The Summer '26 release is fast approaching. Here's everything you need to know — key dates, sandbox preview windows, critical changes, and the admin checklist to ensure a smooth rollout.
Published April 2026 · By KVP Business Solutions
The Summer '26 release is fast approaching. Here's everything you need to know — key dates, sandbox preview windows, critical changes, and?
Salesforce Summer '26 Release: Dates, Preview & What to Prepare. The Summer '26 release is fast approaching. Here's everything you need to know — key dates, sandbox preview windows, critical changes, and the admin checklist to ensure a smooth rollout.
Get early access by signing up for a pre-release Developer Edition environment loaded with Summer '26 features.
Official release notes become available — review the products you use for updates in the Salesforce Help section.
Last chance to refresh your sandbox to a preview instance for early access to Summer '26 features.
Preview sandboxes are upgraded — test new features against your own customizations without affecting your live environment.
First wave of production orgs upgraded to Summer '26.
Second wave of production org upgrades.
Final wave of production org upgrades — most remaining instances go live with Summer '26.
Salesforce Admin Evangelist Jen's Release Blog goes live with top features admins need to know.
These changes may require action before or immediately after the upgrade. Plan your testing accordingly.
Updates to page headers, modals, date pickers, and popovers may affect organisations using high browser zoom or assistive technologies. Test thoroughly with 200%+ zoom settings.
Action Required: Run regression tests on all custom Lightning pages and components with high browser zoom enabled.
Salesforce is enforcing custom X (formerly Twitter) app credentials. Orgs still using Salesforce-managed authentication for social sign-on or posting will need to register their own X Developer app.
Action Required: Register a custom X Developer app and update Auth. Provider settings before the enforcement date.
Apex Blob.toPdf() rendering behaviour may change, potentially affecting the appearance of customer-facing documents such as quotes, invoices, and contracts generated via Apex.
Action Required: Validate all Apex-generated PDFs in sandbox preview and compare against current production output.
Continued enforcement regarding instanced URLs in API traffic and SAML framework migration. Orgs must move away from instance-specific URLs (e.g., na1.salesforce.com) to My Domain URLs.
Action Required: Audit all integrations, API callouts, and SSO configurations for hardcoded instance URLs.
Some sandboxes are slated for the preview instance (upgraded early to Summer '26). Use the Salesforce Sandbox Preview Guide to check your sandbox instance and determine whether action is needed.
Most preview sandboxes will be upgraded around May 8, 2026.
If your sandbox is on a non-preview instance and you want early access, you must refresh it to a preview instance before May 7 at 5 PM PT.
Non-preview sandboxes will remain on the current release until your production upgrade window.
Pre-release orgs let you explore features in a clean environment, but they don't include your customizations. Sandbox preview is where you test new features against your actual configuration, automations, and integrations. Both are important — use pre-release for exploration and sandbox preview for validation.
Sign up for a pre-release org to explore features risk-free
Review Release Notes for products your organisation uses
Refresh your sandbox to a preview instance before May 7 deadline
Check Release Updates in Setup for action items and overdue items
Test accessibility changes with high browser zoom (200%+)
Validate all Apex-generated PDFs in sandbox
Audit integrations for hardcoded instance URLs
Register custom X Developer app if using social authentication
Check Salesforce Trust for your production upgrade window
Communicate release timeline to stakeholders and end users
As a Salesforce Summit Partner, KVP proactively reviews every release to identify changes that could impact our customers. Here's how we support your release readiness:
Pre-release impact assessment for your org's customizations
Sandbox preview testing and regression validation
Integration audit for instanced URL and API changes
Post-upgrade monitoring and issue resolution