5…4…3…2…1… Launch!
Salesforce Spring ’18 Release is upon us and we are excited about some of the hot features that will be game changers!
5. Duplicate Jobs
Keeping your Salesforce data clean and tidy can be a constant struggle and may even keep some of you up at night. Over the last few releases, Salesforce has improved its duplicate prevention and detection on single records. This is great for new records, but what about the rest of us who have been using Salesforce for years and have thousands if not tens of thousands of existing records in Salesforce? With the Duplicate Jobs update in the Spring ’18 release, we can now rest easy. Duplicate Jobs can now be configured through setup to run and deliver you or your Admin a consolidated list containing all duplicates found in the Accounts, Contacts, and Leads objects based on existing or new matching rules. From the Job Summary page, you can even compare and merge the duplicates found. Most importantly, you can share the results with your team which will help expedite the cleansing process.
4. Brand Salesforce with Your Company Colors Using Themes in Lightning Experience
Salesforce is such a big part of all our organizations, why not make it feel like it for all your users. In the Spring ’18 release, Salesforce introduces Themes and Branding. This cool new feature allows you to customize the look and feel to match your companies brand. Through Setup, you can upload a brand image and choose brand colors. Optionally, you can upload a page background image, default banners, and avatars for groups and profiles. Themes do apply to your entire org, but can be overridden by the existing app’s brand image and navigation bar color, if so desired. Salesforce does provide default themes which cannot be cloned or modified in any way, but you can create up to 300 custom themes.
3. Personalized Navigation in Lightning Experience
If you have upgraded from Classic to Lightning Experience, you have probably been asked, “What happened to all my Tabs; I used to have a lot more than this?” Your Classic users may be missing the days of old when they could click the plus button on their navigation bar and add a tab that wasn’t in the default navigation. With Spring ’18 you can give your users the answer they will want to hear. Salesforce has released Personalized Navigation, allowing your users to open Temporary tabs and, with a few simple clicks, make the Temporary tab permanent. Customization of the tabs in Lightning is even better than in Classic. Users can not only add objects they frequent, but they can add dashboards, lists, or single records. This allows users the flexibility they need to build a navigation bar that maximizes their individual productivity.
2. New URL Format: https://<lightning.domain.com>/lightning/
One of the most critical updates of this release is the change in the URL format. The URL format used by Lighting Experience for standard apps and Salesforce mobile will be more readable and addresses the issue of being directed to an unexpected location when accessing Lightning Experience URLs before authenticating. It is important to know that this does not apply to console apps or communities. For those of you who have a few major concerns, the update is disabled by default in existing orgs so you have a bit of time to make the necessary corrections. But don’t take too long because it will be enabled by default in Summer ’18 release. Salesforce also provides a comparison example seen below.
- Current format: https://<lightning.domain.com>/one/one.app/#/sObject/Account/home
- New format: https://<lightning.domain.com>/lightning/o/Account/home
1. Paths Everywhere!
If you are like us, then you are probably screaming from the mountain tops right now… FINALLY! Paths are finally available on Cases. The feature that you and your users have loved utilizing on Opportunities since the existence of Lighting Experience is now available on Accounts, Campaigns, and Cases. If you are familiar with Paths already, then you know. If not, Paths is a great feature to manage the stages and statuses of various records while at the same time assisting your users by focusing them on the information that is most critical to the advancement of that record through those stages. Now you can nurture an Account through the customer life cycle, a Campaign from the planning stages to complete, and close Cases most efficiently.
If you are interested in reading all of the release notes, you may take a look at all 455 pages. Or contact us to help you take full advantage of some of these new and exciting innovations.
