It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for Salesforce users). Why? Because the Winter 2020 release is finally upon us! This release includes several new product launches and more than 300 new innovations, most of which rolled out globally in mid-October, including features and add-ons to products you likely already own. There’s a lot to be excited about with the new release, but we can’t cover it all in one post. So we’re kicking off our Salesforce Winter ’20 Release series with an overview of the most significant changes.
Let’s get started.
Lightning Experience for All
First and foremost, be aware that either one of your admins or the Lightning Experience Critical Update will turn on Lightning Experience for all orgs. It’s important to note that while Lightning cannot be disabled after it’s turned on, all users will still have access to Classic and can switch between the two interfaces. (So there’s no need to worry if you’re used to Classic.)
For those new to Lightning Experience, check out our Getting Started article. For those already using Lightning Experience, here’s how to prepare your org and users for the new, modern interface.
Prompts and Help Menu Enhancements
Salesforce now has more ways to engage and guide your users in Lightning Experience with in-app guidance. This gives you more control over what your users see in the Help Menus, just in case you don’t want to show all Salesforce items to all users. Also, as requested through customer feedback, the character limit for URLs has been increased from 255 to 1,000.
Access to Recycle Bin
If you’ve already been using Lightning Experience, you know the pain of having to switch back to Classic to get to the recycle bin. Now that the recycle bin will be available in Lightning, those days are over! You can view, restore, and permanently delete the items in your recycle bin and the org recycle bin. This change applies to the Lightning Experience in Group, Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer.
Security Updates
We all know how important it is to keep your data safe. With this new release, Salesforce has made security updates more visible and intuitive, thanks to a new user interface and more detailed information and recommendations. There are now three different security levels of attention to make it easier to prioritize your efforts:
- Required—The most critical status, i.e. a security update that can impact your configuration.
- Recommended—This status refers to an update that doesn’t impact your org configuration, but it’s still recommended that you access it.
- Info Only—This refers to a security cleanup that has been done to help improve your org’s security.
Another new security feature to mention is the ability to designate your org’s security contacts in Salesforce Help. In the event that a security incident happens, key members of that security team are notified.
Introducing Einstein Search
Say hello to Einstein Search, a new feature that’s like search on steroids. With Einstein, you’ll be able to find what you need faster with search results that are actionable and tailored to your Salesforce experience. There’s plenty we’d like to say about Einstein Search, but sadly, we don’t have the space here.
This has been a little taste of what the Salesforce Winter ‘20 release has to offer. We’ll be highlighting more of the update’s new features and capabilities, so check back for other articles soon. Until then, if you need help getting the most out of Salesforce’s latest changes—or even just getting started with the solution in general—our senior-level Salesforce consultants can help. Contact us today to learn more.
