Salesforce Summer ’19 release preps for Lightning migration: What you need to know

The latest Salesforce release underscores the company’s efforts to sunset the Classic experience in favor of the Lightning Platform in winter 2020. The Summer ’19 release is designed to provide users with a range of new tools and features to help manage the migration.

It is currently only available in preview, but organizations can expect Sandbox upgrades to begin rolling out on May 3 and 4.

What to expect

With the new release, all organizations will have access to the Lightning Experience (although it won’t be mandatory until 2020), according to the notes. Below are key tools and features users can expect to see while navigating the shift from Classic to Lightning:

Lightning Experience Transition Assistant will replace the Migration Assistant to provide users with a central hub of suggested tools and resources to ease adoption.

New in-app guidance menu grants access to easier on-boarding and training, giving admins the ability to create custom content and action buttons for specific users within the organization.

Records will remain consistent between Lightning and Classic Experiences, meaning users will be directed to the same page in Lightning, if it exists.

Improved Safari compatibility will allow users to run the full desktop version of Lightning from their iPad via the Safari browser.

Lightning Scheduler can be embedded on an organization’s website, providing customers with an easy way to create or modify appointments. The Scheduler feature will also integrate with the Actions Plans Unit and Salesforce Surveys.

More branding options for Lightning will be available, including custom hyperlink colors and label improvement in the Themes and Branding setup panel.

A new utility view will include right-aligned utility items and a new API to inform users when an item is expanded.

Two different record display options will be available, including Grouped view and the new Full view – which is similar to the Salesforce Classic view.

Salesforce has been transparent in communicating the migration to the Lightning Platform, which will be auto-activated for all users by winter 2020. For organizations still operating in the Classic Experience, it’s necessary to know that all future innovations will only support Lightning as the company phases out Classic. Salesforce admins should get familiar with Lightning features to understand how it could impact internal processes and platforms to avoid headaches and curveballs later on.

Other key updates

• Improved functionality for add-ons like Dialer, Chat, Messaging and increased storage, including native embed options
• Einstein, Salesforce’s AI product, will include enhancements such as faster set-up for bots, a data checker feature in Prediction Builder, and quarterly forecasts in the Sales Cloud
• Mobile app improvements add new custom notification options for records
• New options for developers, including enhancements to Visualforce, Apex, and Salesforce APIs with custom programming languages
• A new setup page and Einstein Engagement Frequency features will be available in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud to support customer journeys with personalized content