Salesforce telegraphs deprecations through release notes, but finding them in your specific org requires running the right scans. The work is to inventory, prioritize, and migrate in order of risk.
- Run Salesforce Optimizer
Setup, then Optimizer, then Run Now. The report runs in the background and emails you a PDF and an in-org dashboard with deprecated features the platform has detected (Workflow Rules count, Process Builders count, Classic-only configurations, and so on).
- Review the Optimizer dashboard
Open the dashboard. Look for sections labeled Deprecated or Retiring. Sort by the count of affected components; high counts are usually higher-priority migrations because the work scales with the number of objects involved.
- Cross-reference with current release notes
Open the latest Spring, Summer, and Winter release notes and search for deprecated and retiring. Compare what is announced to what Optimizer flagged. Sometimes Salesforce announces deprecations before Optimizer catches them.
- Use feature-specific migration tools
For Workflow Rules and Process Builder, Setup, then Migrate to Flow. For Classic Knowledge, the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool. For Salesforce Classic, the Lightning Experience Migration Assistant. Each tool handles the heavy lifting for its specific case.
- Plan the migration in waves
Prioritize migrations by EOL risk (announced retirement dates first) and by user impact (heavily used features over edge-case ones). Document each migration: source component, target component, test plan, rollback plan.
- Validate and decommission
After migrating, run the new component alongside the deprecated one for a sprint or two. When confident, deactivate or delete the deprecated component. Keep the audit trail in your change log so future admins know what got replaced and why.
Setup-built scanner that surfaces deprecated features and inefficient configurations. Run quarterly.
Setup-built tool that converts Workflow Rules and Process Builder into Flows. Most common deprecation migration today.
Setup-built tool that moves Classic Knowledge articles into Lightning Knowledge.
Strongpoint, Elements.cloud, Sonar for Salesforce. Broader inventory and impact analysis than Optimizer alone.
- Optimizer scans are point-in-time. New deprecations announced in the latest release notes may not be flagged for a few months. Combine Optimizer with manual release-note review.
- Migration tools rarely cover 100 percent of cases. Migrate to Flow handles the easy ones; complex Process Builders with cross-object updates often need manual rebuilding.
- Deactivating a deprecated component while still in use is a recipe for production outages. Always run migrated and deprecated versions in parallel for a sprint to confirm behavior matches.
- Some deprecations have no EOL date when announced. That does not mean never retiring; it means no committed date yet. Treat all deprecations as inevitable retirements at unknown future dates.