data Sources are part of the Lightning Connect license — they are not a standard feature that can be toggled on by Salesforce Support. This feature is useful for organizations that need to surface data from external systems (such as SAP, Microsoft Azure, or other databases) directly inside Salesforce records without importing or storing that data in Salesforce. For example, an enterprise team can use Lightning Connect to display live order data from an ERP system on a Salesforce Account record without running nightly data syncs.

Available Editions:

Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer

How to Activate:

Contact your Account Executive to provision the Lightning Connect license

Prerequisites:

Review the relevant documentation on External Data Sources and External Objects before reaching out to your Account Executive.

Resolution

Lightning Connect External Objects and External Data Sources are license-provisioned features and must be enabled through your Account Executive — Salesforce Support is unable to assist with this activation request.

Requesting Activation

Standard Organizations

If you've reviewed all relevant documentation and would like to proceed with enabling these features, please contact your Account Executive directly to provision the Lightning Connect license for your organization.

Partner-Owned Organizations

If the organization that needs the activation is owned by a Partner:

  1. Have a System Administrator log a case with Salesforce Partner Support
  2. Please include all important details including the Organization ID and a business case for the request
  3. Partner Support will review the case and action it as needed

Note:

Salesforce Support is unable to assist with Lightning Connect license provisioning for either standard or Partner-owned organizations. Please ensure your request is directed to the appropriate team above.

Additional Resources
Knowledge Article Number

000387281

 
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Salesforce Help | Article