Salesforce Summer 26 Admin Checklist
Most orgs get surprised by Salesforce releases. Not because the dates are hidden — they are published months in advance — but because the checklist for actually preparing keeps getting skipped until something breaks in production. Summer ’26 sandboxes start upgrading around May 9. Here is a practical six-step admin prep list so that date does not catch you off guard. Summer ’26 — Main Upgrade Weekends ~May 9 Sandbox preview orgs upgradeVaries by instance — check trust.salesforce.com for your exact date ~June 5 First non-preview sandbox weekendMost non-preview sandboxes on NA and EU instances ~June 12 Second non-preview sandbox weekend + Production beginsProduction orgs start upgrading — varies by instance The six steps worth completing before May 9 Step 1: Find your instance and exact upgrade date Not all Salesforce instances upgrade on the same weekend. Your specific upgrade date depends on the instance your org runs on, and there are three main release weekends across May and June. Find your instance in Setup under Company Information, then check the Salesforce Trust maintenance calendar for the exact date. This matters because ‘around May 9’ could mean May 9 or it could mean June 12 depending on your instance. Knowing your actual date changes how urgently the rest of this checklist needs to happen. Salesforce Trust maintenance calendar Step 2: Review the Summer ’26 release notes for your specific stack The full release notes are long. The useful shortcut is to search for ‘enforcement’ in the notes, because enforcement items are the changes that will be applied automatically — including to orgs that have not opted in to anything. Two items affect most orgs: the accessibility enforcement for components at 200 percent zoom, and the X (Twitter) Auth Provider callback URL change that requires manual reconfiguration. Both are breaking changes for the orgs they affect. Neither fixes itself after the upgrade. Salesforce Summer ’26 release notes Step 3: Audit your Connected Apps and External Client Apps status Summer ’26 tightens the External Client Apps enforcement that began in Spring ’26. If your org has Connected Apps your team created — not vendor-installed managed package apps, but apps your own admins or developers built — check whether they have been migrated. Apps that have not been migrated will face increasing enforcement pressure in Summer ’26. Connected Apps migration guide Step 4: Decide between preview and non-preview sandbox Preview sandboxes opt in to the Summer ’26 upgrade early, giving you more time to test before the production release. Non-preview sandboxes stay on the Spring ’26 release longer, giving you more time with a stable environment. Neither choice is universally correct — it depends on how many customisations you have to test and how much development work is currently in flight. The Salesforce Sandbox Preview Guide explains how to make the switch if you want to opt your sandbox into preview before the window closes. Summer ’26 Admin Prep — 6 Steps Before May 9 Complete before upgrade 1 Find your instance and exact upgrade date Setup → Company Information → note your instance (e.g. NA87). Check trust.salesforce.com/status/maintenance for your exact date. “Around May 9” could mean May 9 or June 12 depending on your instance. 5 minutes 2 Search “enforcement” in the Summer ’26 release notes Enforcement items are auto-applied — you do not opt in. The two that affect most orgs: accessibility enforcement for components at 200% zoom, and the X (Twitter) Auth Provider callback URL change that requires manual reconfiguration. Breaking changes 3 Audit your Connected Apps and ECA migration status App Manager → filter by Connected App → identify apps your org created (not vendor managed packages). If any have not been migrated to External Client Apps, Summer ’26 tightens enforcement further. Act now if pending 4 Decide: preview sandbox or non-preview? Preview gives you more testing time before production upgrades. Non-preview gives you a longer stable window during active development. The Salesforce Sandbox Preview Guide covers how to opt in. Window closes before May 9. Decision needed 5 Review Scheduled Flows that process large record volumes Summer ’26 introduces custom batch size control for Scheduled Flows. The default of 200 is now configurable. Flag any flow where governor limit errors are a known risk — set appropriate batch sizes before the first run on the new release. New control available 6 Bookmark the Release Manager beta opt-in New in Summer ’26: three release channels — Standard (stable), Accelerated (production-ready, not yet in major release), Dev (in active development). Opt in now for earlier visibility into what comes after Summer ’26. New capability Step 5: Review Scheduled Flows that process large record volumes Summer ’26 introduces custom batch size controls for Scheduled Flows. The default batch size of 200 records is now configurable. Any flow processing large record volumes where governor limit errors are a known risk should be reviewed before the upgrade lands, so you can set appropriate batch sizes from the first run on the new release rather than after the first failure. Step 6: Bookmark the Release Manager beta opt-in New in Summer ’26, the Salesforce Release Manager gives admins and developers access to three feature channels: Standard for stable production behaviour, Accelerated for production-ready features not yet in a major release, and Dev for features in active development. This is a significant shift toward continuous delivery. Opting in now gives your team earlier visibility into what is coming after Summer ’26, rather than discovering it in the next release notes drop. Six steps, one week. Admins who work through this before May 9 spend the upgrade weekend watching things work. Everyone else spends it finding out what broke. Already testing Summer ’26 features in your sandbox? If your org needs a second pair of eyes before the upgrade, our team at truesolv.com does exactly that. Follow us on LinkedIn for release-critical updates every week.
