Work Offline with the Salesforce Mobile App

Your mobile users' productivity doesn't have to stop when there's no connectivity. When you enable caching and Offline Edit, users can keep working, unimpeded by a subway commute, FAA regulations, capricious cellular signals, or bunker-style buildings. Offline access is available for Salesforce for Android and iOS.

Manage caching and Offline Edit from Setup—enter Offline in the Quick Find box, then select Salesforce Offline.

Caching in the Salesforce mobile app is enabled the first time someone in your org installs Salesforce for Android and Salesforce for iOS.

The contents of a user’s cache determines the data that’s accessible when the user’s mobile device is offline. Let’s look at how the cache is initially populated and then updated throughout a Salesforce mobile app session.

Note A session is the time between logging in to and out of the mobile app. Putting the app in the background by switching away to a different app doesn't end a session.

• When a user logs in, the cache is empty. If the user’s device goes offline with an empty cache, no Salesforce data is available.
• To customize their cache, users can go to their profile menu, select Settings | Offline Preferences, and then select up to seven items that they want to be available offline. If users change their minds, they can easily go back and choose new items.

  

  If a user chooses not to customize their cache, Salesforce populates the user’s cache with up to 30 recently accessed records for their five most recently accessed objects. In addition to these records, the user’s tasks listed under My Tasks and their five most recently accessed dashboards are cached. However, if the user chooses at least one item from the Offline Preferences page, this selection replaces the existing cache with their new preferences.

  Recently accessed records are determined by a user's activities in both the mobile app and the Salesforce desktop site, including Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience.

  Whether users customize their cache or stick with their recently accessed records, they can populate their cache by going to their profile and selecting Settings | Offline Cache | Start Caching. After users initially populate their cache, they can manually refresh the cache using the same steps.

  

  Tip We recommend that your users populate their cache each time they log in to Salesforce so they have a meaningful set of available data when offline.

  Depending on the size and complexity of a user’s records, caching can take a few seconds to a couple of minutes. If the user goes offline before the cache is fully updated, some of the expected records won’t be available.

  When users put Salesforce in the background by switching away to a different app or navigating to their device’s home screen, their cache may automatically populate or refresh. However, the success of the background cache refresh can vary across devices and operating systems. We recommend that users manually refresh the cache.

• Throughout a session, many of the other records that the user accesses are also added to the cache. (Not all Salesforce data is available offline—see Create, Edit, and Delete Records in the Salesforce Mobile App While Online or Offline.)
• A record remains in the user’s cache for 30 days. Each time the same record is accessed, the clock resets. But if the record isn’t touched within 30 days, it’s automatically removed from the cache and won’t be available offline until the user accesses the record again.
• Logging out of the Salesforce mobile app removes all data from the cache. The next time the user logs in, the process of generating the cache starts over.

• Enable Offline Access and Offline Edit for the Salesforce Mobile App
  With just a few clicks, you can protect your Salesforce mobile app users against the vagaries of mobile connectivity. You can enable two levels of offline access: caching frequently accessed records, so users can view data while offline, and Offline Edit, so users can create, edit, and delete records while offline. Offline access is available in Salesforce for Android and iOS only.
• What's Available Offline in the Salesforce Mobile App
  With Salesforce mobile app caching and Offline Edit, Salesforce for Android and iOS users can work with many of their frequently accessed objects and records while offline. Here’s the list of data and Salesforce mobile app user interface elements that are available offline.
• Create, Edit, and Delete Records in the Salesforce Mobile App While Online or Offline
  Whether online or offline, Salesforce mobile app users can create, edit, and delete records and monitor changes from the Pending Changes page. The Salesforce mobile app automatically syncs those pending changes to Salesforce and warns the user if there are conflicts to be resolved.
• Offline Access: What’s Different or Not Available in the Salesforce Mobile App
  Learn the differences between the Salesforce desktop site and the Salesforce mobile app.