20+ Ways to Use Salesforce Inspector Reloaded

If you have been in the Salesforce ecosystem for a while, you’ve probably heard about Salesforce Inspector – a great tool that facilitates certain Salesforce-related tasks, such as viewing field information and values on records, querying, and even importing data. With this handy extension no longer being actively supported anymore and unavailable for installation following the latest Chrome updates, it would have been a shame for the torch not to be passed… so in comes Salesforce Inspector Reloaded!

In this post, we will deep dive into the ways Salesforce Inspector Reloaded can enhance your productivity while working within Salesforce.

What Is Salesforce Inspector Reloaded? 

Salesforce Inspector Reloaded is a browser extension created by Thomas Prouvot with the goal of adding more functionality on top of the original Salesforce Inspector version (which is no longer maintained). The project has received – and continues to receive – multiple contributions from other Trailblazers, making it a goldmine for all Salesforce professionals who already love Salesforce Inspector.

You can install Salesforce Inspector Reloaded for Chrome here, but if you’re even more curious, a beta version is also available.

Supercharge Your Way of Working

Now that you know Inspector Reloaded’s backstory, let’s dive into the features it brings to the table…

1. Everything the OG Salesforce Inspector Did

It should come as no surprise that Thomas, as well as the Salesforce community contributing to Salesforce Inspector Reloaded, has acknowledged how useful the Salesforce Inspector functionality was and still is.

Everything you could do with Salesforce Inspector is available in this version, along with additional enhancements in most cases. This means that if you are already a Salesforce Inspector user, you won’t be losing anything with this switch – there are only benefits in switching over!

2. Field Creator

Initially made available in version 1.25, Field Creator is a new button on the Inspector Reloaded pop-up that opens a page solely dedicated to creating multiple fields and establishing field-level security at lightning speed!

Courtesy of Santiago Parris, this feature will allow you to create fields one by one or from a CSV file, determine permission set or profile permissions for each of them, and set Help Text, Description, and other attributes right before deploying them to your org. 

You can also choose the naming convention within the Options page if the default PascalCase is not your preference and you would rather opt for underscores.

Check out the video below for a demo of how much easier this is in comparison to the out-of-the-box way of creating fields.

3. Dive Into Permission Set or Permission Set Group Assignment

Permissions management is a significant part of a Salesforce Admin’s day-to-day, and before the latest Salesforce releases, this process was definitely time-consuming, to say the least. Even with the Salesforce enhancements though, there are multiple clicks to bring you to the user page to assign or revoke permission sets.

Inspector Reloaded works as a companion in the sense that you can quickly search for a user in the pop-up, review their role and profile at a glance, and more importantly, click on either PSet or PSetG to be redirected to the assignment screen for the specific user. You could also click on the Details button instead to navigate to the User record quickly and make use of the out-of-the-box View Summary button!

If you would like to test out the access either before or after amending the assignment, Inspector Reloaded also offers the option to LoginAs even directly in incognito mode (courtesy of Alan Jaouen) so that it doesn’t interfere with other items you may be working on with your user. Even more so, if you need to log in as multiple users at the same time, you can open one incognito window for each.

4. Review Object Access

As Inspector Reloaded keeps up with Salesforce releases, users can navigate to the new Object Access page available in Winter ‘25 directly when viewing an object in the pop-up by clicking on the Access link.

This way, instead of going through Setup and Object Manager to review object access in either Permission Sets or Profiles, you can just search the object and click the link.

5. Quick Setup Navigation

Perhaps one of the most repetitive tasks for Salesforce professionals is the number of steps and clicks needed to navigate to different Setup pages.

Within the Inspector Reloaded Shortcuts tab, instead of opening Setup every time, you can directly search for the page you need. Many of them are readily available, including Flows, Profiles, Permission Sets, and even Custom Permissions, on top of the actual Setup pages such as Deployment Status.

In the latest 1.26 release, a handy update was made for developers to easily reach Apex classes by searching for them in this same tab. With this release, the searchable metadata can be configured – but more on this below!

6. Configure Which Metadata Can Be Searched

As mentioned above, you can search for metadata directly within the Shortcuts tab, making it faster than ever to get to the items you need. However, not everyone needs to see the same results, which is why Thomas introduces the ability to configure the searchable metadata, allowing you to narrow it down to what you use most by simply clicking the corresponding buttons on the Options page.

For example, you might not need to return profiles as often if you already migrated to a Permission Set model. Similarly, while developers may prefer to see Apex classes in the results, admins may opt to filter them out.

7. Home, Sweet Home

While this may seem like a small feature to consider, let’s count how many times we have to switch between Setup and an app because we need to search for a record – probably quite a few, right?

