Mass Transfer Records
A Mass Transfer Records tool is a Salesforce Setup utility that reassigns record ownership in bulk from one user to another.
Definition
A Mass Transfer Records tool is a Salesforce Setup utility that reassigns record ownership in bulk from one user to another. It changes the OwnerId on every matching record in a single pass, so administrators do not edit records one at a time. The tool works on accounts, leads, service contracts, and custom objects, with search criteria that scope the transfer precisely.
The wizard lives at Setup, under Mass Transfer Records. It exists because ownership changes tend to arrive in batches. A rep leaves, a territory is redrawn, or a manager redistributes a book of business. For accounts, the transfer can cascade to related opportunities, cases, contacts, notes, attachments, and open activities, which keeps the parent and its children under one owner.
How the wizard moves ownership, object by object
Which objects the wizard handles
The Mass Transfer Records tool supports four record types directly: accounts, leads, service contracts, and custom objects. That list is shorter than people expect. Opportunities and cases are not selectable on their own. They move only as a side effect of an account transfer, when you tick the matching option in the wizard. Activities behave the same way, riding along with the parent rather than transferring on their own. If you need to reassign opportunities, cases, or activities by themselves, the wizard cannot do it and you reach for Data Loader instead. The reason for the short list is historical and practical. Accounts and leads are the records most often reshuffled when staff or territories change, so Salesforce built the guided path around them. Custom objects are included because every org models something the platform does not ship, and those records also need owners. Knowing the supported set up front saves a frustrating trip into Setup. You open the tool expecting to move a pile of opportunities, then find the object picker does not list it at all.
Cascading an account transfer to its children
The real power of the tool shows up when you transfer accounts. The wizard exposes a set of checkboxes that decide which related records follow the account to its new owner. The named options are: transfer open opportunities not owned by the existing account owner, transfer closed opportunities, transfer open cases owned by the existing account owner, transfer closed cases, keep account team, and keep opportunity team on all opportunities. Each choice is independent, so you can move the account and its open pipeline while leaving closed deals attributed to the prior rep for reporting. Beyond those checkboxes, an account transfer also carries the contacts on business accounts, plus notes, attachments, and open activities tied to the account. The team options are worth a careful read. Leaving account team and opportunity team in place preserves collaborative access after the owner flips. Clearing them strips that access. Think through the downstream effect before you click. One account transfer can move dozens of child records at once, which is efficient, and also easy to get wrong if a checkbox is set the way you did not intend.
Filtering down to the right records
You rarely want to move every record a user owns. The wizard lets you narrow the set with search criteria before anything changes hands. You pick the source owner, the destination owner, and then add field filters such as account type, industry, lead status, or any custom field on the object. Click Find, review the list the tool returns, then select the specific rows to transfer. The most common pattern is the simplest: move everything owned by a departing user to their replacement, filtered by current owner alone. More targeted runs are where filters earn their keep. You might move only the manufacturing accounts in one region, or only leads in a particular status, while leaving the rest with the original owner. For leads, the source and destination can be a queue rather than a user, which suits round-robin or shared-pool models. Spend time on the filter step. It is cheaper to refine criteria now than to untangle a transfer that swept in records you meant to leave alone. The result list is your chance to confirm the scope matches what you pictured.
The 250-record ceiling and when it bites
The wizard processes up to 250 records at a time. That cap is easy to forget until a large reorganization runs into it. For a single departing rep with a modest book, 250 is plenty. For a territory redesign that touches thousands of accounts, the wizard becomes a slow, repetitive grind of batches, and Salesforce points you to Data Loader instead. The limit is a function of the interactive, page-based design. The wizard shows you a result list and asks you to select rows, which does not scale to tens of thousands of records. Plan around the number before you start. Estimate how many records the source owner holds, and if it comfortably exceeds 250, decide early whether to run several scoped passes or switch tools. Running the wizard in a loop against the same owner works, but it is tedious and error prone across many rounds. The ceiling is not a defect. It is a signal that the job has outgrown the guided tool and belongs in the bulk-data path, where there is no such limit and the work is scripted rather than clicked.
