Partial Copy Sandbox
A Partial Copy sandbox is a Salesforce sandbox type that copies all of your production org's metadata plus a sample of its records, where the sample is defined by a sandbox template.
Definition
A Partial Copy sandbox is a Salesforce sandbox type that copies all of your production org's metadata plus a sample of its records, where the sample is defined by a sandbox template. It gives teams realistic test data without the storage cost or long refresh time of a full copy.
The template you choose controls which objects come across and caps the volume. A Partial Copy sandbox holds up to 5 GB of data and a maximum of 10,000 records per selected object. You can refresh it once every 5 days.
How Partial Copy fits the sandbox lineup
What a Partial Copy sandbox actually contains
Every sandbox copies your production metadata. That means objects, fields, page layouts, Apex code, flows, profiles, permission sets, and the rest of your configuration. What changes between sandbox types is the data. A Partial Copy sandbox adds a slice of real records on top of that metadata copy. The slice is not random and it is not everything. You decide which objects to include through a sandbox template, and Salesforce copies up to 10,000 records for each object you select. The whole sandbox is capped at 5 GB of data storage. File storage matches your production org. Because you are working with real account names, real opportunity amounts, and real contact records, tests behave much more like production than they would in an empty Developer sandbox. This makes Partial Copy a good middle ground. You get believable data for testing integrations, validation rules, automation, and reports, without waiting on a full production clone or paying for that much storage. The cost is the planning work of building a template that pulls the right records.
The four sandbox types, side by side
Salesforce offers four sandbox types, and they line up on a clear scale of size and refresh frequency. A Developer sandbox copies metadata only and holds 200 MB of data you import or create yourself. You can refresh it daily. A Developer Pro sandbox is the same idea with a 1 GB limit, also refreshable daily. A Partial Copy sandbox sits in the middle. It copies metadata plus sampled data, holds 5 GB, and refreshes every 5 days. A Full sandbox is the largest. It copies all of your production data, matches production storage, and refreshes every 29 days. The refresh interval tells you a lot about intended use. Developer sandboxes refresh fast because teams rebuild them often during active development. Full sandboxes refresh slowly because they are heavy and usually reserved for final staging. Partial Copy lands in between for work that needs real data but also needs to be reset on a reasonable cadence. Picking the right type is mostly about how much real data the test actually requires.
The sandbox template is the control panel
A Partial Copy sandbox cannot be created without a sandbox template. The template is where you tell Salesforce which objects to copy. You create or edit templates from the Sandbox Templates tab under Sandboxes in Setup. Templates apply to Partial Copy and Full sandboxes, the two types that copy production records. When you select an object in a template, Salesforce includes its records up to the 10,000 cap, along with related child records needed to keep the data coherent. Required related objects are pulled in automatically so you do not end up with orphaned records that break referential integrity. That automatic inclusion is helpful, but it also means your record counts can grow beyond the objects you explicitly picked. Designing a good template takes thought. Select too few objects and your tests fail for lack of data. Select too many and you risk hitting the 5 GB ceiling or the per-object cap on the records that matter most. Most teams iterate on the template across a few refreshes before it copies a sample that genuinely represents production.
When Partial Copy is the right call
Partial Copy shines for quality work that needs realistic data but not the entire dataset. Salesforce names user acceptance testing, integration testing, and training as the core use cases. Each one benefits from real records. User acceptance testing asks business users to confirm that a feature works against data they recognize. Empty or fabricated data undermines that confidence, so a sampled copy of production helps. Integration testing exercises the connections between Salesforce and outside systems, and those tests often need real identifiers and realistic field values to behave correctly. Training works better when learners click through records that look like the ones they will use day to day, without exposing the full production volume. The pattern across all three is the same. You want production-like behavior and production-like data, but you do not need every record, and you want a sandbox you can refresh every few days. If a test genuinely requires the complete dataset, for example a full data migration rehearsal or large-scale performance testing, a Full sandbox is the better fit. For most functional and acceptance testing, Partial Copy is enough.