Salesforce Summer 26 Release
Summer ’26 sandboxes start upgrading around May 9. Release notes dropped April 22. If you have not looked at them yet, the window before your sandbox looks different and your customisations start behaving unexpectedly is narrow. This is the short version of what is actually changing — not the full list of every feature, but the things admins and developers should know about before the upgrade arrives. Consideration Preview Sandbox Non-Preview Sandbox When it upgrades Early — around May 9 Upgrades ahead of production release Later — June 5 or June 12 Stays on Spring ’26 longer Testing window for Summer ’26 Longer — you have weeks to validate customisations before production upgrades Shorter — less time between sandbox and production upgrade Stability during active development Lower — your sandbox is on new code while dev work is still in progress Higher — dev work continues on stable Spring ’26 release Best for orgs with Many customisations to validate, time-sensitive compliance testing, proactive release teams Active development sprints, tight deadlines, small teams without dedicated release bandwidth How to opt in Follow the Salesforce Sandbox Preview Guide — window closes before May 9 No action required — non-preview is the default What is in Summer ’26 that admins need to know Agentforce woven into CRM surfaces Summer ’26 moves Agentforce from a standalone layer to something embedded in daily Sales Cloud and Service Cloud workflows. AI summaries, deal coaching suggestions, and automated research appear directly in the views reps already use. For admins, this means any customisations built against these surfaces — record detail layouts, list views, service console components — may need testing against the new Agentforce-aware UI before the upgrade lands. Flow UI improvements: collapsible fault paths and readable data tables Large production flows are hard to maintain when the canvas is an unnavigable tangle of fault paths and unformatted data. Summer ’26 adds collapsible fault paths and a significantly improved data table display inside Flow Builder. These are cosmetic in that they do not change flow behaviour, but the maintenance benefit is real for any org with complex automations. Additionally, Summer ’26 extends Agentforce-powered natural language editing to Screen Flows, having added it to Record-Triggered and Scheduled Flows in Spring ’26. This remains an early-access feature and requires review before applying suggestions to production flows. Accessibility enforcement at 200 percent zoom Salesforce is enforcing accessibility standards for UI components at 200 percent browser zoom in Summer ’26. For orgs with custom Lightning components, custom page layouts, or Visualforce pages, this may produce unexpected layout behaviour that needs testing before the upgrade. Standard Salesforce Lightning components are already compliant. Custom-built components need to be checked. External Client Apps migration enforcement tightens Spring ’26 disabled new Connected App creation across all orgs. Summer ’26 tightens the enforcement further. If your org has Connected Apps that have not been migrated to External Client Apps and your integration depends on them, this is the release where that becomes an active problem rather than a pending one. The Connected Apps that require action are the ones your org created and manages. Managed package apps from vendors are not affected. X (Twitter) Auth Provider callback URL change If your org uses X (formerly Twitter) as an OAuth provider for login or integration, the callback URL configuration requires manual reconfiguration in Summer ’26. This is a small but breaking change for orgs that use it — it will not fix itself automatically. Find it in Setup under Auth. Providers. AI Content Summarizer component available in Lightning App Builder A new AI Content Summarizer component can be dropped onto any Lightning record page directly from App Builder without writing Apex. For admins who want to surface Agentforce value to end users quickly and without a full development engagement, this is the most accessible on-ramp in the Summer ’26 release. Salesforce Summer ’26 release notes ⚠ ECA enforcement tightens in Summer ’26 — what breaks if you skipped Spring ’26 prep Spring ’26 change New Connected App creation was disabled across all orgs by default. A Salesforce Support request could re-enable it — temporarily. Summer ’26 change Enforcement tightens further. The Support workaround is being phased out. Orgs with unmigrated Connected Apps face an increasing compliance and functionality risk. What breaks Integrations that depend on Connected Apps you built and manage — not managed package vendor apps — will face disruption if migration is not completed. Managed package apps are not affected. Action needed Open App Manager → filter by Connected App type → identify apps your org created → confirm migration status. Apps not yet migrated need to move to External Client Apps before enforcement completes. Have questions about anything in the Summer ’26 release notes that could affect your org? That is exactly the kind of thing our team digs into every release cycle. Reach out through truesolv.com. Follow us on LinkedIn for weekly Salesforce release breakdowns.