Permissions, sharing, and automation side effects
Three things happen behind the transfer that admins should anticipate. First, permissions gate who can run it. Transferring accounts and service contracts needs both Transfer Record and Transfer Leads enabled on the profile or permission set. Custom objects need Transfer Record. Leads need Transfer Leads or Transfer Record. Users also need read access to records they do not own. System administrators hold these rights by default. Second, sharing recalculates. On Professional Edition and above, transferring an account removes manual shares, Apex managed shares, and existing sharing rules, then applies the rules that fit the new owner. Access that depended on the old owner can disappear, so verify the new owner and their team can still see what they need. Third, automation fires. Changing OwnerId triggers Apex, flows, and workflow rules that listen for owner changes or field updates. A heavy transfer can run a lot of logic in a short window and bump into governor limits or simply take time. Test a small batch first to watch what runs. The owner change is rarely just an owner change once your org has automation layered on top.
Data Loader as the high-volume alternative
When the wizard cannot help, because the object is unsupported or the volume blows past 250, Data Loader is the standard fallback. The process is a four-step export and update cycle. Export the User object to get the destination user IDs and names as a reference. Export the records you want to move, including their Id and current OwnerId, filtered to the source owner. Replace the OwnerId values in the CSV with the new owner ID. Then run Data Loader in Update mode, map the columns, and upload. This path reassigns opportunities, cases, and activities directly, which the wizard cannot, and it handles unlimited volume. The trade-off is the manual extract, edit, and load cycle instead of a guided screen. You also lose the cascade checkboxes, so any related-record moves must be planned and loaded yourself. For recurring or scripted ownership changes, the Data Loader command-line interface can automate the whole sequence. Choose the wizard for quick, supported, small jobs, and Data Loader for everything bigger or off the supported list. Many admins keep both in their kit and pick per situation.
Run a mass transfer from Setup
Run the Mass Transfer Records wizard from Setup to reassign ownership of accounts, leads, service contracts, or custom objects in bulk. Scope the set with filters and choose how related records follow an account.
- Open the wizard
In Setup, type Mass Transfer Records in the Quick Find box and select it. Pick the record type you want to transfer from the list of links.
- Set source and destination
Enter the current owner whose records you are moving and the new owner who will receive them. For leads, either side can be a queue instead of a user.
- Choose related-record options
For accounts, tick the checkboxes that decide which opportunities, cases, and teams follow the account to the new owner. Leave a box unchecked to keep those records with the original owner.
- Filter and find
Add search criteria such as account type, industry, or a custom field to narrow the set, then click Find to list the matching records.
- Review and transfer
Confirm the result list matches what you expected, select the records to move, and click Transfer. Spot-check a few records afterward to confirm the new owner and any cascaded children.
Moves open opportunities on the account even when a different user owns them, so the pipeline stays with the account.
Includes won and lost deals in the move. Leave it off to keep closed-deal credit with the prior rep for reporting.
Reassigns the account owner's open cases to the new owner alongside the account.
Includes resolved cases in the transfer. Useful when you want full case history under the new owner.
Preserves existing team membership and the access it grants after the owner changes. Clearing these removes that team access.
- The wizard moves only 250 records at a time. For larger jobs, switch to Data Loader.
- Opportunities, cases, and activities cannot be selected on their own here. They move only as children of an account transfer.
- Account transfers recalculate sharing on Professional Edition and above, removing manual and Apex managed shares and reapplying rules for the new owner.
- Changing the owner fires Apex, flows, and workflow rules. Test a small batch before a large run to avoid governor-limit surprises.
- You need Transfer Record (and Transfer Leads for accounts and service contracts) plus read access to records you do not own.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Mass Transfer Records in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Mass Transfer RecordsSalesforce
- Transfer RecordsSalesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Mass Transfer Records.
- Mass Transfer RecordsSalesforce
- Give Users Permission to Change Account OwnershipSalesforce
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Mass Transfer Records.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What does the Mass Transfer Records tool change on each matching record?
Q2. What powerful option does Mass Transfer Records expose when transferring an Account?
Q3. For bulk ownership change on an object Mass Transfer Records does not support, such as Opportunity, what is the alternative?
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