Refresh behavior and storage limits
You can refresh a Partial Copy sandbox every 5 days. A refresh discards the current contents and copies fresh metadata and a fresh data sample from production using the template. Anything created or changed inside the sandbox since the last refresh is wiped, so teams treat a refresh as a reset and plan around it. The 5-day interval is a hard floor. If you refresh today, the option to refresh again is unavailable until the window passes. Plan refreshes around testing cycles so you are not stuck waiting when you need clean data. Many teams refresh at the start of a sprint or a UAT round rather than on a fixed calendar. Storage is the other constraint to watch. The 5 GB data ceiling and the 10,000 records-per-object cap are firm. If your template selects high-volume objects, you may copy only a fraction of their records, and that fraction is what your tests run against. Knowing this up front prevents surprises, like a report that looks under-populated because the underlying object was truncated at the cap. Review what the template pulled after the first refresh and adjust before you rely on the numbers.
Where Partial Copy fits a release pipeline
In a typical Salesforce development lifecycle, work flows from small sandboxes to large ones before it reaches production. Developers build in Developer or Developer Pro sandboxes, or in scratch orgs, where metadata-only environments are fast to spin up and refresh. As changes mature, they move to environments with more realistic data. Partial Copy often serves as the integration and UAT stage. It is the first point in the pipeline with real records, so it is where many data-dependent bugs surface for the first time. A validation rule that passed against synthetic data might fail against the messy reality of production records. Catching that here, rather than in a Full sandbox or in production, saves time. You deploy changes into a Partial Copy sandbox the same way you deploy anywhere else, through change sets, the Salesforce CLI, unlocked packages, or a third-party DevOps tool. The sandbox is a target like any other org. The difference is the data it carries. Late-stage staging and final pre-production validation usually happen in a Full sandbox, which mirrors production most closely. Partial Copy does the heavy lifting in the middle, where realistic data matters but speed and cost still count.
Create a Partial Copy sandbox
You create a Partial Copy sandbox from Setup, and it requires an existing sandbox template. Build or pick the template first, then create the sandbox and select it. You need the Manage Sandboxes permission and an available Partial Copy license.
- Open the Sandboxes page
In Setup, enter Sandboxes in the Quick Find box and select Sandboxes. This page lists existing sandboxes and your available licenses by type.
- Create or edit a sandbox template
Go to the Sandbox Templates tab and create a template. Select the objects you want to copy. Salesforce includes their records up to 10,000 each, plus required related records, capped at 5 GB total.
- Start a new Partial Copy sandbox
Back on the Sandboxes page, click New Sandbox. Enter a name and description, then choose Partial Copy as the type.
- Apply the template and create
Select your sandbox template so Salesforce knows which data to sample. Choose any post-copy script if you use one, then click Create. Salesforce queues the copy and emails you when the sandbox is ready.
A unique sandbox name, up to 10 characters. It becomes part of the sandbox login URL, so keep it short and recognizable.
Set this to Partial Copy. The choice is greyed out if no Partial Copy license is available in your org.
The template that defines which objects and records are sampled. A Partial Copy sandbox cannot be created without one.
- Each selected object copies a maximum of 10,000 records, so high-volume objects arrive truncated and your tests see only a sample.
- Total data is capped at 5 GB. A template that selects many large objects can hit the ceiling before it copies everything you wanted.
- You can refresh only once every 5 days, and a refresh wipes anything created inside the sandbox since the last copy.
- Creating a sandbox consumes one Partial Copy license. If all your licenses are in use by other sandboxes, creation is blocked until one frees up.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to Partial Copy Sandbox in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Sandbox Licenses and Storage by TypeSalesforce
- Sandbox Types and TemplatesSalesforce
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Partial Copy Sandbox.
- Sandbox Licenses and Storage by TypeSalesforce
- Refresh Your SandboxSalesforce
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Partial Copy Sandbox.
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.
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Q1. What does a Partial Copy Sandbox contain compared with other sandbox types?
Q2. What defines which records a Partial Copy Sandbox pulls from production?
Q3. Where does a Partial Copy Sandbox fit among Salesforce sandbox options?
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