Inspector Reloaded includes a button slightly lower on the pop-up page that can directly take you to Salesforce Home, regardless of where you are. This functionality is coming from the OG Salesforce Inspector version, and it still is a time saver, which you may not yet be using.

8. Keyboard Shortcuts

Speaking of navigation, you can further customize the extension with your very own shortcuts for the different pages and options in chrome://extensions/shortcuts. Depending on your preference, you can get to the feature you need even faster! New shortcut options have been added in the beta version of the extension, so make sure to take a look.

9. Download Metadata

While searching for metadata in the Shortcuts tab is great, there are times where more is needed, and that’s where the Download Metadata page comes to play. The button has been available for a while now with a basic experience; however, in the 1.26 release, the page is seeing significant improvements for users, in terms of both look and feel and functionality.

The core use case remains the same: the ability to download the metadata that you select on the page. Additionally, you can retrieve the components for further analysis from an already uploaded package.xml directly from the Deployment Status page within Setup by clicking through the package you want to download. Pretty handy, isn’t it?

10. Org Information

How many times have you had to access company information to retrieve your org ID? Probably countless! Salesforce Inspector Reloaded has a dedicated org tab that is readily available when you open the pop-up, where you can quickly check the most important information about the org you’re in – whether it’s a Production, Sandbox, or Developer Edition.

In addition to the org ID, there are other details such as the instance, API version, and even the next maintenance window (thanks to Victor Garcia Zarco).

With the 1.26 release, another useful option will be available under the Org tab to help you maximize productivity, which is the possibility to quickly delete Apex Logs. This means you will no longer need to navigate Setup or query Salesforce to delete Debug Logs; deletion will be simply possible with a click of a button.

11. Show All Data Page

The specifics of the Inspector Reloaded UI cannot go unmentioned, especially when you’re trying to avoid potential errors.

As most Salesforce professionals use the extension across different orgs, knowing exactly when they are in the Production environment is paramount. By adding a red background on the Show All Data page and Data Import, it is now much easier to spot mistakes and update live data instead of Sandbox records.

12. Favicons and Banners

A fairly new feature that you may have already been using through other extensions is the option to customize the favicon for different environments. Color-coding environments are very handy when working across multiple at the same time, especially in the same window across multiple tabs.

In the User Experience section of the Inspector Reloaded options, you will now find a place to add the favicon, opt to populate all environments, and even add a very handy banner on sandboxes.

The option to highlight the Production instance has also been recently added, and with the latest version, this is an SLDS banner that can also have a warning text on top of it. Make sure to choose bright colors for production – ideally red – to draw your attention before making any unwanted changes.

13. REST Explore

Already labeled a “Workbench killer” feature by Inspector Reloaded users, Thomas has truly outdone himself with this addition to the extension. It not only allows you to execute the HTTP requests from the comfort of your own org without worrying about the authentication, but you can also save the URLs, review the history, check the response when needed, and see how long it took to execute.

The response banners are color-coded, so if something doesn’t go according to plan, the red banner will definitely let you know!

14. SOQL Like A Pro

While the Data Export page may seem familiar to Salesforce Inspector, Thomas and all the amazing Inspector Reloaded contributors have enhanced it with so many time-saving features to enhance productivity so much that you could never go back to not having them.

From having readily available templates (added by Samuel Krissi) to the ability to save and label queries, up to exporting to CSV directly and having the query already filtered by the Record ID when opening the page from any Salesforce record, it’s impossible to pick a winner. 

On top of these, SOQL, SOSL, and even GraphQL queries are supported, and with the help of Nathan Shulman, you also have access to the performance info for the queries you execute.

To add another one to the list, one of the first game-changing features in Inspector Reloaded was the simple yet extremely useful Copy ID option when clicking on an ID in the Export page results. This option has later on been added to the Show All Data page, but this is where it started!

15. Data Imports Just Got Faster

Exporting data is just one side of the coin, as more often than not, an export might also result in an import afterwards. The Data Import page has also seen its fair share of improvements, with the latest being that you no longer have to select the format – Inspector Reloaded will do it for you. So, even if you copy an Excel or a CSV file, for example, and want to import it, you won’t have to manually select the corresponding one on this screen.

While this is not a new feature, it is worth highlighting that if you export and then import from Inspector Reloaded while keeping the object column (e.g. [Lead], as shown in the example above), the object will be automatically identified on the Data Import page, saving you a couple of clicks and the need to search for it.

Note that on the Data Export page, the Hide Object Columns option was also changed to a button, which you can click to hide the column(s) if they are not needed.

16. Granular Access Control

Different companies have different policies, especially when it comes to all the actions Salesforce users could take while using the extension if they have certain permissions.

While Salesforce Inspector Reloaded re-uses the current session/token from the browser, access can be restricted in just a few minutes by setting up a Connected App and making use of Salesforce’s API Access Control options.

