Definition
One of Salesforce's three annual platform updates (Spring, Summer, Winter) that introduces new features, enhancements, and changes to all customer orgs. It's preceded by preview sandboxes and release notes.
Real-World Example
a sales rep at Pinnacle Corp recently implemented Major Release to manage and organize customer data more effectively. They configure Major Release to ensure the sales and service teams have a unified view of every customer interaction, from initial contact through ongoing support. This setup reduces duplicate data entry and improves cross-team collaboration.
Why Major Release Matters
A Major Release in Salesforce is one of three annual platform updates (Spring, Summer, Winter) that introduces new features, enhancements, and changes to all customer orgs. Each release goes through a preview phase where customers can opt-in to test the new release in preview sandboxes before it reaches production, followed by a sandboxes-first rollout, and finally a production rollout. Salesforce publishes detailed release notes for each release describing every new feature and change.
Major Releases are central to the Salesforce experience because they bring new capabilities continuously. Mature orgs treat releases as a planned cadence: review release notes when published, identify features that affect their org or that they want to adopt, test in preview sandboxes, plan adoption activities, and communicate changes to users. Some releases include breaking changes (deprecations, behavior changes) that require active management. Treating releases as a planned activity rather than a surprise dramatically improves how organizations benefit from Salesforce's continuous evolution.
How Organizations Use Major Release
- •NovaScale — Treats each major release as a planned event, with the admin team reviewing release notes, testing in preview, and planning user communications.
- •BrightEdge Solutions — Adopts new features from each release deliberately, picking the ones that fit their roadmap rather than enabling everything indiscriminately.
- •Cobalt Ventures — Uses preview sandboxes to test their critical workflows against new releases, catching breaking changes before they hit production.