Salesforce Platform: Uninstall Managed Package with Hidden Sharing Rules

Uninstalling a managed package in Salesforce sometimes fails with an error referencing a sharing rule that can't be found - even though the sharing rule doesn't appear anywhere in the Salesforce UI. This happens because Salesforce can leave behind sharing rule metadata that's no longer visible or editable through the standard interface, but still blocks the uninstall process. Tools like the Metadata API and the ANT Migration Tool can surface and remove this hidden metadata.

Key Definitions

• UI (User Interface) - the standard Salesforce interface used for day-to-day configuration.

• Metadata API - the API used to deploy and retrieve configuration changes, including metadata not visible in the UI.

• ANT Migration Tool - a Java/Apache Ant-based command-line tool used to deploy and retrieve metadata via the Metadata API.

Error Symptoms

Users see an error message like the one below when uninstalling a managed package, even though the referenced sharing rule cannot be found in the UI:

SBQQ__Quote__c.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Entity of type 'SharingOwnerRule' named 'SBQQ__Quote__c.xxxxxxxxxxx' cannot be found

Root Causes

There are two reasons this can occur:

1. The package and/or package license has expired.

2. The sharing rule is invalid and therefore does not appear in the UI.