Additionally, Mehdi Cherfaoui has enhanced the initial feature by adding a default Connected App setting and improving the access token renewal flow. Thomas has also put together a detailed guide with the steps you need to take to make this happen in your org. 

17. Enable Logs and Debug Mode

When was the last time you enabled Debug Logs for a user, and it only took you a few seconds to do so? Between adding the start and end time and choosing the debug level, on top of navigating to the page, probably never. With Inspector Reloaded and the Enable Logs button contribution by Antoine Leleu, you don’t have to go through all these steps anymore. 

By default, the level is set as SFDC_DevConsole, but you can quickly change it to any other within the Inspector Reloaded Options. Similarly, while the time is set to 15 minutes, you can always amend it as needed.

Another addition with Inspector Reloaded 1.26 is the option to enable and disable Debug Mode for Lightning Components from the user tab as well, making it much easier for developers to deep dive into any component-related errors and hopefully start resolving any underlying issues with fewer clicks.

18. Event Monitor

Remember Antoine? He is unstoppable when it comes to critical enhancements to Salesforce Inspector Reloaded. Event Monitor is his newest contribution, and if you ever had to work with Platform Events, you will quickly see the benefits of it. 

Within the user-friendly interface, you can subscribe to either Customer or Standard Platform Events and analyze the results in no time, making debugging a breeze!

19. Manage Custom Metadata Types

Another game-changing addition from the Salesforce community is the option to easily upsert and delete custom metadata type records on the Data Import page.

Joshua Yarmak has resolved a problem within Salesforce Inspector Reloaded that all Salesforce professionals have surely had at some point: updating a large number of custom metadata types. This can involve either spending much time putting the file together, installing packages in their orgs or, worse of all, having to do it manually in Salesforce. 

Within the Data Import page, inserting or updating custom metadata type records behaves just like any other import, making this task far more user-friendly and, most importantly, a lot faster.

20. Access Developer Documentation

The Shortcuts tab continues to be full of handy surprises, as on top of the above-mentioned options to create permissions or easily navigate to Setup pages, here is where you can search directly for Apex class documentation.

Instead of having to switch to a new tab, start Googling, go to the developer site, and so on, you can come to this tab and simply start searching for the name of the class you’re looking for.

Speaking of documentation, Apex classes may not be the only piece of documentation developers need, so adding the SObjects documentation as a separate link for each object as well only makes the experience that much better.

Wondering about a certain out-of-the-box Account field? No problem, just bring up the object in Inspector Reloaded and use the doc link to open the documentation.

21. Show Field API Names

Yet another handy addition from the community (thanks to Mouloud Habchi) is the Show Field API Names button, which displays the API Name of the field directly on the record page. The API Names will appear even when using Dynamic Forms! 

22. Reposition the Pop-Up

Pietro Martino is the one who made sure that you can always adapt Salesforce Inspector Reloaded to your way of working by changing the position of the pop-up exactly where you would like it to appear on the page. This makes sure that it doesn’t interfere with any information or buttons on the pages you visit.

By simply choosing the orientation and position within the Options page, the pop-up will be where you need it to be for ease of access.

23. Options, Options, and More Options

Since the Options page was introduced (also developed by Pietro Martino), it has become a place where Salesforce Inspector Reloaded keeps on giving. While we have already covered a few of the options available here, such as the Enable Logs page, favicons, and the ability to change the pop-up’s position, that is not all!

There are many User Experience features to enable or keep disabled if you’d like, including whether links should be opened in a new tab and choosing whether certain buttons should appear on the pop-up or not.

In the Data Export tab, as you can see below, you can quickly adapt query templates, the number of saved queries, and select if the Delete Records button should make an appearance on the Export page.

Also, the buttons on the top right corner will allow you to export and import your entire Inspector configuration, which will come in handy – especially if you have been using Inspector Reloaded and would maybe like to move to the beta version to try out the new features sooner.

Keep in mind that your idea or contribution may be next! While not an actual feature of the extension, Inspector Reloaded is an open-source project that accepts contributions to make everyone’s life easier when working in Salesforce.

For example, Thomas integrated Gary Woodhouse’s glow-up work meant for the OG Inspector into Inspector Reloaded, as combining parallel efforts into one could bring new features faster in front of the community. 

If you have an idea or would like to contribute, don’t hesitate to open a feature request or get in touch with Thomas directly to share ideas or feedback. 

Summary

Salesforce Inspector Reloaded continues to grow at a rapid speed and will surely become a staple for all Salesforce professionals, regardless of their experience and role. With features to cater to admins, developers, as well as power users, there’s something in it for everybody to optimize their day-to-day with.

What is your favorite Salesforce Inspector Reloaded feature so far? Have you already installed the beta version for the latest updates? Let us know in the comments below!