Spring ’25 Salesforce Release: What’s New and How to Prepare

As winter lingers, the Salesforce Ohana is already embracing the promise of spring—a season of renewal, growth, and transformation. The Salesforce Spring ’25 Release brings fresh innovations designed to enhance productivity, streamline integrations, and optimize your CRM experience. With powerful AI enhancements, security updates, and UI improvements, this release is set to elevate the way you work.

Let’s explore the key updates and how you can prepare to make the most of these enhancements.

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1. Changes to Einstein Activity Capture Permissions

What’s New?
Salesforce is refining access to Einstein Activity Capture (EAC), ensuring more controlled and secure usage. Sales Engagement Basic Users will no longer have default access to EAC and must be assigned the Standard Einstein Activity Capture permission set to continue using the feature.

Why It Matters:
This update enhances security by limiting access to users with the appropriate permissions, improving governance over activity data.

How to Prepare:

• In Sandbox:
  • Identify affected users currently assigned the Sales Engagement Basic User permission set.
  • Use Salesforce’s Permission Set List Views to generate reports on impacted users.
  • Assign the Standard Einstein Activity Capture permission set to those requiring access.
• In Production:
  • After testing in sandbox, apply the changes in production.
  • Monitor user access to ensure a smooth transition.

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2. Transition to ICU Locale Formats

What’s New?
Salesforce is shifting from Oracle’s JDK Locale formats to ICU Locale Formats for handling date, currency, and numeric data.

Why It Matters:
ICU formats provide better internationalization and localization, improving accuracy and consistency across different regions.

How to Prepare:

• In Sandbox:
  • Review and test locale-sensitive areas such as Apex code, Visualforce pages, and integrations.
  • Verify that all date, currency, and number formats align with ICU standards.
  • Utilize Salesforce’s ICU Migration Guide for detailed transition steps.
• In Production:
  • Deploy tested changes and monitor formatting accuracy across multi-region environments.

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3. Introduction of LWC Stacked Modals

What’s New?
Lightning Web Components (LWC) now support stacked modals, allowing multiple modal windows to remain open simultaneously.

Why It Matters:
This improves the user experience by enabling seamless navigation between modal windows without losing context.

How to Prepare:

• In Sandbox:
  • Identify and test custom Quick Actions and overridden standard actions utilizing modals.
  • Ensure that stacking behavior aligns with expected user workflows.
  • Modify components if needed to accommodate the new modal behavior.
• In Production:
  • Deploy verified updates and inform users of the improved modal navigation.
  • Monitor user interactions to confirm a smooth transition.

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4. Secure Redirection for Flows

What’s New?
Salesforce now requires that retURL parameters used in Flow redirections be explicitly added to the trusted URLs list.

Why It Matters:
This security enhancement mitigates risks associated with unauthorized redirections, protecting user data.

How to Prepare:

• In Sandbox:
  • Review all Flows using retURL redirections.
  • Add external URLs to the Trusted URLs for Redirects list in Salesforce Setup.
  • Test all redirection flows to ensure proper functionality.
• In Production:
  • Implement changes and verify redirection security post-deployment.

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5. Rollbacks for Apex Action Exceptions in REST API

What’s New?
Salesforce now enforces automatic rollbacks for exceptions occurring during Apex actions invoked via REST API.

Why It Matters:
This update ensures data integrity by preventing incomplete or failed operations from saving partial updates.

How to Prepare:

• In Sandbox:
  • Identify Apex actions impacted by this change.
  • Simulate error scenarios to test rollback behavior.
• In Production:
  • Deploy changes and monitor API logs to ensure proper rollback functionality.

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Final Thoughts

The Spring ’25 release brings vital enhancements to permissions, security, UI, and API reliability. By proactively testing and preparing, you can ensure a seamless transition while unlocking the full potential of these updates. Stay ahead of the curve and leverage these improvements to create a more efficient, secure, and innovative Salesforce environment.