A guide to Salesforce sandbox types and templates

In this article, I'll discuss Salesforce sandbox types and templates, offering insights to enhance your development workflow. Whether you're a seasoned Salesforce professional or starting out, mastering sandbox management is crucial in driving success in your Salesforce projects.

But it won't be wrong to state that sandbox management in the native Salesforce platform can be improved drastically. Hence, I'll also demonstrate how tools like Hutte make working with sandboxes more efficient.

But first, let's start with the absolute basics.

What is a Salesforce sandbox?

A Salesforce sandbox is a dedicated environment replicating a production org's functionalities. Salesforce Developers, Administrators, and Testers use a sandbox to build, customize, and test applications, configurations, and processes without impacting the live system.

These sandboxes provide:

• A safe and isolated space for experimentation
• A space where users can develop and test new features
• Integrations
• Updates before deploying them to the production environment.

They help minimize the risk of errors and disruptions by providing a controlled environment for development and testing activities.

Types of Salesforce sandboxes

As mentioned above, Salesforce provides a range of sandbox types, each serving distinct purposes and catering to different development and testing requirements. Let's now delve deeper into the characteristics and advantages of each type.

Salesforce sandbox templates

A sandbox template is a guiding framework for determining the data to include when initiating a new sandbox in Salesforce. Only useful for Partial Copy or Full Sandboxes, these templates allow you to specify the precise objects and data to be incorporated rather than duplicating everything from the production org.

This targeted approach conserves storage space and enhances testing efficiency by focusing on relevant areas. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a new sandbox template in Salesforce:

1. Log into your org and go to "Setup." Locate the "Sandboxes" section.
2. Click on the "Sandbox Templates" tab and select the "New Sandbox Template" button to begin creating.
3. Provide a clear and descriptive name for the template and a brief description outlining its purpose.
4. Choose from standard and custom objects to determine the sandbox's content. For each selected object, specify whether to include all records, no records, or a defined subset of records.

By offering flexibility in data management, these templates ensure that sandbox environments accurately reflect production scenarios, allowing robust testing and development workflows.

Key considerations

• Sandbox templates apply to Partial Copy and Full Sandboxes, catering to diverse testing needs.
• Data included in sandbox templates are static and reflect the state when the sandbox is created or refreshed. Regular sandbox refreshes are recommended to maintain relevance with current data.

You can optimize Salesforce testing and development processes with sandbox templates, fostering efficiency and reliability in sandbox environments.

Creating a Salesforce sandbox

Now that you are familiar with the types and templates of Salesforce sandboxes, let's see how to create one:

1. Log into Salesforce as an administrator.
2. Go to "Setup" and search for "Sandboxes." Select it.
3. Click on the "New Sandbox" button.
4. Choose the type of sandbox you want (Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, or Full Copy Sandbox).
5. Enter a name and description for your sandbox.
6. Optionally, select data to include (for Partial Copy and Full Copy Sandboxes). Click "Create."

The creation process may take some time, depending on the sandbox type and current system load. You'll receive an email notification when the sandbox is ready. If you're creating a Developer Sandbox, you get it within a few minutes. A full sandbox can take up to 24 hours. This usually depends on the data and metadata that is being included.

Creating a sandbox with Hutte

If you use Hutte, you know you can create a sandbox with just one click. Here's how:

Refreshing a Salesforce sandbox

1. Log into your Salesforce account with administrative privileges.
2. Go to "Setup" from the Salesforce homepage.
3. In the search bar, type "Sandboxes."
4. On the "Sandboxes" page, locate the sandbox you want to refresh.
5. Check if the sandbox is available for a refresh. It should have a "Refresh" option next to its name.
6. Click the "Refresh" option next to the sandbox you wish to update.
7. Confirm your action to proceed with the refresh.

Follow the prompts in the refresh wizard to choose your refresh options. You may be able to choose the data source for the refresh (from production or another sandbox). After selecting your options, submit the refresh request.

The refresh process may take some time, depending on system load and sandbox size. Like sandbox creation, you will receive a confirmation email when the refresh is complete and the sandbox is ready.

Refreshing (or creating) a sandbox from another sandbox

Did it come as a shocker? Yes, you can create or refresh a sandbox from another sandbox if both have the same license. This is particularly helpful in copying metadata to your sandbox.

Here's how it looks 👀

Deploying from sandbox to production made easy

You now know how to create and refresh a sandbox. But remember the primary reason for having one. A sandbox is used to develop, create, and test features without impacting the live org.

Typically, teams share development orgs or allocate permanent dev orgs to individual team members. Unfortunately, this practice often leads to outdated development environments and complications when integrating multiple team members' contributions.

This can make your development cycle a bit of a rollercoaster. Enter Hutte's "Sandbox Pooling" to the rescue.

Sandbox Pooling explained

Sandbox Pooling seamlessly combines the strengths of scratch orgs – known for their short lifespan – with sandboxes, which provide the most efficient way to replicate the production environment you're targeting your development for.

Hutte has now introduced a similar concept for sandboxes.

See it in action by watching our demo 🎬

Ready to dive into the pool of Salesforce sandboxes?

In this article, I've thoroughly explored Salesforce sandboxes, covering the various types and templates available, understanding their role in development and testing, and the essential steps for their creation, refreshment, and deployment.

Throughout the article, the focus has been on enhancing productivity and reducing complexities, which brings me to Hutte.