Every year Salesforce releases three updates in order to up-gradation of salesforce environment for users. This time salesforce comes with Winter’20 release (Preview) notes. The release notes include details about new and modified features that should be implemented in Salesforce org.

The main theme of this winter 20 release is to make an impact to move towards the Salesforce Lightning interface very strongly.

This winter release is available in October and for knowing the date of release you have to go to your org and search for the company instance. According to your instance name, the exact release date for your org can be known.

Sandbox users will get features updates earlier than production org. On September 6, 2019, beginning of the window for Winter ‘20 has been scheduled. September 6 is the refresh deadline in order to have all the features of Winter’20 in your sandboxes.

This is very much clear that Salesforce isn’t getting rid of Classic. They are just switching your “Lightning enabled” users (users you already set up to use Lightning) to Lightning. Your users can switch back to Classic if needed.

Lightning Experience feature will be turned on by Salesforce on a rolling basis starting in Winter ‘20 release in October 2019 to empower users to move faster, do more, and be more productive.

When it’s turned on, custom and standard profile users with the Lightning Experience User permission enabled will see the ‘Switch to Lightning Experience’ link in Salesforce Classic and you automatically be switched into Lightning Experience on a regular basis.

Salesforce’s sandboxes have two releases, which depends on whether your sandbox is a “Preview” instance or “Non-Preview Instance”. The two release dates for Sandboxes are 6/7th September & 11/12th October.

Here some of the features of Salesforce Winter’20 release notes…

  • Salesforce is all set to launch a new Mobile app. in the week of October 2019. The new mobile experience is opt-in so that you can get started whenever you are ready.
  • You can configure Lightning apps, record pages, and component visibility rules for use on a phone with the new Salesforce mobile app.
  • Einstein Analytics users can do more on the go with the latest version of the Salesforce app. without switching between apps.
  • You can use the Lightning Message Service API to communicate across the DOM (Document Object Model), between Aura components, Visualforce pages, and Lightning web components.
  • There is no need to switch to Salesforce Classic to access the Recycle Bin. You can now restore, view and delete any items in your Recycle Bin. You will get the facility to use Restore and Delete buttons.
  • The Lightning Web Components framework is now an open-source that empowers you to explore the source code, customize the framework to your needs, and build enterprise-ready web components on any platform, not just Salesforce.
  • Salesforce has raised the limits for approval processes. Your org can now have up to 1,000 active and 2,000 total approval processes. Each object can have up to 300 active and 500 total approval processes.
  • Second-generation managed the packaging (2GP) is a new way for AppExchange partners to develop, distribute, and manage their apps and metadata. This can be used to organize your source, integrate with your version control system, and better utilize your custom Apex code.

Prepare for Lightning Experience now with these steps:

  • Run the Readiness Check found in Setup.
  • Turn on Lightning Experience for yourself or in a sandbox and test-drive your most used pages.
  • Review your user-profiles and permission sets so you know who has Lightning Experience access.
  • Update your Reports & Dashboards leveraging Lightning Experience features.