Create, Clone, or Refresh a Sandbox
Create a sandbox to use for development, testing, and training. Clone a sandbox to copy its data and metadata into another sandbox. Refresh an existing sandbox to update its contents.
Required Editions
| Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience |
| Available in: Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Database.com Editions |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To view a sandbox: | View Setup and Configuration |
| To create, refresh, activate, and delete a sandbox: | Manage Dev Sandboxes (Developer or Developer Pro only) or Manage Sandboxes (all sandbox types) |
You have a few ways to copy metadata and data to a sandbox. What data gets copied during creation and cloning depends on sandbox type.
Where Are Sandboxes Created?
Sandboxes are created on sandbox instances. The location of the sandbox instance depends on where it’s corresponding production org is located.
- Sandboxes created from a production org in Salesforce First-Party are created on a Salesforce First-Party instance in the same region.
- Sandboxes created from a production org in Hyperforce are created on a Hyperforce instance in the same country.
- Sandboxes created from a production org in Government Cloud or Government Cloud Plus are created on a Government Cloud instance.
If a production org is migrated to a different infrastructure type (example: Salesforce First-Party to Hyperforce), new sandboxes created post-migration are also created on the new infrastructure type. Existing sandboxes remain on their current instance until they are refreshed or deleted by an admin, or migrated by Salesforce.
- Enable Source Tracking in Sandboxes
By enabling source tracking in Developer and Developer Pro sandboxes, Salesforce DX tooling can automatically track new, changed, and deleted metadata components. You can then select and determine which changes to move forward in the development cycle and release. For DX tooling that uses a Salesforce DX project or source control repository, source tracking can aid in conflict detection and resolution. And best of all, because source tracking identifies which metadata components changed, you no longer have to manually keep track of changes. - Sandbox Data Storage Upgrades
Upgrade the data storage of new or existing Developer or Developer Pro sandboxes, which supports developing and testing with larger data sets. - Create a Sandbox
When you create a sandbox, Salesforce copies the metadata from your production org to a sandbox org. What data gets copied depends on the sandbox type. - Refresh Your Sandbox
Refreshing a sandbox updates its metadata from the source org. If the sandbox is a clone or if it uses a sandbox template, the refresh process updates the org’s data and its metadata. The org ID of the sandbox changes each time it’s refreshed. - Activate Your Refreshed Sandbox
If you didn’t select Auto Activate while refreshing your sandbox, you must activate your sandbox before you can use it. - What are Preview and Non-Preview Sandboxes?
During the Salesforce major release transitions, sandboxes get upgraded on different timelines based on their release type. The two release types for sandboxes are preview and non-preview. - Best Practices for Salesforce Sandbox Creation and Refresh Times
Although Salesforce can’t speed up the process of creating or refreshing sandboxes, these strategies can help you to minimize sandbox copy times. - Some Considerations
Review these considerations when you create, refresh, or delete a sandbox. - Sandbox Cloning
You can create a sandbox by cloning an existing sandbox rather than using your production org as your source. Save time by customizing a sandbox with a set of data and metadata and then replicating it. Sandbox cloning simplifies having multiple concurrent streams of work in your application life cycle. You can set up a sandbox for each type of work, such as development, testing, and staging. Your colleagues can easily clone individual sandboxes instead of sharing one sandbox and avoid stepping on each other’s toes. - Monitor Your Sandbox’s Progress
From Setup, enter Sandboxes in the Quick Find box, then select Sandboxes. The list displays all your sandboxes. Select a sandbox to view details about its copy or refresh progress. - Determine Who Has Sandbox Access
Selective Sandbox Access helps you limit access to only required users who are included in a public group. It also removes the additional step for a Salesforce admin to change user email addresses back to their original format.
Did this article solve your issue?
Let us know so we can improve!
