Salesforce Summer ’21 Release is coming up and I am sure like me, you are also super excited to explore all the cool features that Salesforce will bring along with this release. I will definitely cover items from Salesforce Summer ’21 release in my upcoming posts. But right now, the information we all are looking for – 

  • When Summer ’21 release will be applied to my production org?
  • When Summer ’21 release will be applied to my sandboxes?
  • How can I register for pre-release org?
  • What are the new features coming up with this release?

When Summer ’21 release will be applied to my Production org?

This is a very important thing to know as you need to test Summer ’21 release in your sandboxes making sure all your configuration/customizations are working fine before this date. Depending on your instance of Salesforce, the release date can be different. Main release weekends are below, so your instance will be migrated into Summer ’21 in any of these below dates.
  • May 15th, 2021
  • June 4th, 2021
  • June 11-12th, 2021
To know the instance of your Salesforce, you can go to Setup -> Company information, and there you will get to know about the instance.

With that information, you can go to Salesforce Trust. Enter the instance name at the top of the search bar, and then click on the instance. Once open, you can click on Maintenance Tab and find the release date for your production org. As for one of my production org, the release date is June 12th.

When Summer ’21 release will be applied to my sandboxes?

With the production release dates identified, the next thing that you should know the release dates for your sandboxes. This is very important as you need to test all your configuration, customization, business processes, etc. with this new release before it is being applied to your production. The last thing you want is that the new release breaks your business processes, which is very rare. Salesforce always makes sure all of it’s releases are well tested and backward compatible, but it is always recommended to do the regression test from your side in the sandboxes with the new release. 
Salesforce normally has two release windows for Sandboxes. One for “Preview” instances and another for “Non-Preview” instances. The first upgrade will happen on the weekend of May 8th, 2021.

How can I register for pre-release org?

Pre-release orgs are great if you want to explore the new features coming with any Salesforce release. Pre-release orgs will be released on April 15th, 2021. I will recommend everyone to register for pre-release org and try out the new features as soon as the release notes are available. 
One thing you need to keep in mind, pre-release org is a brand new org, so do not expect any of your customizations, configurations, or business processes will be available there. That is why pre-release org is not for doing regression test/sanity test of your customizations, configurations, or business processes. You should do that in your sandboxes.

What are the new features coming up with this release?

Great question. I know you are excited like me, but we need to wait for the release notes, which will be available from April 20th, 2021. Release notes have a new home – Salesforce Help.

Timeline