It’s never too soon to start thinking about summer (I live in the UK where it’s only warm for three months of the year!) so I’m thrilled that it’s that time of year again. Another Salesforce release is approaching, which means a whole bunch of new features and functionality to play around with.
Having just announced the release date, sandbox preview, and pre-release org information for Salesforce Summer ’23, the release notes are now available too! So, in true Salesforce Ben fashion, let’s dive into our top features for this release…
1. Lightning App Builder
Dynamic Forms for Mobile (Beta)
The premise of Dynamic Forms is to create user-centric, intuitive page layouts that display the right information at the right time. You can display and hide fields and field sections dynamically, based on criteria that you determine. This feature is now available for mobile in beta.
Align Fields Horizontally in Field Sections
Sometimes it’s the smallest enhancements that make you swoon! This ability to align fields horizontally is my favorite new feature.
This change horizontally aligns fields with their neighbors in the same row, improving the look of pages. In the example below, the image on the left is without alignment and the image on the right is with alignment – notice the spacing and alignment of the “Phone” field!
Optimize Your App Pages With the Accordion and Tabs Components
The Accordion and Tabs components are now available for app pages. These components allow you to better organize your pages, as well as improving performance.
2. Fields
Limit the Number of Inactive Picklist Values (Enforced in Summer ‘23)
This change was announced in Spring ‘23 but is enforced in Summer ‘23. The update limits the number of inactive picklist values in a custom picklist field to 4000. Previously, you could remove the limit, however, in this release, the ability to do so is removed.
Say Hello to Salutation Picklist Values in Lightning Experience
You can now manage and update the picklist values for the “Salutation” field in Lightning Experience. Previously, you had to switch to Salesforce Classic to modify them.
Reflect the Diversity of Your Customers With Gender-Neutral Salutations
Summer ‘23 adds a new option to the Salutation picklist. The Mx. salutation is now available by default. As the admin, you’ll need to update the picklist to make this new value visible to users.
3. Reports & Dashboards
Enhance Your Visualizations With Images, Rich Text, and Dashboard Widgets
My second favorite new feature has to be the ability to add rich text fields and images to dashboards. This is available to Unlimited Edition customers.
Such a simple change but it helps create stunning, informative, and engaging dashboards that are bound to impress your users and key stakeholders. Increased user adoption and engagement? Yes please.
To get started, click “+ Widget” and select the type of widget to add when editing a dashboard.
Focus Your View With More Dashboard Filters (Unlimited Edition Only)
Users of Unlimited Edition can now add up to five filters on a Lightning dashboard. Previously they could only add three filters.
I don’t know about you, but I would love to see this become available for all editions! More filters please Salesforce…
Post Lightning Dashboards in Slack
Using the “Post to Slack” option on dashboards, you can share Lightning dashboards in Slack. Recipients can view dashboards, share, subscribe, and open the dashboard in Salesforce.
4. Permissions
Set Field-Level Security for a Field on Permission Sets Instead of Profiles (Generally Available)
Setting field-level security for a field on permission sets is now generally available. The update also provides an enhancement that enables you to see each permission set’s object permissions for the field’s object without leaving the page.
Allow Delegated Admins to Manage Permission Set Group Assignments
Delegated Admins get even more capabilities with the ability to manage the assignment of permissions set groups for users in their delegated group.
See More Information in Reports From the User Access and Permissions Assistant
Reports from the User Access and Permissions Assistant now contain key details including users’ titles, profiles, and whether they’re active. The performance of these reports has also been improved for orgs with a high number of users.
The User Access and Permissions Assistant app was created by Salesforce and is available on the AppExchange. The app is designed to help you analyze and report on permission assignments, as well as providing an easy wizard to manage permissions.
Automate and Migrate User Access With User Access Policies (Beta)
User access policies allow you to declaratively define access for groups of users in a single operation. For example, you could specify a group of users to grant or revoke access to permission set licenses, permission sets, and permission set groups, package licenses, queues, and groups.
With the Summer ‘23 release, you can now automate your user’s “assignments to managed package licenses, permission sets, and other access mechanisms based on criteria that you set”. These policies can be automatically applied when new users are created or existing users updated.
5. Related Lists
Boost Productivity With Mass Quick Actions on Related Lists (Beta)
Supercharge your related lists and delight your users by streamlining the actions available and adding quick actions directly to related lists. These changes mean that your users can create related records for items in the list without leaving the page, as well as performing mass updates to up to 100 records!
Get Better Performance for Related Lists
When using the related list “View All” page you can expect greater performance! This page now renders using Lightning Web Components instead of Aura.
6. Email
New Email Composer in Open Beta
Salesforce is retiring the existing email editor and moving to a feature-rich HTML text editor that’s packed full of exciting features. The Lightning Editor is in open beta in Summer ‘23.
Save Time by Linking Contacts to Cases in Email-to-Case
While we’re on the subject of emails, there’s a brand new Flow to help your service agents link Contacts to Cases in Email-to-Case.
To use this feature, find the flow template called “Find Contact for Associated Case from Email-to-Case” and add it to the Actions & Recommendations component.
7. Einstein Search
Einstein Search gets two notable updates in the Summer ‘23 release. You can configure both searchable objects and picklists, ensuring that users get the most relevant results. Both of these features are in beta.
8. Calendar
The calendar has received a multitude of enhancements to maximize your productivity with the Summer ‘23 release including:
- View up to 500 events.
- Enable events for up to 50 shared calendars and resources.
- Drag events to reschedule.
- Click an event to preview (instead of hovering).
- View overlapping event tiles, expanded test, and shaded coloring for dates in the past.
Click Once to See Your Calendar
Another little productivity enhancement is the ability to view your calendar with a single click, without interrupting your current work on the screen. Click “View Calendar” to pop open your calendar in a new tab.
9. In-App Guidance
Provide More Detailed In-App Guidance With Targeted Prompts on Record Fields
In-App Guidance just got even better, with the ability to provide even more clarity by targeting specific fields!
10. Pipeline Inspection
Get Pipeline Inspection in Enterprise Edition Without an Add-On License
As of March 2023, you can access Pipeline Inspection in Enterprise Edition without the need to purchase an add-on license.
Update Opportunities More Efficiently in Pipeline Inspection
Users can update additional fields using inline editing in Pipeline Inspection. Quickly update your pipeline including checkbox, email, phone, and URL fields on Opportunities.
Use Expanded Filters to View More Deals and Pipelines in Pipeline Inspection
View even more pipelines, including those of opportunity team and cross-functional team members when using Pipeline Inspection.
Not a Bonus: Retired Features
In sad news, the News, automated account fields, and automated account logo features are being retired in all Salesforce orgs in Winter ’24 on October 13, 2023. I was a big fan of these features so I’m very disappointed!
Once these features are retired, Salesforce will no longer prompt users with suggestions for account names and doesn’t fill out fields or add company logos automatically. The News component is removed from page layouts.
Summary
I hope you have enjoyed this bumper edition of our favorite Salesforce Summer ’23 features – there were so many great ones to choose from! Did we miss any out? What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below…
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